Understanding Emotions: A Field Trip To The Children's Museum

A World of Feelings

A facial expression, a gesture big or small, sound and music, colors, and shapes -- all these can represent different kinds of emotions. Sometimes we understand why we feel a certain way but sometimes we cannot. Through all of these, we all need to somehow learn how to understand these feelings (both ours and those around us) to be able to have good relationships.

We got a chance to explore this beautiful exhibit, Emotions! The New Adventure at the Children's Museum at the Louvre Abu Dhabi a few weeks ago. This exhibit opened last June and will end in May 2023. Free for children, the visit to the Children's Museum was an activity that my children loved, especially the two younger ones.

Let the fun begin!

To start the adventure, the kids had to register themselves on the computers installed near the entrance of the museum. There were touch screens where the kids put their own details like their names and age. Their profiles were saved and their wristbands were printed.

Little Man and Little Miss at the registration.

There were challenges inside the museum where they would meet artworks and discover their secrets through a series of games. They needed to observe artworks and answer questions to collect a maximum of points to become a master of emotions.

Little Man choosing the correct silhouette of the art work he observed.

Here are just some of the interesting works of art that the kids got to observe at the exhibit. (clockwise L-R) Sulky Child by Carpeaux Jean-Baptiste, a mask from a traditional Japanese theatre that represents a very sad prince, Tragic Mask of a Young Man, North of Tunisia, and The Submissive Reader by Rene Magritte.

We spent a considerable amount of time here at this exhibit and then later on we were adviced that there were other activities one floor up. Here, the kids had fun exploring sound and music, and were able to do some "art workshops" too.

There were vinyl records with different colors that the kids were able to play. Each record play a different sound that depicts different emotions -- happy, scary, sad, mysterious... each accompanied with a display of lights that add to the feelings.

Artists Workshop

There were a few workshops led by local artists (they have stations with screens at the middle of the tables) that the kids were able to do as well.

Felt Wire Arts

After watching the demonstration on the screen, the kids picked their own wires to make their own stick figures. They soon realized that just a little tweat at the way they bent their wires made their figures look like they were expressing different emotions!

Making Faces

Another fun activity was placing different kinds of expressions on blank faces. The kids were given stickers with different brows, mouth, eyes, blush, and some special characters that enable them to create a different kinds of facial expressions.

There were suggestions on the table, but really, your imagination is the limit!

Little Miss, putting stickers on the blank face.

An art lover that she is, Little Miss also tried drawing faces with the crayons and more blank faces that were provided on another table. They were later on able to display their art works at the wall for the rest of the visitors to see.

Garden of Emotions

One of my personal favorites during the visit was the Garden of Emotions. Here, the kids were able to express their own feelings more.

What makes you angry?

This was a question that was asked on a piece of paper that was in the Garden of Emotions. I encouraged Little Miss to write down her answer on the paper. She later on fed her answer to the Anger Eater.

Throw your anger to the Anger-Eater. There! It disappeared!

What makes you sad?

The next part was when we wrote what makes us sad on a piece of paper and then made an boat origami with it. Once we finished, we let the boat sail at the little canal at the middle of the Garden.

There, our sadness just sailed away...

A Worthwhile Visit

We really appreciate that there are places like the Louvre Abu Dhabi in the city where we as residents can go and enjoy different activities to supplement our homeschooling journ63ey. It is not pricey, considering the place -- we only had to pay AED 63 ($17) for the trip where we had access to the Children's Museum and the main museum, too. Children below 18 can enter the museum for free, while adults are charged AED 63. During our visit, we enjoyed a 50% discount courtesy of the Philippine Embassy.

If you would like to see more about the Louvre Abu Dhabi, you can check out my post below:

A Museum City in the Sea : Louvre Museum, Abu Dhabi