Kunstmuseum summer studio: one artwork for every family member

Family craft sessions often end with an adult doing the difficult part while a child watches. Kunstmuseum Den Haag deliberately reverses that pattern in its summer Open Family Atelier: children and adults each make their own artwork. They may trade ideas, but nobody has to copy one correct example. The museum studio offers a broad table of materials and educators begin with questions about colour, shape or something noticed in the galleries rather than handing out a fixed template. The result is more than an object for the fridge; it is an hour in which family members create beside one another and take each other’s ideas seriously.

Kunstmuseum holds more than 160,000 works, from Mondrian to fashion, decorative art and photography, inside H.P. Berlage’s landmark building. The summer studio compresses the museum’s route from looking to making into a visit of at most one hour: let lines, textures and materials in the collection wake up the eye, then turn that attention into something personal. In the Netherlands 90-day Google Trends comparison, “museum kinderen” retained visible relative interest. This activity answers that intent with a useful distinction: the family does not only view art; everyone participates.

• Open Sundays 9, 16, 23 and 30 August, 10:00-16:00, with drop-in entry.
• All ages are welcome; participation costs €5 per person, excluding museum admission.
• Each studio visit lasts up to one hour and finished work may be taken home.
• Address: Stadhouderslaan 41, 2517 HV Den Haag.

Hokimi field note: choose one exhibition the family wants to see and place the studio in the second half of the visit, when impressions are fresh. Busy periods may require a wait; every child and adult joining the making session needs a workshop ticket.