The World of Frida Exhibit at MB Art Museum

What to expect at the world of frida exhibit at mb art museum

This exhibit is full of the beautiful and interesting work of other artists who have been inspired by Frida’s life and legacy. We recently strolled through with a 3 and 6 year old and lived to tell the tale. Here are our tips for taking young kids to The World of Frida exhibit at MB Art Museum.

Tip #1 | prepare your kids before you go

Truthfully, this may not be necessary but I do think it’s tremendously helpful, especially for empathetic or sensitive-natured kids. I will admit I did not know a lot about Frida Kahlo’s life before so I needed to brush up too.

I knew her artwork was dark and expressed some difficult emotions. And I knew my oldest daughter might have trouble processing some of what she’d see. So here is what we did.

Read Aloud of “Frida Kahlo” by Mary Nhin | We watched this and talked about the earlier experiences in her life that affected her. My daughter feels deeply and she quickly understood all the tragedy that Frida experienced in her early life. My 3-year old got none of it and kept kept asking to watch truck videos.

PREPPED THEM FOR MUSEUM ETIQUETTE | Again, my oldest was a quick study but my 3 year old failed to heed any of the instruction once we actually arrived. Despite this we were not asked to leave, hallelujah. The basic instruction was: no running, no jumping, no loud talking, no touching, no food/drinks, no potty talk. He was 6 for 6 within the first 3 minutes.

tip #2 | take your time, if you can.

SCAVENGER HUNT | The staff have kindly created a scavenger hunt sheet for the kids. This will help slow you down some. It would have been a 10/10 element if the sheet had pictures of the items on it.

Most younger kids (6 and under) will constantly need help even knowing what they should be looking for without a photo. For us that meant I spent more time looking at the scavenger hunt sheet, trying to remember and explain what we should be looking for, than I did actually looking at the artwork. #backfired

It is still a fun component of the visit and the kids get a little prize at the end for completing the task.

TEA ROOM | Another element of the visit that we enjoyed was the little tea room! There is a great little space to pull off and enjoy a cup of hot or iced tea. The kids were delighted at this space and would have easily sat there feeling all adult-y with their cups of tea for a while.

PROPS | Upstairs there are a few little props you can rummage through and take photos with. It’s right outside the classroom space though so we didn’t linger too long for fear of disrupting that.

tip #3 | go back without kids if you really want to appreciate the art

THE ADULT EXPERIENCE | I loved doing this with my kids and 100% recommend you take yours. But it was not very easy to focus on the artwork. I’m sure this will vary significantly based on the kid(s) ages, temperaments, etc. And how well you can tolerance your kids acting like barnyard animals out in public.

If you want to take it all in and have little ones who generally like to cause a riot then maybe consider a second trip when you can be alone or with other adults. It’s free, remember!

BEST DAY & TIME TO VISIT | I can only speak to our experience. We went on a Wednesday morning, around 10:30am, and only encountered a few other people in passing. There were art classes upstairs but they didn’t seem too bothered by our loud coming and going.

other things to note

GIFT SHOP | The gift shop has a few curated Frida items available for purchase. Most feel like better fits for older kids or adults.

MUSEUM HOURS | The museum is closed on Mondays and major holidays.

FREE | Still amazed and grateful that this little gem is free!

HOW LONG YOU’LL BE THERE | We spent about 45 minutes going through the exhibit. But if you have kids with longer attention spans then I’d plan to spend about twice as long as we did.

THE SUBJECT MATTER DID NOT BOTHER THEM | I had messaged the museum staff before our visit to inquire about the artwork we’d see because I had some concerns that my kids might be troubled by it. They said hundreds of children have been through already and they’d heard no issues. I did not direct my kids’ attention to certain pieces but there were some darker ones that they naturally observed without issue. I think it helped that my daughter had been prepared to see some depiction of the pain Frida felt in her life.