This introductory session is suited for those who find themselves in the art gallery for the first time: we'll learn about the art collection and its creators; reveal the secret of how to recognize the oldest painting on display, discuss the special care for artworks, and get acquainted with the basics of museum etiquette. We'll feel like the creators of the exhibition and bring our creative ideas to life in the art workshop.

Would you like to find yourself in Narva a hundred years ago? Walk through its ancient streets, enjoy the view of church spires towering over the city, peek into the windows of Peter the Great's House? All this is possible at the exhibition of pre-war Narva in miniature. Here you will learn what Old Narva looked like more than a hundred years ago and why the city was called the "pearl of Northern Baroque." Additionally, we will visit the permanent exhibition hall to meet the city's inhabitants looking at us from 18th-20th-century portraits. We will find out how the city lived and what its inhabitants did. In the workshop, each participant will create volumetric models of houses, which can be assembled into an entire city.

The gem of the museum's art collection is a series of Baroque portraits of Russian and European rulers of the 18th century. Based on it, we will introduce children to different types of portrait genres and discuss the purposes of rulers' portraits. Children will experience what it is like to pose for an artist and try to unravel the mysteries of portraits left by artists for viewers. At the end of the session, we'll create our version of one of the portraits from the Narva Museum's collection.

In this museum session, we will explore the feelings and relationships of the characters in paintings. We'll pay attention to those works whose plots resonate with everyday emotions: joy and failure, delight and surprise, admiration and sadness. By studying the images of the characters, we'll learn to describe the emotions and experiences of others. We'll talk about the importance of expressing one's feelings and the secrets of happiness. We'll express emotions in creative work in the art studio.

At the beginning of the session, we will explore the children's book "I'm (Not Very) Afraid of the Dark," which will immerse participants in the mysterious world of shadows and silhouettes created using a flashlight right on the walls and ceiling of the room. At the permanent exhibition, we'll learn the history of this art form, see ancient silhouette drawings of fairy tale heroes by the famous 19th-century artist Elisabeth Boehm, as well as other contour images that encourage children to fantasize about their meaning. The session will end with creating a cardboard puppet and a small improvised performance in the shadow theatre..

In this museum session, students will explore one of the main elements of art, such as color. The picture book "Mouse Paint" will help recall which colors are primary in nature and how new colors are created from their combinations. Using picturesque landscapes as examples, we'll delve into the vast array of shades that fill our lives and how color affects our perception and mood. In the workshop, we'll paint a landscape, carefully exploring the process of creating new shades and composing our palette of colors.

The program will introduce children to iconography – a special phenomenon in the local cultural space, in simple language. Using 17th-19th-century Orthodox icons as examples, children will learn who and why is depicted on icons, why some icons seem completely different, while others are so similar, why there is often so much gold on them. We will also discover why some icons can resemble an entire comic book. Inspired by icons with the lives of saints, the youngest participants will try to compile and tell a story assembled from pictures. The second part of the session will take place in the art studio. Children will learn the recipe for traditional egg tempera paint, known to medieval icon painters. After an exciting paint mixing session, each will draw their storyline.