Children's Programs

NIC Discovery Center

The Discovery Center, the educational hub of the museum, hosts nearly 10,000 visitors every year, including over 7500 children. In the Discovery Center visitors can enjoy the arts with hands-on activities at any of these seven learning stations: Puppet theater, rubbing table, kiddies corral, chalkboard wall, fractal station, mask making station, little library, or the two exhibit enrichment centers.

Artist of the Month Program

Gallery and Educational Standards

Student Docent Program
The NIC Student Docent Program is a six week visual literacy and leadership training program for fifth graders. This docent program has shown that students are actually better at relating art exhibits to their peers than staff and volunteer docents.

Art Camp
For two weeks in the summer and weekday afternoons during the school year, children learn puppet making, clay making, sculpture, drawing and various art methods.

Outreach
The Outreach program has NIC staff visiting local elementary schools to provide art enrichment lessons to students while teachers are attending in service meetings.

Teen Afternoons
This program invites teens ages 12-18 to express themselves year round in arts and crafts like macramé , henna, candle making, open mic night, community murals and other popular art forms.

Artworks
The Artworks program is designed to help at risk children cope with distressing situations. The staff and contract artists visit children at Hemry Home, Seton House, Mercer House, Casper Center and McKinley School to engage these at risk children in therapeutic art sessions.

  (If you are in a group larger than 10, there is a small fee per visitor.)