Art Splash at the The Philadelphia Museum of Art - 6abc Loves the Arts

August 6th, 2015 -- Every summer for the past 3 years, The Philadelphia Museum of Art has transformed into a hub for family fun, and a little pocket of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway right along with it.

Emily Schreiner, the Art Museum's Associate Curator of Education for Family and Community Learning says, with over 500 guests per day, the museum's summer Art Splash program gives people of all ages an opportunity to spend quality creative time together.

"Our central program is called the Splash Studio, where adults and kids can make art together," says Schreiner, "this year we have an enclosed studio space that people can really come and hang out and feel comfortable and at home."

Families can also take tours with museum educators or guide themselves, utilizing the museum's first ever iPad app, which tracks your movement through the galleries.

"So now this guides you like google maps does through the building," says Schreiner, "families can take this iPad on a tour, almost like a scavenger hunt through the galleries...it really gives adults ideas about what they can do with their kids in the galleries and how they can have really creative productive conversations and make the galleries their own."

Cross the street and you can continue the family fun outdoors. The city's Parks & Recreation Department and the Fairmount Park Conservancy have joined forces yet again to convert Eakins Oval into a summer oasis.

"We have all kinds of free activities, games for kids. We have miniature golf. We have disc golf this year for the first time. We have sand boxes. We have a spray ground. We have chess and checkers pieces. We have ping pong, all of which is free," says Mark Focht, first deputy commissioner of Parks and Facilities.

And for the grownups, there's live entertainment, food truck fare, free nightly classes and a beer garden built from recycled materials.

"We're place-making here, by making the Oval a cool temporary space for people to come to for 6 weeks," says Focht, "so people think of it not only as a place where we host our major special events, but how it can be a place to hang out."

The Oval's summer season runs through August 23rd. Art Splash continues a few more weeks to September 7th. For tickets and museum hours, go to www.TheArtsInPhilly.org.