Walker Art Center

Leave a Comment / By /
Exterior view of Walker Art Center in Minneapolis Minnesota

Address: 1750 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN, 55403
Upcoming Events: Jump to Walker Art Center Events

Website: Walker Art Center
Phone: 612-375-7600

Exploring Walker Art Center as a family is a fun way to introduce kids to contemporary art. With many family-friendly activities, interactive exhibits, the sculpture garden for squirrely tots, and special teen and tween events, there is engaging fun for everyone in the family at this world-renowned art museum.

Families with kids viewing art at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Walker Art Gallery Exploration:

Some of our favorite family programming includes Free First Saturdays, Sensory Friendly Sundays, Free Thursday nights and teen programming. In the summer, play a family round of mini golf on the roof. In addition to these special events, we have collectively found other ways to make a visit to The Walker a fun and educational family outing.

  1. Scavenger Hunts through the Walker’s Collection and/or Sculpture Garden. You can make these yourself if you have an objective in visiting or you can usually find some printable scavenger hunts on the Walker’s family page or at the front desk.
  2. Printable Activity Books are also available on the Walker’s family page. These, too, are often available at the front desk.
  3. Ask about WAC Packs. While these family-friendly totes are not always available, they are a recurring offering at the museum. When available, each tote includes activities to help dive a little deeper into current exhibits and new works on display.
  4. If you visit regularly, let your little ones lead the way. They will often have favorite exhibits that they want to see every visit – beginning to develop their own artistic taste.
  5. Talk about the art that interests you. Does it inspire you to create your own artwork at home? With teens/tweens, does the piece make them think about current or historical events?
  6. Take advantage of multi-media art and live performances to engage everyone in the family.

Free First Saturdays at the Walker

Kids participating in artmaking activities at Free First Saturday at the Walker
Free First Saturday includes family-friendly activities

The Walker offers free admission on the first Saturday of every month from 10am to 5pm. On these days, they also offer a variety of family-friendly activities – both indoors and out in the sculpture garden. Each month focuses on a special exhibition or cultural topic and often include local artists and community members sharing their knowledge. While free days can be busy, they are good days to visit if you have an interest in a current exhibit. Chances are there will be guided tours and hands-on learning to go along with the exhibit.

Gianna’s tips for Free First Saturdays with kids:

  • Go right away in the morning. I was told multiple times that at noon, it becomes insane!
  • Plan to do 3 or 4 of the offered activities, not all of them.
  • Once the tots get tired, STOP. Walker offers Free First Saturday every month, so you can see more next time.
  • Park in the underground ramp. The parking fee divided by 4 children was totally worth it especially since it was raining.

Sensory Friendly Sundays at the Walker

Toddler exploring Walker Art Center
Families can enjoy the museum in a calm environment on Sensory-Friendly Sundays.

Sensory Friendly Sunday is usually the second Sunday of each month and is a free event designed for children, teens, and adults with sensory processing differences, autism spectrum disorder, or developmental disabilities. This event is free but pre-registration is encouraged because the museum is otherwise closed to the general public. Families can enjoy the museum in a calm environment with accommodations such as quiet spaces, noise-canceling headphones, and sunglasses available. Special art-making activities and films will be offered as well as the Walker’s current exhibits.

Mini Golf at the Walker

Boys playing mini golf at Walker Art Center
Mini Golf is offered each summer.

Most summers, museum patrons can play a round of mini golf on a course designed by artists. Anne and Joy had a chance to try it out when it was still played in the garden. Now the course is on the roof of the museum, offering the same great game, but with a skyline view.

Photos of Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden


Image credit: Ace of Lemons.

Membership

If the free-day crowds bother you, remember youth age 18 and under are always free and a Dual membership is only $6/month or $80/year – making the Walker one of the best family membership deals in the Twin Cities. Membership includes free admission for the year and discounted tickets to Walker Cinema – a great date night or family outing with older children and teens.

Walker Art Center

Related Articles:

• Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
• Family Friendly Mini Golf Courses in the metro area

The Walker – Is this Art?

Originally published by Gianna Kordatzky February 19, 2015

Transmission by Jadé Fadojutimi - 2020 hanging in Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Transmission by Jadé Fadojutimi – 2020

“Is this art? Or is it going to be something later?” I called to the man across the room.
“No, that’s art,” came his reply.
“Oh, okay.” Pause. “Thanks.”
Apparently, I have a lot to learn about art.

It's a Draw - For Robert Rauschenberg by Trisha Brown (2008) hanging in Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
It’s a Draw – For Robert Rauschenberg by Trisha Brown (2008)

My family and I had decided that we wanted to discover the Walker Art Center on the First Free Saturday in April.
Let me tell you about the Walker Art Center. First of all, it’s pretty famous! Even if you aren’t from Minnesota, you have probably seen this:

Family Fun at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Spoon & Cherry by Claes Oldenburg

This sculpture is in the Walker Art Center Sculpture Garden which is free and open to the public. However, the Walker Art Center is not usually free. Every Thursday evening from 5-9pm it is free to the public and every first Saturday of the month it is free from 10am-5pm and they have special activities for the family until 3. This month eight activities were scheduled including a performance of Big Little Brother with Kevin Kling and Chris Monroe.

Here is a sampling of some of the art making activities we participated in to give you an idea of what a visit with the whole family might be like for you:

  • Felt Garden was fun for the kids to join artists from the Textile Center in making wool felted garden objects. Lots of people made leaves and flowers and butterflies. My children? Watermelon, two carrots, and a banana. Then, the Textile Center artists sewed each object onto a piece of fabric that was going to go on tour and ultimately end up on display in their gallery. How COOL is that? We can participate wholeheartedly and not take a single thing home! Instead, we can go see my children’s artwork on actual display! Now, this is a mama’s dream come true.
  • Fill the Gap was an opportunity to sculpt with modeling clay. And their models? Teeth and smiles. They could use just the clay or they could make a mixed media project with paper AND clay. Everyone got into this activity even though mostly the teeth didn’t really look like teeth at all. And once they got home? They were pretty much obliterated!
  • Lifelike Scavenger Hunt was interesting. We had to tour around two galleries looking for 12 different objects. It was super fun!
    We took a quick peek at the Poison and Candy display in another gallery. We were supposed to wear 3D glasses to make the candy-like pictures do something. But they did nothing for me. As we wound our way deeper into this collection, I started to notice a sinister vibe to his work. Suddenly, I turned around to see Wordgirl in another part of a gallery looking very intently at a picture. Just as I turned around, I heard a gasp, “She’s NAKED!” Princess Pea had noticed what Wordgirl was looking at before I did. Well, it was about time we were done. We were just going to take a quick peek anyway!
  • The highlight of visiting the Walker Art Center came not because of what the Walker had to offer, but instead of what it couldn’t offer. And that was a working elevator. So instead, we had to use the freight elevator! Let me tell you, we rode that thing up and down multiple times! It was FANTASTIC! We felt like we were in NYC. This was by far our favorite thing to do! When you visit, pray that the regular elevator doesn’t work so that you can experience the joy of the freight elevator. I absolutely know that my children will be sad next month when they have to take the regular elevator!

Getting There:

Located across from Loring Park where Lyndale and Hennepin merge, it can be difficult to get to at times (especially during construction). It is also difficult to find free parking in the area. However, the lot is not outrageously priced and, as Gianna tells us below, even the underground ramp is worth parking in with a big family.

Admission:

Visitors can order tickets online or purchase them at the museum. Children ages 18 and under are always FREE. In addition the family can visit for FREE on the first Saturday of each month and Thursday evenings. Gallery tickets are still required during these events.

Useful Links

Upcoming Family-Friendly Events


Fun Past Events We Hope to See Again


Please Note: FamilyFunTwinCities.com is an independent website run by Twin Cities families for Twin Cities families. We attempt to include the information we find most essential as parents. We make every effort to keep up with changes. However, we are not employed by or connected to this venue, and information sometimes changes without our knowledge. We recommend calling or checking the venue’s website for up-to-date information.

No. 61

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top