Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for all tips and advices.

I don't have high expectation when I take 2 kids (3 & 6) to museum. It is just for exposure, and I think they will just want to look at the most interesting visual display, and browse from one display to the next. It is like window shopping jumping from one to next, and I doubt that they will be interested in hearing or reading those descriptions.
Probably 1 museum takes an hour to browse??

Do you take museum as educational lecture, explain this or that to kids or just browsing around? I am not going to take them to art museum in case they are too loud/running around or break anything.

DP and just to clarify since I mentioned the cafeteria at the National Gallery of Art -- you can get to the cafeteria there without going through much of the actual museum, so no worries about the kids being loud/breaking stuff in the museum if you just want to use the cafeteria there.

I used to work with kids that age at the Smithsonian.

Definitely only go to one museum. Plan to get there at opening, have lunch, and head out. That's totally enough for one day.

We don't live in DC anymore, but my kid has enjoyed American History, Natural History, and American Indian.

Both NMAH & NMAI have hands-on kids rooms.

For kids who have never been:

NMAH: Transportation hall.
NMNM: Dinosaurs & mammal hall.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for all tips and advices.

I don't have high expectation when I take 2 kids (3 & 6) to museum. It is just for exposure, and I think they will just want to look at the most interesting visual display, and browse from one display to the next. It is like window shopping jumping from one to next, and I doubt that they will be interested in hearing or reading those descriptions.
Probably 1 museum takes an hour to browse??

Do you take museum as educational lecture, explain this or that to kids or just browsing around? I am not going to take them to art museum in case they are too loud/running around or break anything.

Oh good point. My oldest has always wanted to stop and examine every. Little. Thing. She reads all the descriptions and analyses all the exhibits. Her little brother only stops when an exhibit involves electronics or looks very expensive (like gems). I have to walk quickly to keep up with him. This makes it hard to go to museums with both of them so I don’t do it anymore.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with everyone on the postal museum, it is so great and interactive! Agree with national gallery cascade cafe, they also have gelato which is fun to eat indoors.

Hidden gem dining on the mall: not sure if it open to public now, but the USDA cafeteria (right behind the freer gallery) is so delicious, healthful, and cheap.

The USDA cafeteria is never open on weekends anyway.

I agree with everyone on the postal museum, it is so great and interactive! Agree with national gallery cascade cafe, they also have gelato which is fun to eat indoors.

Hidden gem dining on the mall: not sure if it open to public now, but the USDA cafeteria (right behind the freer gallery) is so delicious, healthful, and cheap.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for all tips and advices.

I don't have high expectation when I take 2 kids (3 & 6) to museum. It is just for exposure, and I think they will just want to look at the most interesting visual display, and browse from one display to the next. It is like window shopping jumping from one to next, and I doubt that they will be interested in hearing or reading those descriptions.
Probably 1 museum takes an hour to browse??

Do you take museum as educational lecture, explain this or that to kids or just browsing around? I am not going to take them to art museum in case they are too loud/running around or break anything.

Browsing. It’s an air conditioned new space. When they are bigger we might look at something more deeply. You can ask a few observational questions if they linger anywhere. Very simple ones. Let it be fun.

OP here, thanks for all tips and advices.

I don't have high expectation when I take 2 kids (3 & 6) to museum. It is just for exposure, and I think they will just want to look at the most interesting visual display, and browse from one display to the next. It is like window shopping jumping from one to next, and I doubt that they will be interested in hearing or reading those descriptions.
Probably 1 museum takes an hour to browse??

Do you take museum as educational lecture, explain this or that to kids or just browsing around? I am not going to take them to art museum in case they are too loud/running around or break anything.

I agree with the PP saying the cafeteria on the lower level between the two wings of the National Gallery of Art is a good bet. It will be less crowded than the cafeterias at Natural History or elsewhere, usually. And it has an extremely cool "waterfall" that looks like it's about to come right inside, but it's actually flowing down from the fountains overhead at street level. You want the museum cafeteria, not the cafe that's a sit-down full service restaurant (also on that same lower level).

But all the museum cafeterias can get very pricey, even for kids' food For kids that age, to keep things flexible, I'd just take a simple, snacky picnic and buy them an ice cream from a food truck afterward, and eat wherever you like on the Mall or outside any museum. In the middle of visiting museums, stopping to deal with a cafeteria can be a hassle, especially if it's busy. Big breakfast, snack stops, small lunch outdoors (unless it's a million degrees like DC gets in summer....).

Plan on two museums and be prepared to leave if they're pretty much done after just one museum. Better to see things at just one, and have everyone leave happy, than to feel it's necessary to get to a second museum because that was in the plan but everyone ends up over-tired. Depending on the kids, the heat that day, how much you walk around, one can be enough.

Does the building museum still have a kids room?