Learning Resources
Explore learning resources created by and for the teachers, youth, families, and other members of our MCA Learning Community.
Tour Videos
Look closely at artworks and explore themes of MCA exhibitions with these videos.
TV for Aliens
Visit the MCA from wherever you are in this Tour Video Series dedicated to discovering more about the world, our communities, and ourselves through contemporary art.
TV for Water
Learning about contemporary art isn’t just a matter of historical facts and artist biographies. Contemporary art is special and important because it can help us see our present moment in new ways. Join the MCA’s Manager of School Programs, Jeremy Kreusch, to explore an exhibition called “Water After All.” Look at four different artworks that mirror for different aspects of water. Discover ways art can inspire us to engage with ourselves, one another, and the world we share.
TV for Your Body
Visit the MCA from wherever you are in this Tour Video Series dedicated to discovering more about the world, our communities, and ourselves through contemporary art.
TV for the Last Thanks
Visit the MCA from wherever you are in this episode of the "Tour Video" series, dedicated to discovering more about the world, our communities, and ourselves through contemporary art.
TV for Ave María Purísima (Enlightenment 8)
Visit the MCA from wherever you are in this episode of the "Tour Video" series, dedicated to discovering more about the world, our communities, and ourselves through contemporary art.
Families
Activities for family members of all ages
River Portraits
Installation view, Carolina Caycedo: From the Bottom of the River, MCA Chicago Dec 12, 2020–Sep 12, 2021
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA ChicagoVirtual Family Gallery
Explore artworks on view at the MCA through movement, mindfulness, art-making, picture-book reading, and conversation prompts. With simple click-through instructions, embedded video and audio, and high-quality artwork images, this virtual gallery is designed to be used by children and their caregivers and teachers.
MCA Virtual Gallery
Caring Connections
Artworks from The Quarantine Times installed at the MCA as part of The Long Dream exhibition. Installation view, The Long Dream, MCA Chicago November 7, 2020–January 17, 2021
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA ChicagoJust like the artists who formed the Quarantine Times to help other artists during the pandemic, you can use art to strengthen the bonds of care and support within your community.
Imagination Journals
By Kathryn Trumbull Fimreite at the Chicago Creative Reuse Exchange
Monuments for Small Things
Installation view, The Long Dream, MCA Chicago November 7, 2020–January 17, 2021
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA ChicagoCreate a 3D monument to something small and not usually celebrated.
Sanctuary Spaces
Installation view, The Long Dream, MCA Chicago November 7, 2020–January 17, 2021
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA ChicagoCreate a sanctuary space in your home to find comfort and joy in your body
Championship Banners
Transforming Tools
Jim Dine, (American, b. 1935). Tools, 1970. Lithograph on paper; 39 ½ × 53 ¾ in. (100.3 × 139.1 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of American Art Foundation, 1980.58
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA ChicagoQueer Plushies
Activity by Mikey Anderson
Art For Windows
Wolfgang Tillmans, German, b. 1968 Window Caravaggio, 1997 Chromogenic development print Sheet: 82 ½ × 54 ½ in. (209.6 × 138.4 cm); framed: 86 5/8 × 58 ½ × 2 ½ in. (220 × 148.6 × 6.4 cm)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Joseph and Jory Shapiro Fund by exchange, 2006.13 Nathan Keay, © MCA ChicagoBy Jeremy Kreusch and Grace Needlman
Animal Mashups
René Magritte, Belgian, 1898–1967
Les merveilles de la nature (The Wonders of Nature), 1953
Oil on canvas
Encased: 42 5/8 × 50 5/8 × 6 1/2 in. (108.3 × 128.6 × 16.5 cm)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro, 1982.48
Draw INTO the Page
Activity by Lucia Calderon Arrieta
Squiggly Window Art
By James Jankowiak
Paper Dolls
Make paper dolls that represent your ever-changing identity. Join Lizz for a live paper doll-making demonstration and to show off your own paper dolls during Family Day on May 9.
Friendly Faces
H.C. Westermann, American, 1922–1981
Memorial to the Idea of Man If He Was an Idea, 1958
Pine, bottle caps, cast-tin toys, glass, metal, brass, ebony, and enamel
56 1/2 × 38 × 14 1/4 in. (143.5 × 96.5 × 36.2 cm)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Susan and Lewis Manilow Collection of Chicago Artists, 1993.34
If we weren’t already, we’re now well-acquainted with everything in the four walls of our home. While we’re staying safe, how can we continually find new joy and inspiration?
Crankie Scrolls
An illustrated guide shows twelve steps to creating crankie scrolls.
Courtesy of Myra SuRecycled Balones
An informational illustration demonstrating how to make hand-made toy balls from recycled materials. Drawings by Angella Kilabo. Graphic design by Rosario A. Aybar..
Educators
Teacher Resource: Alien vs. Citizen
An in-depth resource for teaching and learning with the art and ideas in the exhibition Alien vs. Citizen. Includes images, interpretive materials, activity guides, discussion prompts, and lesson plans.
CURRICULUM: Writing Interpretive Labels
An experiment in label-writing as a practice of colearning for community members, artists, museum staff, and visitors.
CURRICULUM GENERATOR
Peculiar Personal Portraits
Broken Portrait example by Corinne Mucha
by Corinne Mucha
Handmade Memory
Squeeze playdough to make a hand impression.
by Anna Showers-Cruser
Teacher Institute
Youth
This resource reimagines gallery activities and exercises used in our Multiple Visit Program to help students practice speaking, listening, observing, and questioning skills at home.
Downloads
The Frame, Your Body, Residue
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled" (The End), 1990. Print on paper, endless copies; 22 in. (at ideal height) x 28 x 22 in. (55.9 x 71.1 x 55.9 cm) (original paper size). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, restricted gift of Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz; Bernice and Kenneth Newberger Fund, 1995.11. © The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation, courtesy of Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA ChicagoActivities by Joelle Mercedes, supplementary text by Jeremy Kreusch
Conversations That Go Too Far
Workshopping Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech”
Proper Etiquette and Acceptable Behaviors
An artist guide converses with students in BMO Harris Bank Chicago Works: Sarah and Joseph Belknap (Oct 11, 2014–Febr 24, 2015) during a Teacher Institute student tour on October 31, 2015
Photo: Joshua Longbrake, © MCA ChicagoIn Touch
Selva Aparicio, Tejo (Hopscotch) (detail), 2018. Steel, felt, and Portland cement casts from human dead donors; 2 x 192 x 48 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Photo: Robert Chase Heishman.by Selva Aparicio
Folding Paper Cranes
Performance view, Stan Shellabarger & Dutes Miller:Untitled (Pink Tube), MCA Chicago, Oct 15–Nov 19, 2013
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA ChicagoFolding Paper Cranes Video