Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish we had an actual children's museum. Most other cities have awesome children's museums and I don't understand why we don't!

I know! We drive to Fredericksburg to play at their branch of the children's museum of Richmond. It's in a strip mall and nothing great, but it's more than we have here for sure.

Are there any DC natives here who remember the Children's Museum in the 1980's? Oh my gosh it was amazing. It was in a rough-ish neighborhood. Either SE or NE? My grandmother used to drive me there from MoCo and it was so much fun. They had a gigantic indoor maze, a room with slanted floors, a firemen dress up room with climbing stuff, some sort of early washing machine with a crank. I think there was a Native American themed arts and crafts room. I miss it so much on behalf of my little kids. Luckily, we get to drive up to Pittsburgh every so often to visit my DH's family and they have a great children's museum too.

Never tried the Playseum.

Pittsburgh has the best kids museum! St. Petersburg also has a good one.

My parents live near Raleigh snd they have an amazing Children's museum. It baffles me that DC has more museums per square capita but no children's museum. I know there's a little play area in the us history museum but that's a joke

I do not live in DC, but the last time my family visited we enjoyed everything except the Spy Museum. After several days of going to the terrific (and free) museums and sights in the Mall area, we shelled out $80 to visit the Spy Museum. What a disappointment. I expected it to be crowded, even with the timed tickets, but it was insanely packed and difficult to enjoy the exhibits. Most of the exhibits were deadly dull. My children have very little interest in James Bond films, and a good deal of the museum was devoted to that. The only part we all liked was the exhibit near the end about code breaking during World War II. We actually learned something, and it was well laid out and the least crowded part of the museum. We left with relief, and after a surprisingly good lunch in Chinatown, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, which fortunately ended the day on a positive note.

You in DC are fortunate to have so many excellent museums that are free. My family could go to those over and over again. The Spy Museum, not so much.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand and appreciate that the zoo is free, but it's just kind of a bummer. I've gone at least once a year for 10 years, and it seems like half the exhibits are always empty. Not animals hiding, but totally empty. No hippopotamuses any more. It's not a very good zoo.

I miss the giraffes.

I miss the polar bears! That is one of my most vivid childhood memories.

The zoo for sure. Maybe they should have more than 3 birds in the football-sized Amazonia? Maybe they should get giraffes (and not starve them this time).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Zoo.

That's crazy talk. It's a free, large wooded place for my crazy toddler to walk/run herself into a sleepy daze.

+1 Why is the zoo, of all places, overrated?

Because a visit to virtually any other zoo in this country establishes how mightily this one sucks.

So true.

Anonymous wrote:Free admission is a real problem. Lots of poors overrun all these places.

You are gross! What a nasty thing to say.

Free admission is a real problem. Lots of poors overrun all these places.

Anonymous wrote:I understand and appreciate that the zoo is free, but it's just kind of a bummer. I've gone at least once a year for 10 years, and it seems like half the exhibits are always empty. Not animals hiding, but totally empty. No hippopotamuses any more. It's not a very good zoo.

I miss the giraffes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish we had an actual children's museum. Most other cities have awesome children's museums and I don't understand why we don't!

I know! We drive to Fredericksburg to play at their branch of the children's museum of Richmond. It's in a strip mall and nothing great, but it's more than we have here for sure.

Are there any DC natives here who remember the Children's Museum in the 1980's? Oh my gosh it was amazing. It was in a rough-ish neighborhood. Either SE or NE? My grandmother used to drive me there from MoCo and it was so much fun. They had a gigantic indoor maze, a room with slanted floors, a firemen dress up room with climbing stuff, some sort of early washing machine with a crank. I think there was a Native American themed arts and crafts room. I miss it so much on behalf of my little kids. Luckily, we get to drive up to Pittsburgh every so often to visit my DH's family and they have a great children's museum too.

Never tried the Playseum.

Pittsburgh has the best kids museum! St. Petersburg also has a good one.

Anonymous wrote:The Playseum. Ick.

I think it's over rated but my kids loved that place when they were younger.

Tokyo is an awesome place to visit. 2 big problems: everyone there is Japanese (feels like zero diversity to foreigners) and they speak Japanese (actually lots of English is spoken in Tokyo but it makes me feel like the lame American who can't manage to speak more that 10 Japanese phrases and understand less -yes, I know this is my problem).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a craptastic area for kids.

This is insane. The freaking Smithsonian (including the Zoo) is here and FREE. Not to mention many other paid attractions and many great playgrounds. And not far from Baltimore, within 5 hours of Philly and NYC. Is it the most kid-friendly area in the world? Probably not. But craptastic? Really?

Actually, except maybe Orlando, what's a more kid-friendly area in the country?

I could see the argument that London is more kid-friendly outside of the US. I can't think of many other places.

I live outside of Tokyo.
--Outdoor playgrounds are fabulous and put DC parks to shame.
--Indoor play areas are spotless. They give you a spray bottle to clean your stroller wheels! And of course, you take off your shoes. A snack area is generally cordoned off and has vending machines and toys, so you can byo and don't have to eat gross pizza. They have massage chairs adjacent to the play areas!
--It seems like there are museums for kids and museums for adults. You are not expected to bring your kid to a national history museum to marvel at antiquity. Instead, there is a toy museum where they have curated the most interesting toys for kids and you go there and play with them. There is a fire engine museum and a transportation museum - extremely hands on places where for kids to climb all over various plants, trains, and automobiles. They are not free but admission is very reasonable.
--The parks are to die for. Our local park has a petting zoo, as well as pony rides!
--Every facility has clean bathrooms, vending machines for water, and a clean changing table.
--Mall play areas are free, clean, and interesting to explore. There are also paid places in many malls that up the level of entertainment and are pretty fun.
Japan is a tough country as far a work hours, the demands placed on women, and a lot of other things. But they totally get that kids are not just small adults, and that is reflected in their commercial and municipal facilities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a craptastic area for kids.

This is insane. The freaking Smithsonian (including the Zoo) is here and FREE. Not to mention many other paid attractions and many great playgrounds. And not far from Baltimore, within 5 hours of Philly and NYC. Is it the most kid-friendly area in the world? Probably not. But craptastic? Really?

Actually, except maybe Orlando, what's a more kid-friendly area in the country?

I could see the argument that London is more kid-friendly outside of the US. I can't think of many other places.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Air and Space on the Mall. I want to love it but most of it is really boring.

I think Udvar Hazy is even worse. Plus, the parking is such a ripe off. And offering free parking after 4pm? Give me a break? Like I'm going to battle traffic during the weekday to get there after 4pm for free parking?

At least the Air&Space on the mall has buttons to push and some interaction. From what I remember, Udvar had none of that except maybe a flight simulator with a gigantic line of people. No thanks.

My kids love udvar hazy. There are tons of planes and rockets and you can walk right up to them. Paying for parking that far out in the burbs is annoying, but it amounts to $15 for a family outing so it is nbd. If out of principle or financial situation the $15 really makes a difference, it is nice they have the free option after 4, including weekends.

It's sad that people don't seem to appreciate all of the things, many free, we have in the DC area.

Also, literally every single thing in that museum is a historical artifact. It's not a replica or even an unused back up. It's a space shuttle that actually went to space. I mean, you can argue that's not of interest to you. But if you like space like, at all, then you cannot honestly say that it's overrated.

There's an actual Apollo capsule at the Air & Space Museum on the Mall. What's wrong with American education that you all are like, "meh, booooring" about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a craptastic area for kids.

This is actually the stupidest thing I have ever seen on this board in my 6 years here.

+1