Five artworks to see with your family at Tate Britain

When you visit Tate Britain you can learn about the story of British art from 500 years ago to the present. Have a go at finding these great artworks on your trip, and see what else you discover along the way. These are starting points to help you plan your visit as a family. Have fun and share your favourites with us on social media using #TateKids.

For more information about where to eat, drink and relax while you're here, read our top tips for visiting Tate Britain as a Family. Download our map [851 kb] to help find your way.

Where is it? The restaged Edible Family is located outside Tate Britain, open to the public and free to visit from 8 November – 3 December and again from 8 March –  7 April 2024.

Find the replica of Baker’s family home and move around it together, sampling the baked goods, drinking tea and talking to the hosts. How does the artwork engage all of your senses?

Bobby Baker makes artworks and performances inspired by everyday life, often involving food. In 1976 Baker decided to make a  life-sized  family out of cake, biscuits and meringues. Visitors were invited to explore the house and eat the ‘family’ which she had baked, sculpted and decorated herself over the course of several months, and were offered cups of tea.

How did it feel being inside the ‘family home’ and eating from the sculptures? What conversations did you have while you were there? What kind of messages do you think the artist is communicating about a woman’s role in the family through this work?

Are there any other artworks at Tate Britain made of everyday items that you can find? If you could ‘perform the everyday’, which moments and materials from everyday life would you choose?

Where is it? Room 6, Main Floor Revolution and Reform

Take a good look around the room. What different types of artworks do you notice?

Look up. What’s different about the large, wall-hung clock displayed high up above one of the entrances to the space?

Ruth Ewan is an artist interested in revolution and radical ideas (especially those that have been overlooked or forgotten).

Ewan changed this clock to have ten hours instead of twelve, and each hour into 100 minutes, each minute into 100 seconds. Ewan is making reference to an attempt by the newly reformed Republic of France in the 1790s to change the way time was measured following the overthrow of the French monarchy.

Does this artwork make you think differently about time, or about power and control?

See the timeline on the wall for more information about the French Revolution or read more about the work.

Where is it? Room 14, Main Floor Historic and Modern British Art: Reality and Dreams: 1920-1940

Take a walk around this artwork and view it from different angles and heights.

What’s it made of? Where do you think the objects were found?

Artist Eileen Agar did lots of travelling by the sea and in the countryside, looking out for interesting objects and items from nature. This assemblage is made from objects she collected at different times in different places.

Can you make an artwork with objects you find today? What title will you give it?

Learn more about Eileen Agar on Tate Kids

Where is it? Room 21, Main Floor, Modern and Contemporary British Art: Ideas into action 1965–1980

Inspect this sculpture as closely as possible. What do you recognise, what do you think the objects could be used for?

The Magpie’s Box relates to a two-day performance by artist Rose Finn-Kelcey - made with two magpies in the window space of Acme Gallery, London in 1976. During the performance, Finn-Kelcey spent her time talking to the pair of magpies, offering them food and objects.

She commented: ‘I wanted to talk about the potential for another language, apart from the existing one that we tend to feel is the only one… and through that talk about a potential for women having a voice’. 

How do you communicate everyday? Can you think of another form of communication you would like to use?

Try inventing a new language and think about what you want to communicate. You could try using words differently, or communicate through body and hand gestures, or maybe even objects. Perform your new language in the galleries!

Where is it? Room 28, Main Floor Modern and Contemporary British Art

Take a long look at this artwork. How would you describe the colours? A colour could be curious, frustrated or maybe something you can't name.

Rachel Jones is an artist who lives and works in London. Her artworks are made with oil sticks and pastels that she blends together in different ways, layering them on top of each other. Jones explores colour and how we connect it with feelings.

Do the colours and shapes in this artwork make you feel a certain way? Maybe you can say how you think the artist was feeling when she made it.

How about the title – lick your teeth, they so clutch? Clutch is slang for excellent, or an accomplishment. Does knowing the title make you view the work differently?

Learn more about Rachel Jones on Tate Kids