enjoy an art museum today

Now that school is out, many parents are looking for interesting, fun alternatives to sitting around at home watching their children fight over toys they weren't even interested in before their brother wanted them.

Happily, if you live in a city, there is likely an art museum waiting for you to visit. Here in Dallas, we are in the middle of a rainy spell, but normally we look for indoor options due to the extreme heat. Either way, one of our favorite things to do is create and explore at the Dallas Museum of Art.

I am not saying we spend a lot of time discussing their Kandinsky collection, although we do visit the exhibit halls sometimes. But we spend most of our time in their fabulous children's area, surrounded by beautiful art in a well-designed, child-friendly space. There are various stations at which we can experiment with rubbings, sketching, collage, sculpture, and more. There are opportunities for all age groups, and I enjoy myself as much as the children do.

Not only does this get the kids using their imaginations, but research shows that doing art actually puts your brain in a similar state to that of meditation. It is actually healing, creating new, more peaceful neural pathways - basically the opposite of the effect of television on the brain.