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Discover top family-friendly museums, hands-on exhibits and kid-approved attractions in the nation's capital.
The International Spy Museum lives in a purpose-built facility in L’Enfant Plaza located in the Southwest Waterfront. Recommended for ages 9 and up, the state-of-the-art museum offers enough spy-related intrigue and interactive family fun to fill an entire day. A highlight: take part in an undercover mission using a badge to unlock interactive kiosks throughout the museum. Get your tickets in advance online.
The National Children's Museum, recommended for ages 0-12, welcomes visitors with its Dream Machine, a three-level jungle gym featuring climbing areas and huge slides, as well as large-scale, cloud-like balls illuminated with colorful LEDs. Tickets are required for admission.
In the Folger's exhibition galleries, visitors of all ages can get up close and interact with the incredible books, manuscripts, art and objects that make up the world’s largest Shakespeare collection. Make your own Shakespeare scene, set type for printing, become a First Folio detective, fold paper to make books and more.
Ages 3-5: Along the Discovery Trail, young explorers can roam the Shakespeare Exhibition Hall and find images on the walls from the Folger collection that match the ones in their notes.
Ages 6-9: For the Decoder Trail, kids can pick up a magnifying glass and follow clues through the galleries in both exhibition halls. Decode messages, solve riddles and create a poem to receive a special badge.
Check in at the Welcome Desk in the entrance lobby to get started.
Kids can discover architectural wonders at the National Building Museum, the country’s only cultural institution dedicated to the built environment (Legos, anyone?). Kids 3-12 will get the most out of this museum, the calendar is always full with story times, STEAM challenges and more activities geared towards different age groups. While entering the building is free of charge (and worth the experience), exhibits require tickets.
The Phillips Collection provides kids 18 and under with an opportunity to explore America's first museum of modern art for free. There, they can enjoy a variety of coloring and activity pages, as well as tutorials. Young guests may want to partake in Phillips Plays Gallery Games prompts or get hands-on with a scavenger hunt through the museum. Learn more about ticketing for adults, students and seniors.
This 430,000-square-foot museum brings one of the most influential (and best-selling) books of all time to life in a way that is engaging for any visitor. It combines modern, interactive galleries with astounding biblical artifacts and history. Tickets can be purchased on the museum's website.
Ages 4-10: Courageous Pages children's area with Bible-themed games
Ages 8+: General exhibits on the Bible's history and cultural impact
Planet Word is the world’s first voice-activated museum and brings language and words to life with immersive and interactive exhibits: deliver a famous speech, watch a library book come to life, sing karaoke tunes and take part in frequent programming and events. The museum is most ideal for readers 8 and up, while younger kids will enjoy the interactive activities with a little help from an adult.
Tickets can be reserved for free in advance, although donations are appreciated.
The only museum of its kind, you'll search for secret doors (the Mansion has more than 80 of them!), find your way through themed rooms and discover covert passages to a world never experienced at the O Museum in the Mansion. You'll be walking in the footsteps of presidents and freedom fighters, historians, authors, artists, musicians, athletes and scholars.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) includes many opportunities for families with kids, from young kids to teens. The gift shop is a treasure trove of creative toys and children's art books, and families can browse selections from the library’s extensive book collection. At the museum’s twice-monthly Free Community Day (held on the first Sunday and second Wednesday each month), families can enjoy hands-on, drop-in art-making. Visitors under 21 are always admitted free of charge, and tours are open to all ages.
- Ages 13+:
- Regular artist-led workshops
- Monthly NMWA Nights (5-8 p.m.) curate hands-on art-making, live music and exhibition related activities from palm reading to costumes – high-schoolers can enjoy two alcohol-free beverages with their ticket
Visit the U.S. Botanic Garden for a scavenger hunt that sends kids off to identify plants and get their passports stamped. Stop in the Children’s Garden (recommended for ages 2-10) so kids can play in the playhouse, pump water, dig with shovels, water plants and on occasion, help the staff plant flowers.
The National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center offers an impressive soup to nuts experience about all things air and space travel. The hangar-like museum houses dozens of aircraft and spacecraft, including the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a Concorde and the space shuttle Discovery. Kids can strap into a fighter jet simulator to do barrel rolls, and they'll love the on-site Observation Tower where they can watch planes land and take off at nearby Washington Dulles International Airport.
While visiting is free, on-site parking requires payment.
Go back in time with your young travelers at the National Museum of Natural History, beginning with “Henry,” the museum’s 11-ton African elephant.
Ages 0-6: Be sure to visit the Butterfly Pavilion
Ages 7+: Catch the Fossil Basecamp at the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils Deep Time exhibit and the Insect Zoo, which involves daily tarantula feedings
Teens: Older kids can check out more in-depth STEM exhibits and hands-on Q?rius Jr. learning spaces
When you get to the National Museum of American History, be sure to ask the Welcome Center about the museum’s programs that day, which may include activities like peeking through a stereoscope, using a printing press or handling a cotton gin.
Ages 0-6: Wegmans Wonderplace (includes a kid-sized version of Julia Child's kitchen and a tugboat they can captain)
Ages 5+: Kids love the vibrant lighting and media-rich elements that make up the interactive exhibit Entertainment Nation
Ages 6-12: Spark!Lab for inventing, hands-on STEM, printing press and cotton gin activities.
The free-to-visit National Gallery of Art welcomes families for all kinds of unique programming. On any given week, you could attend an artist conversation or bring a sketchbook as you learn about featured artists and works. Check out the museum's list of family activities for inspiration during your visit.
At the National Museum of the American Indian, kids can explore ancient cultures at the ImagiNations Activity Center. Options include building an igloo, playing with real percussion instruments, stepping inside a traditional Native home and earning badges playing an interactive quiz show.
At the National Postal Museum, kids can create a stamp using their own design, write and mail a postcard, sit in the cab of a postal truck, ride in a stagecoach and sort packages like folks in the mail room. Check out the museum’s activities for both kids and adults before you embark.
The White House Visitor Center has several charming interactive exhibits. Activities include guessing who ordered from various plates of food on display, watching a film about the presidency and reading letters from children to past presidents.
The U.S. Holocaust Museum is appropriate for children eight or older accompanied by an adult. Daniel’s Story is an exhibit explaining the Holocaust from a child’s point of view. Children can write messages to other visitors at the end of the exhibit. There is also an interactive component (appropriate for teens) that follows the journey that Holocaust victims experienced during World War II. Timed entry tickets are required for the permanent exhibit but not for other special exhibitions.
The National Law Enforcement Museum is a state-of-the-art facility that memorializes American law enforcement and is home to 20,000-plus objects that tell the story of this country’s law enforcers, including the past, present and future. Visitors can participate in a training simulator and the museum hosts a number of family-friendly programs and tours throughout the year. The museum is open Thursday – Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Paid admission is required.
Portraiture is the theme at the museum’s Explore! exhibit, a space that uses various media to help kids understand the artform, from tracing a living silhouette to adding your own four-second snippet to a video wall. Toddler-friendly stations with felt and magnetic canvases allow for fun, colorful combinations, while reading nooks with books and face-covered building blocks round out the room. Explore a variety of online programming for families.
