Celebrate Black History Month and introduce kids to Civil War history on their level.
Attention American Girl lovers and families searching for free, fun ways to make American history accessible to their children: This Saturday the Smithsonian National Museum of American History is hosting a free event featuring American Girl Addy Walker and introducing a new self-guided museum tour for families!
And if you attend on Saturday, the museum is giving away one Addy doll, and your child could win!
This Saturday February 5, to celebrate the kick-off of Black History Month, kids are invited to bring their own American Girl dolls to the National Museum of American History and answer Addy’s questions between 10AM and 2PM. The answers to the questions can be found along the brand new self-guided Addy’s World tour, which teaches the children about Civil War history on their age-appropriate level. Then at At 2:30PM, on e correct questionnaire-answering child will bring home his or her own Addy doll. The winner must be present in Flag Hall at 2:30PM.
Here’s a little video about the new self-guided tour that will now be available at the museum on Saturday and through August. The Addy’s World guide is recommended for families with elementary-aged children.
And if you check out the exhibit and tour and your child brings her American Girl doll along on the museum adventure, be sure to take a photo and upload it to the museum’s Flickr group.
Open Wednesday-Sunday 10 am-5 pm., the Walters’ Family Art Center gives kids interactive gallery materials any time they visit. ArtCarts for children full of free in-gallery materials are placed throughout the museum. The ArtCarts have drawing kits and art books that make the nearby regular, adult exhibits accessible for young visitors.
Every Saturday and Sunday throughout the year from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., the Walters provides free Drop-In Art Activities for children. No registration is required! August Drop-In sessions focus on people and portraits, and children will learn how to draw, paint and sculpture each other and themselves.
September Drop-In sessions have a book theme in honor of National Literacy Month. Families are encouraged to bring the kids in to make 3-D books, work with secret codes, draw comics and draw picture books. (Note: Saturday and Sunday September 25 & 26 there will be no Drop-In at the Walters because the education staff will be at the Baltimore Book Festival, where they’ll have a booth. Check it out!)
The third Saturday of each month at 11 am, the Walters offers a free, special tour for kids ages 6-8 and their families (one guardian per two children required). Called The Walk, Wonder and Create Family Tour, it’s a 45-minute age-appropriate tour of the museum collection and subsequent art activity. For this monthly tour, pre-registration is required by calling call (410) 547-9000, ext. 325 or emailing Family Programs.
But don’t just take my word for it:
Rockstar mom blogger Scary Mommy, aka Jill Smokler of Baltimore, says of the Walters, “The Walters is free, sweet and manageable. I never know what the mood of the day is going to be with my three kids, if after I pay the admissions the tantrums are going to start. We can duck in there for a short visit and my daughter Lilly can copy the pictures in her notebook. The café is also good for lunch with kids.”
The museum also has 3-hour studio workshops for kids age 7-10 in October (registration and more info here) and is hosting a Free Family Festival of Wonders on October 23 in which kids take over the museum with art activities, performances and interactive fun. The museum also does birthday parties and field trips.
To see photos of families having a great time The Walters, take a look at their pics on Flickr(which is where I grabbed the images above via a Creative Commons license).
Montgomery County Heritage Days are a great weekend activity for both the kids and the grown up History Channel fanatic in your family. Music, kids’ activities, food – and history too! There are over 40 sites throughout the County that are free to to the public.
Heritage Days events that look especially family-friendly:
Sandy Spring Museum – Saturday and Sunday. Story reading by children’s author Mary Hogan and The Little Gym of Olney will have special program on Saturday to lead audiences in an exercise routine based on chores that kids did on the farm. 17901 Bentley Road, Sandy Spring
Calleva Farm – Saturday only. Farm animals, free horse rides, group field games, pick your veggies and other farm-y fun.
19120 Martinsburg Road, Dickerson
Glen Echo Park-Saturday and Sunday. Kids can make crafts, ride the carousel, learn circle dances for children on Saturday 1-2pm. 7300 MacArthur Boulevard, Glen Echo
Agricultural History Farm Park – Saturday only. Take guided tours of the turn-of-the-century 455-acre historic farmstead. Enjoy historic farming demonstrations and old-fashioned games for all. 18400 Muncaster Road, Derwood
Oakley Cabin – Saturday and Sunday. Demonstrations of 19th century crafts, musical performances, and tours of the historic cabin that was been home to both slaves and African American free families. Hands-on activities for children and musical entertainment for the family.This African American historic site, built in the 1820s to house enslaved people, was later part of a roadside community. There will be Special Event on Saturday at 2:00 PM: Historical Theater Production’s Mother Wit performed by Colonial Williamsburg living history interpreters. 3610 Brookeville Road, Brookeville
King Barn Dairy MOOseum – Saturday and Sunday. Family activities include crafts, hands-on demonstrations, MOOsic, videos and dairy artifacts and joining the Washington Revels in a comMOOnity singalong. I just cut and pasted those puns. 18028 Central Park Circle, Germantown.
Next weekend, the beautiful Phillips Collection in Dupont Circle is waiving its admission fee and providing free family fun. This celebration is in partnership with DC’s Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, and live jazz performances will fill the museum both Saturday and Sunday. Kids are invited to listen to storytelling, create jazz-inspired sculptures to take home and touch away in the “instrument petting zoo.”
Of course, kids are also welcomed with to tour the museum and enjoy the art in an accepting, kid-friendly environment. Children 18 and younger are always free at The Phillips, but this weekend their parents are free too.
The museum’s collection includes works by Degas, Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Klee, Homer, Whistler, Hopper, O’Keeffe, Calder, Rothko and nearly 3,000 works by American and European artists. Check out the temporary exhibitions on display next weekend, too. (The usual special exhibition fee of $10 per visitor is also waived June 5 & 6.)
C’mon – you don’t want the first time your kids sees Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party” to be while doing a musty puzzle at your beach house rental. Take ‘em next weekend to experience the original masterpiece, and more.
Saturday June 5.: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Sunday June 6.: 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
The Phillips Collection is located at 1600 21st Street NW, Washington, DC. It is walkable from the Dupont Circle Metro stop, Red Line, Q Street Exit. Directions
P.S.: Just because we’re no longer young and on the prowl doesn’t mean we can’t still crash the Phillips After 5 events the first Thursday of every month. I’m thinking of going next month with my girls … maybe we’ll run into our 23 year old selves and give them a VERY stern talking-to.
Want to channel Ben Stiller in either Night at the Museum or Madagascar and spend the night at a museum or outdoors with the wild animals? These are some seriously special sleepovers! Check out these options – registration begins this week!:
The Smithsonian Associates presents a true “Night at the Museum” with a unique overnight experience for children, in the National Museum of Natural History at 10th and Constitution N.W. Sleepovers will be held on April 24 and May 15, beginning at 7 p.m. and ending at 8:30 a.m. the next morning. Kids will experience the museum in a whole new way, discovering museum highlights by flashlight, participating in scavenger hunts, watching an IMAX film screening of “Wild Ocean 3D” and sleeping among the dinosaurs and a giant squid.
Ticket prices for the sleepovers are $125 for general admission, and $115 for members. For groups of 20 people or more, there is a reduced rate of $95 per person. The price includes an evening snack, light breakfast, IMAX film screening, scavenger hunt, arts and crafts, flashlight tour, exclusive access and activity in a special exhibit and a t-shirt.
Children ages 8 to 12 may participate. There must be at least one adult for every three children in any group that registers. Chaperones must be 21 years or older. No adults without children. All participants must pre-register by calling The Smithsonian Associates at (202) 633-3030. For more information and a schedule of events please visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.
Snore and Roar overnights offer a great opportunity for adults and children to experience the Zoo as few do. Families enjoy a two-hour tour, a Zoo hike, a snack, a good night’s sleep in a tent, a morning activity, and a continental breakfast. Plus, the chance to say you spent the night at the Zoo!
The opportunity to attend Snore & Roar is a benefit of FONZ Household membership (or higher level).
Registration for 2010 Snore and Roars begins April 6, 2010. Priority registration (for FONZ members at the contributing level and above) begins March 30, 2010.
Adults and children ages six and older. A paying adult must accompany anyone under 18 and a minimum of one adult must chaperone every three children (under 18).
6 p.m.–9 a.m. the following day.
(A small snack is provided, but participants should eat dinner before coming to the Zoo. All Zoo restaurants close at 5 p.m.)
Fee
$65 per person (including adults) for most tours (exceptions noted below)
$100 per person for Great Cats/Kids’ Farm, Asia Trail/Cheetah Conservation Station, and Giant Pandas/Great Apes tours
Please note: A current FONZ household membership (or higher level) is required to participate in family overnights. A household member may bring up to two nonmember guests. A maximum of six participants may sign up with each registration. Unfortunately, large groups cannot be accommodated.
Tours
Amazonia: June 12, 26 (adults only); July 16, 24; August 28
Celebrate Black History Month and introduce kids to Civil War history on their level.
