Birdcage Press: Art Up Close Game {Schoolhouse Crew Review}

We *LOVE* using games in our Homeschool. On days when everyone is mopey or whiny a well done game can lift everyone’s spirits. I personally love educational games, because the kids are still learning, but I get the bonus “cool mom” points for letting them stop doing school, and play instead. For this review, we were so thrilled to be given Birdcage Press’ card game, Art Close Up: The Museum of Modern Art.

What it the Art Close Up Game

This Art Close Up game contains 24 paintings from The Museum of Modern Art, to make a 48 card deck. 24 cards are an image of the full painting, with the artist’s name, the painting title, and year. The other 24 cards have a “close up” image of a portion of each painting.

The cards are slightly larger than normal playing cards, at about 2.5 x 4 inches. They are printed in full color, and the images are high-resolution and an amazing quality.

The game comes with instructions to play 4 different educational card games (games like memory, old maid, go fish and a game for young children they call “masterpiece match”) and a suggestion to take the cards with you to The Museum of Modern Art to have a scavenger hunt.

Our experience with Art Close Up

I immediately fell in love with these cards. Normally, when I open a new deck of flash cards, I laminate them right away, but these were so thick and high quality. I feel like they are sturdy enough for the kids to play with and I don’t have to worry about them. The corners are even rounded so no little fingers were “poked”.

The kids took to this game quickly too. The Museum of Modern Art has so many beautiful paintings, and my kids love to just sit and look over the cards even if they aren’t playing together. They are the perfect size for little hands to be able to enjoy them.

The magic of these cards really is the “close up” element. I love going to art museums because I like to stand close to a painting and really look at the strokes of color, and how it was put together. These cards allow for a child to get that up close experience without a museum curator breathing down their necks. It didn’t take long for Mr. Man to recognize pointillism in the paintings, or admire the strokes of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

The educational potential here is huge, from just a few rounds, Bug can recognize the names of the paintings as well as the artist who painted them. Birdcage Press has many different Art Card games, including a game for Ancient Egyptian art, art movements, artists and various museums across the United States. I have a feeling I will be collecting art games from this company for many years to come!

In a Nutshell

Birdcage Press’ Art Up Close: The Museum of Modern Art game was a huge hit in our home. The company recommends it for ages 5+, however all my children, even the 2 year old, were able to use it and enjoy it. The educational value is high, and within a few days, the kids are able to recognize paintings and the artist who created them. I would highly recommend this game to any art lover, and strongly suggest you check out the rest of Birdcage Press’ offerings for Art, Science and History Games.

Pricing Information

Art Up Close: The Museum of Modern Art is available from Birdcage Press for 10.95