My all-time favorite Smithsonian Institution is the National Zoo but I've already written about that one. http://familyfunseekers.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-national-zoo.html
The Natural History and Air & Space Museums tie for our favorite Smithsonian museums with the National Museum of American History following a close third.
The Natural History Museum is amazing! Greeted by a giant mammoth in the main lobby with huge exhibition halls shooting off in every direction, you could easily spend a whole day in there. See the dinosaurs exhibit, the Great Ocean hall with ancient giant sea creatures, discover the hall of Human Origins, experience the live butterfly pavilion, and my favorite part - the Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals - where you can see the Hope Diamond and many other beautiful pieces of jewelry from royalty around the world. There's also a mammal section, a bird section, and an African culture section. There is an IMAX theater there and they even have a program where you can spend "A Night at the Museum". Overall, this is a great museum for the whole family. (Large cafeteria and gift shop)
http://www.mnh.si.edu/
The Air & Space Museum is awesome! This is my husband and daughter's favorite. Missiles, rockets, planes, space-crafts, and air-related artifacts from way back lines the walls and hang from the ceilings in this museum. There are segments of planes and rockets that you can walk through and a flight simulator that you can ride for a stomach churning experience. There is a small fee for this ride but the kids will tell you it's worth it. You will see the Wright Brothers' Flyer, the Spirit of St Louis, Apollo 11 and much more here. They have an IMAX theater and a large fun area where the kids can do experiments with flight dynamics, gravity, velocity and other scientific things. My kid would spend all day in there if you let her. Again, this is a great museum for the whole family. (Large cafeteria with McDonalds and scattered gift shops)
http://airandspace.si.edu/
The National Museum of American History is next in line for our family-friendly favorites. With the exception of maybe a couple of areas, I think this museum is good for families with older children. Exhibits take you through the Presidents, the First Ladies (including their dresses and other treasures), the changing of America through the years, artifacts from influential musicians, Girl Scout history and artifacts, history of machinery, electricity, the flag and tons more. They also have travelling/visiting exhibits. This museum could easily take an entire day to go through everything. One summer, we did one floor per day, just to break it up and have some play time outside on the lawn. http://www.si.edu/Museums/american-history-museum
If art is your thing, there are several art galleries on the National Mall. Although I love to look at art, my husband and daughter revolt at the mention of going into them. I have gone without them and enjoyed them very much. I took the kids one summer to the Hirshhorn Museum & Scultpure Gardens where they really enjoyed looking at the sculptures and tried imitating the poses of each piece. It was quite amusing and they had a great time while appreciating (I think) the art. In the middle of the garden is a Wish Tree (Imagine Peace) inspired by Yoko Ono where you can write your wish for the world and tie it to the tree. The kids loved this!
http://www.si.edu/Museums/hirshhorn-museum-and-sculpture-garden
Outside the Natural History Museum on the National Mall is a wonderful carousel that has been there since the 60's (built in the 1940's) and has an interesting history. ($3.50 to ride) It goes fast! http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/misc-locations/the-carousel-on-the-national-mall,1027953/critic-review.html
The museums are open every day except Christmas Day and museum hours are extended in the summer (and certain other times) until 7:30pm.
See calendar here - http://www.si.edu/visit/hours#ExtendedHours
Parking is always crazy so I recommend taking the Metro to the Smithsonian station. If you don't want to eat in the museum restaurants (a little pricey), there are plenty of food vendor trucks lining the streets. Nothing like a hot dog and a hot pretzel from a street vendor!
The Natural History and Air & Space Museums tie for our favorite Smithsonian museums with the National Museum of American History following a close third.
The Natural History Museum is amazing! Greeted by a giant mammoth in the main lobby with huge exhibition halls shooting off in every direction, you could easily spend a whole day in there. See the dinosaurs exhibit, the Great Ocean hall with ancient giant sea creatures, discover the hall of Human Origins, experience the live butterfly pavilion, and my favorite part - the Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals - where you can see the Hope Diamond and many other beautiful pieces of jewelry from royalty around the world. There's also a mammal section, a bird section, and an African culture section. There is an IMAX theater there and they even have a program where you can spend "A Night at the Museum". Overall, this is a great museum for the whole family. (Large cafeteria and gift shop)
http://www.mnh.si.edu/
The Air & Space Museum is awesome! This is my husband and daughter's favorite. Missiles, rockets, planes, space-crafts, and air-related artifacts from way back lines the walls and hang from the ceilings in this museum. There are segments of planes and rockets that you can walk through and a flight simulator that you can ride for a stomach churning experience. There is a small fee for this ride but the kids will tell you it's worth it. You will see the Wright Brothers' Flyer, the Spirit of St Louis, Apollo 11 and much more here. They have an IMAX theater and a large fun area where the kids can do experiments with flight dynamics, gravity, velocity and other scientific things. My kid would spend all day in there if you let her. Again, this is a great museum for the whole family. (Large cafeteria with McDonalds and scattered gift shops)
http://airandspace.si.edu/
The National Museum of American History is next in line for our family-friendly favorites. With the exception of maybe a couple of areas, I think this museum is good for families with older children. Exhibits take you through the Presidents, the First Ladies (including their dresses and other treasures), the changing of America through the years, artifacts from influential musicians, Girl Scout history and artifacts, history of machinery, electricity, the flag and tons more. They also have travelling/visiting exhibits. This museum could easily take an entire day to go through everything. One summer, we did one floor per day, just to break it up and have some play time outside on the lawn. http://www.si.edu/Museums/american-history-museum
If art is your thing, there are several art galleries on the National Mall. Although I love to look at art, my husband and daughter revolt at the mention of going into them. I have gone without them and enjoyed them very much. I took the kids one summer to the Hirshhorn Museum & Scultpure Gardens where they really enjoyed looking at the sculptures and tried imitating the poses of each piece. It was quite amusing and they had a great time while appreciating (I think) the art. In the middle of the garden is a Wish Tree (Imagine Peace) inspired by Yoko Ono where you can write your wish for the world and tie it to the tree. The kids loved this!
http://www.si.edu/Museums/hirshhorn-museum-and-sculpture-garden
Outside the Natural History Museum on the National Mall is a wonderful carousel that has been there since the 60's (built in the 1940's) and has an interesting history. ($3.50 to ride) It goes fast! http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/misc-locations/the-carousel-on-the-national-mall,1027953/critic-review.html
The museums are open every day except Christmas Day and museum hours are extended in the summer (and certain other times) until 7:30pm.
See calendar here - http://www.si.edu/visit/hours#ExtendedHours
Parking is always crazy so I recommend taking the Metro to the Smithsonian station. If you don't want to eat in the museum restaurants (a little pricey), there are plenty of food vendor trucks lining the streets. Nothing like a hot dog and a hot pretzel from a street vendor!
Kid's View: "I love the Natural History Museum and seeing all the animals and the rocks and gems, and I like to do all the interactive things. The Air & Space Museum is my favorite though. I love that ride that spins you and flips you over and over and I like going into the planes and stuff. We bought the astronaut food in the gift shop once, it was kinda strange. I like the one area that all the kids get to play around and test a bunch of things related to flying, gravity and things like that."
No comments:
Post a Comment