Up, Down and All Around: Daniel Emma for Kids is the latest hands-on child-friendly installation at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Designed by Australian industrial design duo Daniel Emma (partners Daniel To and Emma Aiston), this all-ages exhibition made in collaboration with the NGV and supported by Major Partner, Officeworks, features hands-on kids activities that invite them to create their own designs from unexpected places such as food items or fun shapes. Through these creative challenges, the exhibition seeks to inspire our next generation of budding designers.

If you’re in Melbourne, you can visit the exhibition at the NGV International for free until 8 October, a perfect activity for the September school holidays. But if you can’t make it to the exhibition, or you want to continue the design fun after your visit, help your kids unlock their inner designer with these at-home Daniel Emma-inspired art and craft kids’ activities.

SEE ALSO: Celebrating the Creative Process With Daniel Emma

A girl with glasses and brown hair in a ponytail is sitting at a yellow table, holding a pen and drawing a picture.
Image Courtesy of NGV; Lillie Thompson

Design Challenge: ‘Food for Thought’

Encourage kids to see the world around them in a new way with this food-inspired kids’ activity, based on one of the hands-on drawing experiences at the Up, Down and All Around: Daniel Emma for Kids exhibition.

How to do it

Step 1: Download our template 

Step 2: Choose your favourite food, such as an apple.

Step 3: Sketch the shapes you see and note the colours of the food.

Step 4: Choose one of the objects on the activity sheet, such as a chair.

Step 5: Draw the object inspired by the colours and shapes of the food you have drawn.

DOWNLOAD THE PDF HERE‍

SEE ALSO: What’s Happening at the NGV


A GIF showing an adult and a small child doing the Funny Face Maker activity at the NGV, the brightly-coloured funny shapes and a young girl making a funny face.
Images Courtesy of NGV; Tim Carrafa, Eugene Hyland, Lillie Thompson

Design Challenge: ‘Funny Face Maker’

Help their creativity blossom with this joyful kids’ activity. Use the shapes on the downloadable template to turn planets, watermelons, eggs and more into faces with all sorts of expressions.

How to do it

Step 1: Download our fun activity sheet.

Step 2: Print the shape templates onto coloured paper, white paper to be coloured in or onto vinyl using a Cricut machine.

Step 3: Use the circle template to position the shapes in the place of eyes, noses, ears – anything you think a face should have!

Step 4: Mix and match your arrangement until you get it just right.

Step 5: Share a snap of your funny face with friends and family.

Step 6: Turn your favourite shapes into a bookmark or use them to cover a schoolbook, create a colourful mobile, or even adorn your device by sticking them on directly.

‍DOWNLOAD THE PDF HERE

What To Try

Top image credit: Courtesy of NGV; Lillie Thompson

SEE ALSO: Your Guide to Fun Activities with Preschoolers

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