Lesson Plans and Pre-visit Guides

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• 19th-Century European Painting (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the range of artistic styles that developed in response to a period of profound social, political, and cultural transformation, including Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Impressionism. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• Animal-Inspired Masks and Masquerades (Lesson Plan)

  Help students understand the connections between art and the environment of Guinea, animal anatomy, and the cultural context of the Banda mask with the help of viewing questions and a dance activity in the Museum's African Art galleries.

• Arabic Script and the Art of Calligraphy (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify visual qualities of several calligraphic scripts; recognize ways artists from the Islamic world engage various scripts to enhance works of art supporting a range of functions; and assess the merits of several computer-generated fonts in supporting specific uses.

• Armor—Function and Design (Lesson Plan)

  Identify moveable and static features of armor as well as functional and symbolic surface details and examine similarities and differences between human and animal "armor" through classroom viewing questions. Enhance the lesson with a sketching activity based on an English suit of armor in the Museum's collection.

• Art and Empire—The Ottoman Court (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to recognize ways a tughra functioned as a symbol of power and authority within a culturally diverse and geographically expansive empire.

• Art of Ancient Egypt (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the art of ancient Egypt, made primarily for religious and magical purposes and reflective of the culture's desire for order, beliefs about eternity, and love of life. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, themes to consider, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• Art of the American Wing (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to American art from the early colonial period through World War I. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery maps, tour-planning guidelines, recommendations for engaging students with works of art in the galleries, and suggested works of art to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• Art of the Americas (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the roots of civilization in the ancient Americas through Precolumbian art created mainly for ceremonial and ritual purposes. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, themes to consider, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• Art of the Ancient Near East (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to works of art reflecting the rich and complex cultures that flourished for thousands of years across a vast geographical region and gave rise to many features of modern civilization. Use the guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, background information and themes, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to one of the most comprehensive collections of Islamic art in the world, including both secular and religious works created in a broad range of media over a vast geographic expanse from the seventh to late nineteenth century. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery descriptions, tour-planning tips, discussion questions, suggested works of art, teaching themes, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• Beyond the Figure (Lesson Plan)

  Consider how artists convey personality in nonfigural portraits and the relationship between visual and verbal expression by looking at a painting by Charles Demuth in the Museum's Modern and Contemporary galleries and through a portrait-making activity in the classroom.

• Ceramics in China and the Near East (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify ways works of art reflect exchange between Chinese and Near Eastern civilizations; recognize ways animals act as symbols in various cultures; and create a tile that highlights the qualities and traits commonly associated with an animal.

• Composing a Landscape (Lesson Plan)

  Study the relationship between the human and natural worlds in art, as well as the techniques artists use to convey ideas, by exploring a painting by Frederic Edwin Church in the Museum's American Wing. Extend the lesson through a writing and drawing activity in the classroom, or a sketching activity outdoors.

• Court Arts of Islamic Spain (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify shared visual characteristics among several works of art from Islamic Spain; recognize ways designs are adapted across a range of media; and cite strengths and limitations of various materials.

• Daily Life in Medieval Nishapur (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to recognize ways works of art reflect medieval Nishapur's status as an important center of trade; use visual evidence to support inferences; and apply an original two-dimensional design to a three-dimensional form (in alternative activity).

• Domestic Life in Eighteenth-Century Damascus (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to understand how a reception room from the house of an affluent family in eighteenth-century Damascus reflects the tastes, interests, and life of the urban elite in a provincial city of the Ottoman empire; and recognize ways interiors from different time periods and places (including their own) reflect the personal tastes, interests, and values of their inhabitants.

• Engaging the Elements (Lesson Plan)

  Engage students' interest in the relationships between the human and natural worlds, and art and the environment through a mask-making activity and viewing questions for the classroom about a mask from Alaska in the Museum's Native North American collection.

• European Paintings (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to depictions of the classical world, genre works, landscapes, and still lifes created amid the religious, political, and intellectual shifts in Renaissance through the eighteenth-century Europe. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• Geometric Design in Islamic Art (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to use a compass and straightedge to construct regular polygons; and recognize ways works of art from the Islamic world utilize geometric forms and relationships.

• Gods, Goddesses, and the Supernatural (Lesson Plan)

  Enrich students' understanding of how the ancient Assyrians used art to convey messages through a classroom writing and art-making activity and viewing questions related to a monumental sculpture in the Museum's Ancient Near East collection.

• Haremhab—General and Scribe (Lesson Plan)

  Capture students' imaginations in the Egyptian galleries with viewing questions about a sculpture portrait and an observation activity about analyzing portraits, relationships between art and cultural values, and the ways different communities communicate through images and text.

• Islam and Religious Art (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify important figures and events in early Islamic history; recognize ways works of art reflect and support religious beliefs and practices; and use visual evidence to support inferences.

• Manet—Critics and Champions (Lesson Plan)

  Exercise students' sensory and descriptive powers in the Museum or the classroom with an imaginative activity and viewing questions focused on a painting by Édouard Manet. Examine the ways artists are inspired by the past and help students understand the context of Manet's career.

• Medieval Beasts and Bestiaries (Lesson Plan)

  Explore the use of animals as symbols in medieval art with viewing questions and a group drawing activity at The Cloisters or in the classroom.

• Modern and Contemporary Art (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the effects that industrialization, mechanization, and massive population shifts to cities had on art, as well as the rise of abstraction, formalism, and art that employs new media and technologies. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, themes to consider, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• Science and the Art of the Islamic World (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify similarities and differences between scientific tools used now and long ago; and use research findings to support observations and interpretations.

   

• Shiva—Creator, Protector, and Destroyer (Lesson Plan)

  Inspire students to interpret, communicate through, and personally connect with art through an in-classroom examination of a powerful sculpture in the Museum's Indian art collection and a self-portrait activity.

• Take It to the Afterlife (Lesson Plan)

  Delve into daily life and the afterlife in ancient Egypt, as well as strategies for visual analysis and interpretation of art, through viewing questions and a sketching activity in the Museum's Egyptian galleries.

• The Art of Africa (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the heritage of cultures south of the Sahara through works of art imbued with social, religious, and political significance. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, background information, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• The Art of Ancient Greece and Rome (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to Greek and Roman art from the Neolithic period to the time of Constantine the Great, representing virtually every medium in which ancient artists and craftsman worked. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, background information and themes, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• The Art of China (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the primary ideas, values, and traditions of one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations, as reflected in one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of its art in the West. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, background information and themes, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• The Art of Industry (Lesson Plan)

  Use viewing questions and a debate activity to investigate the relationship between art and community values, techniques artists use to convey ideas, and strategies for interpreting an American painting in the Museum's Modern and Contemporary galleries.

• The Art of Medieval Europe (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the art of the Middle Ages, notable for its expressions of beauty, complexity and importance of meaning, and establishment of new standards for technical achievement. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, themes to consider, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• The Arts of Japan (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the range of styles, formats, and subjects that have characterized Japanese art over the centuries. Use this guide's collection and gallery overviews, tour-planning tips, recommendations for engaging students, suggested themes and works of art, and list of resources to make the most of your visit to the Museum.

• The Battle of David and Goliath (Lesson Plan)

  Illuminate strategies for conveying stories through images in the classroom with viewing questions about a large silver plate in the Museum's Medieval collection and an illustrating activity.

• The Burghers of Calais (Lesson Plan)

  Convey the interpretive significance of pose and expression in the visual arts—in the Museum or the classroom—with viewing questions and a story-writing activity inspired by a nineteenth-century French sculpture by Auguste Rodin.

• The Chinese Garden Court (Lesson Plan)

  Explore the Museum's Chinese garden court and enhance students' understanding of how traditional Chinese gardens reflect the concept of yin and yang and how material selection and design can convey ideas about the human and natural worlds. Use viewing questions and a storytelling or drawing activity in the Museum's Chinese galleries.

• The Making of a Persian Royal Manuscript (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify some of the key events and figures presented in the Persian national epic, the Shahnama (Book of Kings); make connections between the text and the illustrated pages of the manuscript produced for Shah Tahmasp; and create a historical record of their community.

• The Mughal Court and the Art of Observation (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to recognize ways works of art reflect an intense interest in observation of the human and natural world among Mughal leaders; and understand ways works of art from the past and present communicate ideas about the natural world.

• The Nomads of Central Asia—Turkmen Traditions (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify ways art of the Turkmen people of Central Asia reflects nomadic life and understand the functional and symbolic role objects play in their lives.

• The Power behind the Throne (Lesson Plan)

  Bring the Museum's African collection into the classroom with viewing questions and an art-making activity that cultivate visual analysis and an understanding of how surface detail and composition can express themes of power and leadership.

• The Power in Portraits (Lesson Plan)

  Examine the Met's Roman collection at the Museum or in the classroom with viewing questions and a writing and self-portrait activity that explore the ways leaders communicate their power and values through portraiture.

• The Story in Art (Lesson Plan)

  Develop students' abilities to analyze and employ narrative elements in art with in-classroom viewing questions about a work in the Museum's European paintings collection and a story-writing and illustrating activity.

• Urban Life and the Natural World (Lesson Plan)

  Engage students regarding the strengths and limitations of artistic mediums and 1920s rural and urban life in the United States with viewing questions about a stained-glass window and a compare-and-contrast activity in the Museum's American Wing.

• Venice and the Islamic World (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to recognize evidence of artistic exchange and mutual influence between Venice and the Islamic world in works of art and use informational texts as a resource to substantiate inferences.

• Voices of the Past (Lesson Plan)

  Focus on a slit gong in the Museum's Oceanic collection to illustrate the impact of scale in works of art, and consider objects' functions in their original contexts and ways different communities engage with their elders and ancestors. Classroom viewing questions and an oral history activity enhance the lesson.