Quote: We went to check out the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Family Sunday Halloween festivities. The AGNS had a display on ancient Egypt this year, so the Halloween activities focused on Egyptian symbols. Immediately inside the front door, there is a giant spider to help decorate, with bits of scraps to tie on.

The prices are: Family Rate (2 adults +3 youths) $25, adults $12, senior (60+) $10, students $5, youth (6-17)$3, children 5 and under - free, but they charge an extra $3 for special exhibits (like the Egyptian Stuff). We had a coupon for buy-one-get-one-free so our total cost was $21.

To get to the Egypt display, you take the elevator to the basement and go underground to a second building. The elevators are all well marked with pictures showing which floor to go to.

The Egyptian Theme stuff had a tour guide, which my kids don't enjoy (and they tend to annoy other patrons), so we skipped that, but Mom went on it. I took the kids to see the mummies, and the 8-year-old enjoyed trying the scavenger hunt in the tour guide. It was a great way to learn about mummies and ancient Egypt, without bothering others.

We also looked some of the other displays while we were there, but briefly. We looked at several paintings by Canadian artists. The kids favourite was the model of the large sculpture that is outside in the courtyard.

The gallery does a good job of making things a bit more interesting for the kids by providing spots where they can sit and do related activities for a few minutes. In the featured exhibit section, there is a room with a table filled with puzzles, books, etc., related to the exhibit. So, in this case there was a hieroglyphic puzzle, and several books on Egypt and mummies. It was a nice quiet place where the kids could do something for a few minutes. In the bottom of the gallery there is a room where kids could make plasticine pictures or magnetic poetry.

There were lots of fun things for the kids, including making Egyptian amulets, necklaces, rings out of standard craft stuff. There was lots of room for all the kids, and a few adult helpers. The kids were free to do whatever they wanted, but there were ideas presented.

There was a preschool craft room where the kids could make plaster spiders, skulls, or pumpkins, and paint them. They also had some goop to play with. It was a great room for the baby because it had some blocks, a chalk board, and a nice shelf filled with books to look at. It was someplace he could walk around for a few minutes.

We really enjoyed the art gallery, and will go there again on a family Sunday. They had extra stuff going on for Halloween, but the AGNS is always a family friendly place.
From journals Fall in Dartmouth with the Kids

Quote: The Art gallery has around 5000 pieces of Canadian and provincial art. There are some changing exhibits as well, when I visited there was a very bizarre collection of German prints (although I am no major art critic!) On the first floor near the recption there is a permanent exhibit on the painted house of Maud Lewis, a local folk artist. Maud's unusual painted house has been preserved and some orginal pieces from it are on show for visitors. Visitors can use a CD ROM set up close to the exhibit to obtain further information on this folk art treasure.

I found the layout of the building somewhat confusing as offices for the musuem are set alongside some of the exhibits. I wandered into one by mistake, which was a tad embarrassing. There is a small shop in the museum, where there some unusual local craft to buy (although it can be quite expensive).

From journals Winter in Halifax, Nova Scotia