ART DETECTIVES
A five-week course where curious kids investigate art history and create art
Somewhere inside every picture, something is waiting to be noticed by young detectives who are ready to follow the clues.
September - October 2026 · Luxembourg City
THE IDEA
What is Art Detectives?
Every week begins with a question and leads to a new artwork.
Children investigate artworks, search for visual clues and discuss possible interpretations. They then use what they have discovered to create their own original response through drawing, painting, sculpture or mixed media.
Art Detectives explore art by looking, questioning, experimenting and making.
Why are angry rabbits hiding in medieval manuscripts?
Why do horror movies use lighting techniques mastered by Baroque painters?
Why can a toilet enter a museum and become art?
How each investigation works
INVESTIGATE
DISCUSS
CREATE
Children study one or several artworks closely, noticing what looks odd, what’s hidden and what catches the eye first.
They compare interpretations, listen to different viewpoints and decide whether new clues change their thinking. Art-historical context is woven naturally into the conversation.
Each investigation ends with a piece the child designs themselves using paint, pastel, clay or whatever material that week calls for.
look closely → ask questions → build an interpretation → test an idea → explain a choice
DIFFERENT WAYS TO PARTICIPATE
Every child joins in differently
Some children join the discussion straight away. Others prefer to observe, sketch or experiment with materials before sharing their ideas. Children can participate through conversation, making and close looking, and are never pressured to speak or find one “correct” answer.
THE IDEA
THE Case file
Personal Art Detective Case File is Included with the course.
Every case
leaves a trace
Young detectives receive personal Art Detective Case Files.
As each case unfolds, the file fills with visual clues, art-theory notes, stickers, prompts, small surprises and useful reminders, together with the child’s own sketches, experiments, observations and creative work.
At the end, they take home a complete dossier of all five investigations: part learning journal, part art portfolio and part detective file.
THE PROGRAMME
Five cases to solve
CASE 01
Why are angry rabbits hiding in medieval books?
Children explore the strange creatures, battles and jokes hidden in the margins of medieval manuscripts.
Creative practice: inventing their own marginal creature or scene using line, pattern and visual storytelling.
CASE 02
Could a painting fool you into walking into a wall?
Children investigate how Renaissance artists used perspective to create convincing illusions of space.
Creative practice: using basic linear perspective, scale and overlapping to create the illusion of depth.
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CASE 03
Why do horror films and 400-year-old paintings use the same tricks?
Children discover how Baroque artists used light and shadow to create drama and emotion.
Creative practice: using light, shadow and composition to guide attention and create a particular mood.
CASE 04
What happened when artists stopped showing the world as it looks?
Children explore major shifts in modern painting, from Cubism to abstraction.
Creative practice: experimenting with distortion, multiple viewpoints and abstraction to show a subject in a new way.
CASE 05
Why does a toilet count as art in a museum, but not in your bathroom?
Children investigate how artists have transformed toilets, bananas and boxes into artworks that question what art can be.
Creative practice: transforming an ordinary object or idea by changing its context, meaning or presentation.
COURSE OUTCOMES
What your child will learn
By the end of the five weeks, children will have practised how to:
Look more closely
Notice meaningful details in artworks and use visual clues to guess the art style and understand what may be happening.
Understand artistic choices
Recognise how perspective, light, shadow, composition, distortion and context can affect the meaning and mood of an artwork.
Build their own interpretation
Ask useful questions, connect observations and develop their own ideas instead of waiting for one “correct” answer.
Talk about art
Describe what they notice, listen to different viewpoints and explain the thinking behind some of their interpretations.
Create more independently
Use ideas from art history as starting points for original work, make creative choices and explain why they made them.
Approach art with more confidence
Feel more comfortable engaging with unfamiliar artworks and create art of their own.
Children will also leave with a broader understanding of how ideas about art, beauty and value have changed throughout history.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Art Detectives · Autumn 2026
Age
7–11 years
Format
5 weekly sessions
Session length
90 minutes
Group size
6–8 children
Location
Luxembourg City
Exact address to be confirmed
Language
English*
Dates
Between 20 September and 22 October 2026
Exact weekday to be confirmed
* Children should be able to follow a simple group conversation in English. Brief clarification in French, Luxembourgish, or Russian is available when needed.
No payment required. Joining the list does not commit you to registering.
Places are limited, and joining the list does not guarantee registration.
PRIORITY-LIST PRICE
€325
Standard registration price: €400
Included: All materials and a personal Art Detective Case File
The final course schedule will be selected based on families’ availability. If there is enough demand, more than one group may open.
Interested in a group in another language? Let us know in the form, and we’ll factor it into future groups.
Ready to join the first Art Detectives group?
PRIORITY REGISTRATION
Help us choose the final schedule and receive priority access to registration before places open publicly.
No payment required. Joining the list does not commit you to registering.
Places are limited, and joining the list does not guarantee registration.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Art Detectives · Autumn 2026
€325
Priority-list price:
Standard registration price: €400
Included: All materials and the Art Detective Case File
The final course schedule will be selected based on families’ availability. If there is enough demand, more than one group may open.
Interested in a group in another language? Let us know on the form, and we’ll factor it into future groups.
Age:
7–11 years
Format:
Five weekly sessions
Session length:
90 minutes
Group size:
6–8 children
Location:
Luxembourg City
Exact address to be confirmed
Language:
English*
Dates:
Between 20 September and 22 October 2026
Exact weekday to be confirmed
*Children should be able to follow a simple group conversation in English. Brief clarification in French or Russian is available when needed.
ABOUT THE EDUCATOR
Hi, I’m Maria Fokina
I’m the founder of Art Kid, an artist and arts educator, and I never grew out of asking too many questions.
I’m currently completing an M.Ed in Arts Education Practice at Dublin City University, focusing on inquiry-led, child-centred learning through the arts.
I also hold a BA in Journalism from Lomonosov Moscow State University, with an academic focus on arts and cultural journalism. That training taught me to research carefully, ask sharper questions and turn complex cultural ideas into engaging stories — skills that now shape Art Detectives.
I have worked with children in educational and creative settings for nearly nine years. Since founding Art Kid in 2024, I have been developing and leading arts programmes for children and families in Luxembourg.
I am convinced that children learn most deeply when they are invited to observe, question, test ideas, make choices and revise their thinking rather than reproduce one “correct” answer.