Show & Tell: An Exhibition for Kids

This fall, the Walker Art Center will open an interactive exhibition designed specifically for children, inviting one-of-a-kind play and learning among some of the museum’s youngest visitors. Titled Show & Tell, the exhibition features artworks from the Walker’s renowned collection that connect with kid-friendly subjects such as animals, alphabets, food, miniature worlds, and imaginary creatures. Among the artists included are Fischli/Weiss, Katharina Fritsch, Jeffrey Gibson, Cas Holman, Caroline Kent, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Yinka Shonibare, and Rirkrit Tiravanija. Presented in a vibrant, specially designed environment, the exhibition emphasizes participatory, hands-on exploration and encourages kids and their adults to engage their senses and imaginations. Show & Tell will be on view from November 20, 2025–April 5, 2026.    

Show & Tell continues the Walker’s approach to leveraging its growing collection to engage audiences in new and compelling ways. It follows the institution’s multi-part presentation Make Sense of This, which featured collection works and invited visitors to provide feedback on content that they might like to see in the galleries, and the complete reimagining of the Walker’s collection galleries, under the title This Must be the Place. The new collection galleries, which opened last summer, took learnings from Make Sense of This and grounded the presentation in accessible and resonant themes relating to the idea of “home.” Show & Tell also reflects the Walker’s commitment to cross-disciplinary collaboration, with the exhibition resulting from the joint efforts of the institution’s Visual Arts, Moving Image, Design, and Public Engagement, Learning, and Impact teams.   

Show & Tell engages young visitors through distinct zones, designated by lively graphics that empower kids to have fun and create meaning on their own terms:  

FIND: This zone is anchored by a bespoke wall, which invites visitors to discover artworks by peering through an array of porthole windows, behind which artworks are installed in cavities within the wall. The wall engages with surprise and play, allowing visitors to move between the portholes to encounter a range of works, including sculptures, videos, and sound works by artists including Mark Bradford, Katharina Fritsch, Claes Oldenburg, Yinka Shonibare, and Daniel Spoerri.  

READ: This zone focuses on the power of storytelling. Featuring comfortable seating, READ includes a selection of illustrated children’s books that families can read together. Artworks by Julie Buffalohead, Andrea Carlson, Amy Cutler, and Jacob Lawrence encourage families to imagine and tell their own stories. 

PLAY: This zone focuses on hands-on interaction through two major installations: Critter Party (2024) by Cas Holman and Rirkrit Tiravanija’s Untitled 2006 (pavilion, table, and puzzle representing the famous painting by Delacroix, La Liberté Guidant le Peuple, 1830). Mama Critter is an arched structure that invites crawling, sliding, and building, as well as engagement with smaller elements called “Baby Critters” and “Thingies” that are moveable and alter the playscape in real time. Tiravanija’s large-scale work allows families to sit together at a picnic style table to work on a monumental jigsaw puzzle.    

MAKE: Taking a cue from colorful abstract works in the exhibition by such artists as Jeffrey Gibson and Caroline Kent, this zone includes a play table with color transparencies that allow kids to experiment with composition, color, and light. An interactive projector in the space makes it possible for the young artists to project their creations onto the gallery walls. Additionally, this zone features an interactive installation in which visitors, inspired by the artist Erwin Wurm’s drawings, are invited to transform themselves into “one-minute sculptures” by donning colorful sweaters and using their bodies and the clothing to create new forms and poses.

WATCH: This section offers a kid-friendly cinema space with a curated selection of films from the Walker’s Ruben/Bentsen Moving Image Collection, which includes more than 1,000 titles. With generous seating for children and their adults, the space offers a place to relax and engage in family-friendly films that range from short narratives to animations.    

Access and comfort ground the experience of Show & Tell. The majority of artworks are presented at low heights and multi-sensory discovery is prioritized. Ample seating, an open floorplan, and phone charging locations consider the needs of parents and caregivers within the space. An audio guide featuring local elementary school students offers a unique exploration of the exhibition, while the labels and family activity guide help prompt kids to connect their own experiences to the artworks on view. Label copy and family activity guides are offered in English, Spanish, Hmong, and Somali to accommodate different family needs.    

“Museums spark imagination and creativity and are spaces to gather and build community,” said Mary Ceruti, the Walker’s Executive Director. “Show & Tell is a playful and innovative exhibition that amplifies those core attributes. It is designed to actively welcome families into the Walker galleries and to establish pathways to engagement and personal meaning through contemporary art for visitors of all ages.” 

Curatorial team: Siri Engberg, Senior Curator and Director of Visual Arts; Pavel Pyś, Curator of Visual Arts and Collections Strategy; and Patricia Ledesma Villon, Assistant Curator of Moving Image. 

Show & Tell is organized jointly by the Walker’s Visual Arts, Moving Image, and Public Engagement, Learning, and Impact staff members including Amanda Hunt, Head of Public Engagement, Learning, and Impact; Sarah Lampen, Associate Director of Learning and Accessibility; Janine DeFeo, Manager of Interpretation; La’Kayla Williams, Manager of School and Gallery Programs; and Hannah Novillo Erickson, Manager of Lifelong Learning and Accessibility. 

Exhibition sponsors
Show & Tell: An Exhibition for Kids is organized by the Walker Art Center and is made possible with support from sponsor RBC Wealth Management.  

Major support is provided by the John Gabbert and the Room & Board Foundation  Exhibition Fund. Additional support is provided by the Martin and Brown Foundation.