Great Baltimore Kids Museum: The Walters Art Museum

I’m sure you guys are all veterans of the Baltimore’s Inner Harbor or the National Aquarium in Baltimore day trip. But those trips are often exhausting, crowded and the fun does not come cheap. An alternative Charm City family destination is  The Walters Art Museum. It’s FREE and it’s awesome.

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.

For more information on The Walters Art Musuem, please visit their website.

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).

GIVEAWAY: Baby Loves Disco at the 9:30 Club on August 22nd

Baby Loves Disco Giveaway! Interested in winning one of two free family 4-packs (a $50 value) for Baby Loves Disco on Sunday August 22 at 11am at the 9:30 Club?

The Baby Loves Disco Lemonade Tour rocks its way into DC on Sunday August 22nd.  This national tour of the super fun dance parties for parents and kids has a summer mission to spread awareness and raise money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand, a nonprofit organization devoted to finding a cure for childhood cancer.

If you haven’t heard of it, Baby Loves Disco is a daytime dance party featuring real music spun and mixed by real DJs blending classic disco tunes from the ‘70s and ‘80s. The party is geared toward both children aged baby-kid, as well as (gasp!) the parents.  Hey, just because you have a high chair in your kitchen and crayon on your walls does NOT mean that you no longer need to shake your booty -  just shake it at the 9:30 Club on a Sunday afternoon WITH your kids and introduce them to funky-fresh and family-friendly music!

To win one of these FREE FAMILY 4 PACKS, leave a comment below with a song that you and your kids like to dance around the house to together! The two winners will be drawn on Thursday night 8/19 at 9:30 (get it??) p.m. Please provide your email address in your comment!

My six year old son Charlie has just “discovered” the Bob Marley and the Wailers tunes in our family iPod, so our house currently sounds like a college dorm on spring break as we shuffle-reggae-dance around to “Could You Be Loved” all day long.

Baby Loves Disco Lemonade Tour at the 9:30 Club

815 V Street, Washington, DC

Sunday, August 22nd, 11 am to 2 pm

Buy Tickets online: $20 per walking human. Family 4-pack is $50

Info: http://www.babylovesdisco.com/events/

Thanks to 9:30 Club for sponsoring this giveaway and H&M for sponsoring the Baby Loves Disco Lemonade Stand tour. I was not compensated in any way for this giveaway or post.

Gem Show & Sale This Weekend – Great for Families!

The Gem, Lapidary & Mineral Society of DC will host its 60th Annual Gem Show & Sale THIS weekend on Saturday August 7 10am-6pm and Sunday August 8 10am-5pm in Bethesda. The show has one whole room dedicated to activities for kids, and kids 16 and under are FREE.

Photo by Michael Colella

The star of the GLMS kids’ room is the incredible “Crystal Cave” for kids to walk through and explore that features stalagmites and stalactites and lavacicles and dark crystals and other cool cool stuff. There are also lots of educational hands-on activities for all ages and gobs of give-a-ways for all ‘junior rockhounds’ compiling their own gem stone and fossil collections.

Kids under 16 are free with a paying adult, adults are $6, seniors $5 and here’s a coupon for a $1 ticket discount on your adult ticket.

The show is held at the Stoneridge School in Bethesda, at the corner of Rockville Pike & Cedar Lane.

You could also leave the kids behind and browse the 30 quality dealers selling gems, jewelry, fossils, minerals, and beads.

Saturday: 10am to 6 pm

Sunday: 10 am to 5 pm

Cost: $6 Adults, $5 Seniors

Kids under 16 FREE with paid adult.

$1.00 OFF with coupon