The Smithsonian Institute is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex. Anyone who has visited a Smithsonian museum knows that they offer an unparalleled opportunity to see just about everything from dinosaurs to America’s founding documents and all at the low low price of free. Yes, in case you did not catch that, the Smithsonian museums are free (including the National Zoo)! I’ve already featured visits to the various Smithsonian museums in Washington, DC, including the Udvar-Hazy Center, the Portrait Gallery and the Botanical Gardens, but today, I want to encourage those contemplating a visit to Washington, DC to move beyond the more popular Smithsonian tourists offerings and explore a hidden gem that those of us who live in DC love and visit: The Renwick Gallery with kids!
The Renwick Gallery is a relatively “young” museum by Smithsonian standards. Having just re-opened in November 2015, the Renwick is home to the Institute’s contemporary craft and decorative art collections. While housed in a gorgeous historic building located just a block away from The White House, the Renwick’s exhibits change frequently and the exhibits typically take over the entire museum. Indeed, the Renwick is currently scheduled to close from February 20 – March 30 for the building take over of No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man.
Even if modern/contemporary art is “not your thing,” I highly recommend the Renwick Gallery as an ideal location to visit with kids because of the large scale nature of the exhibits. From November 2015-July 2016, the Renwick was home to  WONDER, which my then-18 month old toddler absolutely adored. Unlike traditional art museums with paintings and objects behind glass, WONDER’s three dimensional creations and vibrant colors really brought art to life for my toddler.
We took a little break to enjoy this colorful red chair!My toddler, standing in the middle of the room and taking in the whole experience.
The upstairs level was overtaken by a large rainbow display suspended in the air and filled with people of all ages, just sitting and enjoying the way the light and the colors interacted. As you can imagine, my toddler felt right at home in this setting!
Practical Tips:
The Renwick is not stroller friendly. There is a entrance located off 17th street (not the main entrance) where you can stroller your child in and park the stroller downstairs, before taking an elevator up to the main level.
The Renwick is located only a block or so from The White House, so it’s an easy walk over to the White House for a photo opportunity. While you’re there, be sure to pop into St. John’s Episcopal Church, the yellow church across Lafayette Square from the White House. It’s a beautiful, historic church that every sitting president, since James Madison, has attended on at least one occasion.
A photo opportunity in front of the White House.
Be sure to check out our entire category of posts on things to do and places to visit in Washington, DC with kids! We are so lucky to call this place home and hope that our tips and tricks come in handy as you plan your own adventure in Washington, DC!
Every so often, we encounter a place that is so fabulous for those traveling with kids that it is worthy of being featured on its own. For more fabulous locations, please check out our other Spotlight features!
Located in Chantilly, VA, a quick 30-45 minute drive from Washington, DC, the Udvar-Hazy Center or, as we locals like to call it, “the Dulles Air & Space Museum” is an off the beaten path destination that I highly recommend for anyone visiting Washington, DC. Let’s face it, the weather in Washington, DC is fickle and there are many days during heavy tourist season where the weather is just too unpleasant to be outside. If you’re tired of being drenched in sweat the minute you step outside your hotel room, Dulles Air & Space is the place for you!
Dulles Air & Space has two large hangars, displaying thousands of aircrafts and space ships. When my kids were early walkers, we frequently took advantage of Air & Space’s wide corridors and open expanse of space to let our kids run and burn off their energy, especially in the winter or spring when the weather was frequently too cold or too wet for us to be outside.
My now eight year old started visiting Air & Space when he was just getting on two feet!
If you have any experience visiting museums with young children, you know that it can frequently be a harrowing experience to actually get anything out of it yourself. Between maneuvering the crowds, chasing little feet, and reminding sticky hands not to touch, we frequently find that we, as the adults, miss out on a lot of the experience. I’m happy to report that the Dulles Air & Space museum is different because the nature of the exhibits (airplanes and space shuttles!), makes it easy for even the adults to catch as glimpse before eager little feet run off. The Blackbird, the Concorde, the Enola Gay, and the Discovery Shuttle are all located at Dulles Air & Space and they’re impressive enough to catch the fancy of even the youngest museum goers.
Things to Note:
The museum is open daily from 10am – 5:30pm and although admission is free, there is a parking fee of $15 per vehicle before 4pm.
There is a McDonald’s cafe located on the second floor so if you get hungry and need to catch a bite to eat, that’s always an option.
If you have older kids, there is also an IMAX Theater and Planetarium that may be of interest. My children also love to watch the preservation and restoration activities taking place in the Restoration Hangar, where there are frequently specialists working hard to assess and preserve artifacts for everyone’s enjoyment.
Do not confuse the Dulles Air & Space Museum with the National Air & Space Museum in Downtown, Washington, DC. Both are operated by the Smithsonian, but are uniquely different. The downtown museum has traditional exhibits and a children’s science area that is fantastic for children ages 3-6. The downtown museum, however, can get extremely crowded during busy tourist season as it is located on the mall and within walking distance to most major tourist sites. The Dulles Air & Space Museum featured in this post can mostly be described as “a bunch of cool airplanes and space craft hanging out in giant hangars.” In other words, super awesome for little kids who need to burn off energy in sub-optimal weather conditions. It’s also a wonderful place to visit with older children, especially as they learn more about air and space travel. My oldest son is not quite at the age where the Enola Gay or the Concorde means anything to him – but you can be sure we will visit when he is!
Be sure to check out our entire category of posts on things to do and places to visit in Washington, DC. We are so lucky to call this place home and hope that our tips and tricks come in handy as you plan your own adventure in Washington, DC!
Every so often, we encounter a place that is so fabulous for those traveling with kids that it is worthy of being featured on its own. For more fabulous locations, please check out our other Spotlight features!
Living and working in DC, it is rare that my family takes the time to visit the museums, monuments, and landmarks. Work, schedules, and activities get in the way and we always just figure that we will go and visit someday. Recently, my eight year old and I had the opportunity to spend the entire day together, without my toddler, and we decided to take advantage of the glorious 50 degree day in the middle of December and spend some time exploring downtown! Here are the top Washington DC kids activities that we took advantage of on our stolen day together!
We left our home at 9:30am and, a short metro ride later, found ourselves in DC, just four blocks away from the Spy Museum.
Unlike many museums in DC, the Spy Museum is not free and admission is steep at $21.95 / adult and $14.95 / youth (ages 7-11). The Museum offers a number of Interactive Spy Experiences, such as Spy in the City and Operation Spy, which you can add on a la carte, or combine with the price of admission for a slight discount. The Operation Spy experience is limited to ages 12+, so, by default, we chose to add Spy in the City to the price of admission for later in the afternoon.
After purchasing our admission tickets, we were told to wait for the elevator ride to the start of the museum exhibits. We had no idea, but the Spy Museum has timed entry in an effort to minimize traffic and manage crowd control. We took the elevator up to the third floor of the museum where we were deposited into a room that introduced us to spy agencies all across the world. We were also encouraged to choose an undercover identity from one of the many “covers” posted on the beams throughout the room.
After selecting our identities, we were allowed to enter the galleries, which were more standard museum fare. We poured over the exhibits of espionage artifacts. I personally loved seeing the old style hidden cameras tucked away in buttons, shoes, pens, and more.
As you wind your way through the exhibits, there are a number of interactive opportunities for visitors to test out their spy skills. My son loved looking for clues on the interactive light-up maps and he also enjoyed practicing his hand at deciphering codes.
Although we enjoyed the modern spy section, my son found the historical spy section to be underwhelming. There is a section on the origins of spying, beginning with Sun Tzu and The Art of War, and also an extensive section on James Bond, which went entirely over my eight year old’s head.
Overall, I enjoyed the Museum and it was a great way to spend 90 minutes of our day, but my son did not enjoy it as much as I hoped as he isn’t one to be particularly fascinated by espionage and has not ever seen any of the James Bond movies. As we made our way out of the exhibits, we emptied into the gift shop, which is where we picked up our tablet device to do our Spy in the City interactive adventure.
The Spy in the City interactive adventure is a guided “spy” adventure that takes you around 7-8 blocks of Washington, DC. The rental tablet provides visual instructions and cues that direct you along the way.
The weather was beautiful that day, so we greatly enjoyed the walk through the City. My son, a total iPad/screen junkie, loved following the clues and deciphering code along the way. I enjoyed the opportunity to stretch my legs and to see some of downtown DC at a leisurely pace.
Our journey took us past the FBI building, the Department of Justice building, the Trump Hotel (where we peeked inside to see the lobby decked out for Christmas), and much much more.
The FBI BuildingDepartment of JusticeThe Trump HotelThe lobby of the Trump HotelSt. Patrick’s Church
Although it was a fun walk and my son enjoyed the “mission,” I was honestly disappointed that the “mission” did not incorporate more of the historical landmarks in DC. Given that we were in DC and walking right past the FBI building, I expected more than to be directed to a random plaque in a plaza as the site of the next clue. The mission could have taken place in any city USA and no one would have been the wiser. Although it was worth the $7 to include the Spy in the City adventure with our admission ticket, I don’t think it is worth the $14.95 on its own and I would not go out of my way to do this experience if time was limited. Moreover, my son and I happily shared one tablet and unless you happen to have two children who are adamantly against sharing, I would not recommend renting more than one device as the instructions would be identical and we had no trouble hearing the instructions via the tablet’s speakers.
Finally, the Spy Museum has an excellent gift shop so if you happen to be looking for a spy-themed gift but don’t have the time or desire to visit the exhibits, you can visit the gift shop via the separate outside entry.
Direct entrance to the gift shop.Sign indicating that admission is required to enter the exhibits from the gift shop.
It would also be remiss of me not to mention that the Shake Shack is located right next door to the Spy Museum. It’s an easy and convenient place to grab a bite to eat but note that it’s more expensive than your usual burgers and fries joint AND lines can get out of control very quickly.After the Spy Museum, we headed across the street to the National Portrait Gallery. As a Smithsonian, admission is free and it was completely deserted when we visited. There was no line to enter and security was a breeze. We had the entire presidential gallery to ourselves and my son loved the open space.
We particularly enjoyed seeing the evolution from traditional oil paintings to more modern portraits and I loved the placement of the Bush presidents across from each other with Clinton in the middle.
Although we did not visit the actual galleries on the third floor, we did head up there to peek at the stained glass ceiling which was stunning.
Finally, no visit to the Portrait Gallery is complete without a glimpse at the atrium – the largest public enclosed area in DC.
As the original home of the Patent Office, the building has served many purposes and the former courtyard has now been enclosed into a beautiful garden with ample space for kids to run around, people to lunch, and just generally enjoy a reprieve from the elements (humidity and heat in the summer, rain/cold/sleet in the winter).
My coworkers and I used to regularly take lunch breaks in the Portrait Gallery, including packing in our lunch from the outside to eat in the atrium. There’s also a little self-service cafeteria, if you’d like to grab a bite to enjoy.
From the Portrait Gallery, we headed off to our final destination of the day: the Botanical Gardens. Unlike most of the museums located near the mall, the Botanical Gardens are located across from the Capital and thus about a one mile walk away. For this reason, it’s a bit off the beaten path and not a place that many have visited. Along the way, we enjoyed the view of the Capital with the bright blue sky and also spotted the great blue chicken that has been roosting at the National Gallery of Art.
The 15-foot blue chicken, roosting at the National Gallery of Art.
Visiting the Botanical Gardens is an annual holiday tradition for my family. My kids started visiting the Botanical Gardens as young tikes with daycare and between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, there is an annual exhibit featuring model trains and replicas of DC landmarks made entirely of plant based materials. We have visited when the line to enter has been wrapped around the building, but on the day we visited this year, there was no line and we walked right in.
He may be 8, but he still enjoys a good tunnel.
After winding our way through the seasonal exhibit, we took a quick tour of the regular gardens, including the desert and rain forest.
Well marked ramps, wheelchair and stroller accessible!
After our brief walk through the gardens and having walked extensively downtown, we decided we were too tired to ride public transit home and called a Lyft instead. All in all, it was an action packed day in downtown DC and I am so glad we had this opportunity to explore the city in ideal temperatures. There is so much to do in DC it can be overwhelming to decide on the actual museums and activities. We had no real set itinerary or plan and just let the weather and crowds dictate our agenda and we managed to pack in more than I thought – a pleasant surprise! Moreover, because admission to the Smithsonian museums and the zoo is free, it is a very affordable way to spend a day with the family.
As you wind your way through the exhibits, there are a number of interactive opportunities for visitors to test out their spy skills. My son loved looking for clues on the interactive light-up maps and he also enjoyed practicing his hand at deciphering codes.
Although we enjoyed the modern spy section, my son found the historical spy section to be underwhelming. There is a section on the origins of spying, beginning with 
After the Spy Museum, we headed across the street to the
Although we did not visit the actual galleries on the third floor, we did head up there to peek at the stained glass ceiling which was stunning.
