National Children's Museum - In December, we spent a lot of time at National Harbor's newly opened National Children's Museum. The museum has undergone some controversy due to its small size, but for preschoolers the limited space is a huge asset, in that you can't easily lose them.
T and his friends LOVE it here - from driving the fire truck to shopping in the Tanzanian marketplace they can easily spend hours "playing". There's also a 3 and under room with lots of soft flooring for crawlers and new walkers.
The National Zoo - The new carousel might be the coolest thing ever - how to decide which animal to ride? A panda, frog, bald eagle, etc . . . so many choices. Also, in the winter, more animals are out and about, we even saw the usually reclusive beavers take a swim.
The National Building Museum - I cannot say enough good things about the new Work, Play, Build exhibit. We finally bought a membership, so we've visited a lot after preschool and during winter break. As always, towers must be built.
New Years at Noon at the MD Science Center - Um, it was crowded, so very very crowded. But ball drops are most definitely exciting.
Lichtenstein at the National Gallery with F - F loves art, so I took her to the Lichtenstein exhibit, which she found "big". Then we lingered in the lighted tunnel and ate gelato.
Long Branch & Gulf Branch Nature Centers - We end up here a lot after preschool gets out. Beautiful bare trees outside and fun toys inside. Sort of a win win.
The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian - I have such mixed feelings about the ImagiNations playspace, it has so much potential but still falls somewhat flat. For example, they have this awesome stilt house that my kids would probably love to play in, but it's almost completely empty, even the kitchen just has two plastic fish. T looked everywhere trying to find "food" to cook for me. "Why is there nothing to do in this house, mommy?" Good question, T. I've considered bringing our own play food and toys next time we visit.
On the upside, they added a cool new music room where you can play lots of instruments and videos help you match a beat. On the downside, they only open it for one hour a day (random). Further, their skateboarding videogame is a little addictive. And everything is free.
Two weekends ago, we checked out the multicultural festival - wonderful dancing and a fantastic mask making workshop. The kids keep wearing jaguars around the house.
The Playground After School - Because you have to appreciate the warmish days when they're here. And yes, see the blue thing that P's playing on? That's how she broke her arm. Apparently memories (for better or worse) have not kept her from returning to the scene of the crime.
So that's what we've got going on. Where have you ventured lately?
No comments:
Post a Comment