Hands-on activities, participatory readings, performances, movie matinees, and more events designed for kids and their families.
Read full descriptionExplore the 3-D artistic experiments on view in Dimensionism and create sculptural artworks of your own.
For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)
Start reading the story of a deaf girl who discovers her special powers, and pick up a copy of the book to keep reading at home.
Recommended for ages 8 & up (younger kids welcome as listeners)
Discover Harvey Quaytman’s abstract paintings, then create your own experiments with shape and color.
For ages 6–12 with accompanying adult(s)
Join us to start reading in English and Spanish about a boy whose fascination with Lucha Libre leads him to a surprising discovery! Then, take a copy of the book with you to keep reading at home.
¡Acompáñanos! Empezaremos a leer la historia de un niño a quien le gusta mucho la lucha libre y ¡hace un descubrimiento sorprendente! Entonces, llevarse el libro contigo para seguir leyendo en casa.
Recommended for ages 8 & up (younger kids welcome as listeners)
Recomendado para las edades de 8 años en adelante (niños menores son bienvenidos como oyentes)
Explore BAMPFA exhibitions, make your own art, enjoy a performance by Unique Derique, and check out a screening of animated films by John Canemaker—bring the family and make a day of it!
Make your own Supergraphics-style design in this workshop inspired by pioneering designer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon’s Art Wall project.
For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)
Sample this collection of stories about a school where all sorts of strange and hilarious things happen, and take home a copy to finish reading on your own.
Recommended for ages 8 & up (younger kids welcome as listeners)
Get inspired by Cecilia Vicuña’s work, then work with wood, paint, words, and one another to create art and community.
For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)
Start reading this story about a girl, her dog, and her obsessions—and pick up a copy to keep reading at home.
Recommended for ages 8 & up (younger kids welcome as listeners)
Explore biomorphic forms and fictional characters in Way Bay 2, then create your own colorful sculpture.
For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)
Start reading about the adventures of Ulysses the squirrel and human girl Flora, and pick up your own copy of this entertaining novel to keep reading at home.
Recommended for ages 8 & up (younger kids welcome as listeners)
Create a personal handscroll inspired by Buddhist art in Master Traces, Transcultural Visions.
For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)
Start reading this novel about brotherhood, change, and the power of family, and pick up a copy to keep reading at home.
Recommended for ages 8 & up (younger kids welcome as listeners)
Learn the basics of landscape painting with brush and ink as you make your own scroll inspired by Dreaming the Lost Ming.
For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)
Our first bilingual Roundtable Reading, in Spanish and English! Start reading about a young detective’s latest case, and pick up a copy of the book to continue reading at home.
Recommended for ages 8 & up (younger kids welcome as listeners)
Join us for a free day of art, music, and movies! Explore BAMPFA exhibitions, make your own art, groove to a performance by Alphabet Rockers, and check out a screening of The Red Balloon.
Inspired by figurative works in Way Bay, play with collage and create a portrait of people dear to you in an imagined space that you revere.
For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)
Read the beginning of this book about a large-hearted oak tree who holds people’s wishes, and pick up a copy to continue reading at home.
Recommended for ages 8 & up (younger kids welcome as listeners)
Create mixed-media portraits of yourself and people in your community inspired by Karabo Poppy Moletsane’s Art Wall project.
For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)
Start reading this story of a robot learning to survive on a deserted island, and pick up a copy to continue reading at home.
Recommended for ages 8 & up (younger kids welcome as listeners)
Use watercolors and colored pencils to make your own memorial drawings honoring someone important to you.
For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)
Get into this graphic novel about a girl who finds her inner strength through roller derby, and pick up a free copy to keep reading at home.
Recommended for ages 8 & up (younger kids welcome as listeners)
Use drawing, watercolor, and stamping to create your own landscape inspired by the paintings of Chen Hongshou.
For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)
Read the beginning of this classic story about a girl who runs away to the Metropolitan Museum, and pick up a free copy to keep reading at home.
Recommended for ages 8 & up (younger kids welcome as listeners)
Recommended for ages 8 & up
A hapless prospector tries his luck in the frozen north in a film that glitters with some of Charlie Chaplin’s most memorable nuggets of comedy.
English-language version
Recommended for ages 8 & up
In this Oscar-winning animated fantasy, a ten-year-old girl and her parents stumble upon an abandoned theme park that turns out to be a true magic kingdom.
35mm Archival Print
Recommended for ages 6 & up
Trnka’s adaptation of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a young Chinese emperor enraptured by the song of a mechanical nightingale is awash in lavish storybook imagery. With short Why UNESCO?
35mm Archival Print
Recommended for ages 12 & up
This bewitching stop-motion adaptation of Shakespeare’s romantic tale is a masterpiece of surpassing, balletic beauty that plays out amidst a garlanded, pastel dreamscape. With short The Devil’s Mill.
Introduction by Jan Pinkava
BAMPFA Student Committee Pick
Recommended for ages 7 & up
Accompanying flocks of migratory birds, this documentary “provides such an intense vicarious experience of being a flapping airborne creature . . . that you leave the theater feeling like an honorary member of another species” (New York Times).
Digital Restoration
Following the adventures of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, A Hard Day’s Night perfectly captures the spirit of the times—and, of course, the music is fantastic.
Recommended for ages 11 & up
This beautifully animated feature-length drama is set in Afghanistan, circa 2001, where an eleven-year-old girl is forced to pretend she is a boy after her father is wrongfully imprisoned by the Taliban.
BAMPFA Collection Print
Recommended for ages 8 & up
Irving’s very San Franciscan story of a once-homeless man and the birds he befriended “seduces you with its easy rhythm and unexpected dramatic potency . . . beguiling, moving, and just plain fun” (Baltimore Sun).
Judy Irving and Mark Bittner in Person
Recommended for ages 7 & up
Scolded for not practicing the piano, a nine-year-old boy daydreams himself into a fantastic world where the piano reigns supreme in this funny, clever musical written by Dr. Seuss.
BAMPFA Collection Prints
Recommended for ages 7 & up
Cruikshank’s love of surreal 1930s cartoons is evident in her wildly colorful and wonderfully detailed films, some of which were made for Sesame Street.
Recommended for ages 7 & up
Marvel at a world barely visible to our eyes in this astounding documentary on the insect kingdom, filmed with specially designed micro cameras and close-up lenses.
Recommended for ages 5 & up
What better activity for a Saturday afternoon in winter than a trip down the Yellow Brick Road together with Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Woodsman?
Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 2004) (Hauru no ugoku shiro). English-language version. Ages 9 and up. In an intricately rendered European storybook land, Sophie must help the mysterious magician Howl end both his own curse and an all-too-real war. (119 mins)