The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, provides educational resources to help teachers and students deeply explore artworks, artists, artistic media, and artistic styles.
The National Gallery’s online educational series “Who Am I? Self Portraits in Art and Writing” helps middle school students begin to answer the question, “Who Am I?” The lessons use self-portraits from the Gallery’s collection to inspire students to create their own self-portraits, as well as poems, speeches, and letters.
For example, in one classroom activity, students are introduced to the art of Andy Warhol as a way of considering photography as a self-portrait medium. After viewing and discussing other artists’ photographic self-portraits, students create their own digitally manipulated photographic self-portrait and then write a poem to describe the point of view taken in their digital work of art.
And, if you need ideas for how to talk about art with little ones, the National Gallery offers Art Tales, online teaching packets to use with prekindergarten children. You can explore artworks with children (such as Henri Matisse’s paper cutouts), read books with related themes (for example, Henri’s Scissors), and then follow up the exploration and reading with a hands-on artmaking experience (in this example, “painting” with scissors).
A PDF version of Art Tales is accessible to download, for free, in English and Spanish, as are related coloring pages and cutouts, in English and Spanish, for extra creative fun. Printed copies of Art Tales are also available on a limited-request basis.
Plus, educators based in the United States can request a free poster set from the National Gallery. The posters will arrive in late 2025 and feature artworks with information and activities in both English and Spanish. Among the posters are Dorothea Lange’s photograph of multiethnic children in a public school engaged in a flag pledge ceremony.
In addition to these educational resources, the National Gallery of Art offers a selection of in-person and virtual field trips (via Zoom). For example, on the “American Connections” field trip, students observe and explore landscapes, portraits, and scenes of everyday life. The field trip can be tailored to connect with different periods in American history. The experience is suited to students in grades 3–12, who actively engage with works of art through discussion, creative writing, and sketching. Requests for fall 2025 field trips (September 29–December 5) will be accepted from August 1 through November 1.