During our six nights in Washington, D.C., we did ten activities together as a family and I wanted to share my thoughts on each. Please don’t consider this to be a top ten list, as I’m sure there are many other great options to do in this historic city.

US Capitol Tour

To start off our adventure, we did a tour of the US Capitol. It is free, but it is recommended to get a reservation in advance. While you could book a reservation yourself online, we went through our local US Representative (since we were hoping to get into the White House too).

Alex (age 6) had fun on the tour but Char (age 3) was a bit uninterested. Perhaps that’s not surprising given there was a lot of talking and big words she didn’t understand. Alex has been very patriotic lately, humming the national anthem and other songs he has been learning in school. So he was thrilled to learn a little more history. The enjoyment you have on the tour is highly dependent on the docent leading the tour and we had some fun with ours.

We were fortunate to have the opportunity to go into the Old Senate Chamber. From the sounds of it, the room is not consistently open to the public, so it’s hit or miss if you can make it. There was a definite old world feel to the room, but it has been preserved well.

You could just leave at the end of the tour, but given the timing, we ended up just eating at the cafeteria at the US Capitol. There were some decent options that both kids and adults would like. I just wish the cost were a bit less. Them tax dollars at work elsewhere, I guess?

The tour seems good for grade-school children but toddlers might not care much.

National Children’s Museum

In the afternoon, we stopped by the National Children’s Museum, about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Purchasing tickets online also requires you to choose a time slot. Thankfully, there is a small room here that can be used for luggage storage. There are no lockers or anything to secure your stuff, so if you have concerns of losing anything valuable, it’s best to keep it on yourself while you’re here.

Much of the action here takes place downstairs, with lots of places to explore.

Once downstairs, if you have little ones, head over to the little dreamers section, recommended for age three and under. Char had fun playing make-believe, riding an airplane, and a hot-air balloon. There also is a mothers room hidden in this section if you need privacy.

There are also a couple of sponsored exhibits while we were here, including a Paw Patrol exhibit where kids can interact with the characters and build, though one of the displays was broken when we visited. And there was a large room containing characters from the movie Inside Out.

There is also a section with an interactive large screen where everyone can wave their arms and make magic appear. This is a popular attraction and a small line did form.

Hidden away in the back was another area intended for children three and younger. This one has more building blocks. Expect kids to fall over a bit more in this area.

Overall, it’s worth a trip if you have younger children.

Zoo Lights

During the month of December, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo opens at night with an assortment of lighted animal statues. Getting tickets here is a bit of a tricky game. It is free to attend but reservations are required and sell out very quickly. There are opportunities to snag tickets two weeks in advance, one week in advance, and a day in advance, so you need to be ready once it turns midnight ET. Tickets to the regular zoo hours are easy to come by but don’t include Zoo Lights.

We had a nice time walking around here but I think the kids were wondering where all the real animals were. Don’t come here expecting to see any—though we did see a lone deer, it was lost and wandered in the area. Some people ran after it trying to get a picture but we knew better and kept our distance.

While we couldn’t see any true zoo animals, the concessions were all still working so we did eat dinner here and the kids needed their popcorn.

It’s nice for getting into the holiday spirit, but I wouldn’t say it’s a must-see attraction.

Discovery Theater

In the middle of all the Smithsonian museums is a children’s theater called Discovery Theater. There are directions to get here on the website but they aren’t clear on which building to enter. You have to start by going into the S. Dillon Ripley Center, then descend both stairs and an escalator, and it’s around the corner. If you arrive early, there’s not much to do; we tried looking at some nearby exhibits but a docent claimed the area was closed (there were no signs that suggested it was closed). We were then forced to sit around on a bench for 15 minutes with kids that didn’t understand we needed to wait.

The theater seems to be popular with local schools as most of the attendees were school kids. Those kids took the floor space right in front of the stage while we took the bleachers in the back. The show itself was about the different holidays celebrated around the world in December and was entertaining for the kids. I recommend watching a show here if you have younger kids.

Smithsonian Natural History Museum

One of the more popular Smithsonian museums is the Natural History Museum not only because it’s free but the content is great too. The kids enjoyed both the interactive exhibits and the displays. I wasn’t sure if our three year old would be entertained here but in particular she loved looking at all the animals on display and acted as though they were after her. Some exhibits referenced death and decay, which captivated our six year old as he’s right around that age where he asks a lot of questions on the topic. This is absolutely worth a stop.

International SPY Museum

Unlike many museums in the DC area, this one requires paid admission but note that children aged six and younger get in free. That made it a bit easier to stomach the price of adults ($32/adult as of this writing). So is it worth it? It truly depends on how much into undercover history you are.

Not all exhibits here are going to be for everyone. There are exhibits discussing death, deceit, bombings, traitors… things that are going to draw a lot of questions from younger children. But there are also quite a few interactive exhibits, including crawling through a vent quietly to avoid getting caught and choosing disguises to avoid detection (somehow Char still passed this).

This museum seems better designed for older children, but there are enough things to entertain younger kids. I don’t expect to return here until the kids are much older.

Enchant DC

Enchant appears to be an annual event, with locations in several parts of the US. I can’t comment on how the others are set up but my best assumption is it’s a comparable experience. The DC location is at Nationals Park, easily accessible via subway. There are many food vendors, an ice skating rink, a maze of lights, and a visit with Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

Expecting long lines, we bought the VIP wristbands for an extra fee ($25/adult, $15/child) over the price of admission ($34/adult, $18/child)… and quite honestly it was a waste of money. Even the cost of regular admission was a stretch but the VIP experience offered no incremental value. There was a lengthy line to do ice skating ($15/person extra) but we weren’t allowed to skip any line. The exit of ice skating leads to the light maze experience, bypassing any line there. And while we were able to skip two groups to go see Santa, no one ever checked if we had VIP access. So do yourself a favor and don’t get VIP.

While the kids did have fun at ice skating and the light maze, I can’t say much of the same for the parents. The quality of the ice is very poor, causing quite a few wipeouts. There were also way too many people throughout, making it very easy to lose children for a few minutes in the crowds. Food is expensive, especially if you want something other than ballpark food.

Overall, I’d say just save the cash and go somewhere else to ice skate and see Santa.

Smithsonian National Museum of American History

We spent some time at the National Museum of American History. As you could tell from the pictures, it was a rather wet day, so ducking in here gave us an opportunity to dry off a bit. As with most Smithsonian museums, there was a cafeteria here with a decent selection of food. The selections do vary from museum to museum so at least you don’t get too bored with the options (unless of course you visit multiple days in a row). Of the Smithsonian museums we visited, this one in general seemed the least engaging for the kids. I don’t think they are yet at the age where they could enjoy details of American culture and its history. There are some interactive exhibits here, such as where can live out your dream of being a DJ or boarding a train to watch a short film. Perhaps they realized the subject content here is a little dry for younger children as they do have a dedicated section for younger children where they can experiment, read books, and learn about electricity at the Spark Lab. I think this museum would hold more interest for grade school children after they learn a bit more history in school.

White House Tour

Getting into the White House for a tour is a bit of a lucky lottery draw and requires some advance planning. We reached out to our local US Representative right around 90 days prior to our trip. If you have multiple options to choose from, I will say that you’re not supposed to request a tour from all representatives. I’m somewhat ashamed to admit I did reach out to all three of our options (before I realized I wasn’t supposed to do that), but it does seem like availability differs based on who you reach out to. Only one representative got back to me with a time for the White House, while the other two went MIA. I’m not saying you should technically break the rules and request from multiple representatives, but I’ll leave it up to your best judgment on what you’re comfortable doing. However, regardless of the route you choose, you’ll need to be flexible as it’s unclear what time or day you will get. Even after we received a confirmation, the White House changed the date on us while we were in DC due to the Ukranian President coming to town. Thankfully, we were able to accommodate the last minute change.

We showed up at the White House to find a long line waiting along a gate. It took us a good 45 minutes to clear the first line and move on to the security section where we experienced a process very similar to what you would find in a typical airport.

Walking through the building was nice, though very crowded, especially towards the end of the self-guided tour. There was a small gift shop roughly halfway through where we bought a couple of ornaments (the same ornaments that could be bought at a shop outside the White House we would later learn). But I was a bit shocked by the price of a simple fleece blanket at the gift shop ($55). There definitely is no subsidy here.I

t’s worth a shot if you’re coming to town and I would likely try again in a different season.

National Air and Space Museum

Our last stop was a trip to the National Air and Space Museum. While it is free to visit, a reservation is required so it’s important to get one before you go. Luckily, availability seemed abundant as long as you’re doing it a day or two in advance.

There are some interactive exhibits here and the kids loved going into airplanes to take a tour of the smaller planes on display. There is a section on the history of flight and while the kids didn’t care as much for the history, they seemed to appreciate the models and replicas.

Sadly, due to construction, only half the museum was open. There also was a small cafeteria, with limited options compared to nearby Smithsonian museums. This might be a good candidate for bringing your own food or dining outside at a local restaurant.

We would likely return when construction completes and we can see the rest of the exhibits.

Other Ideas

There are three locations I strongly debated visiting, but ended up not going for a variety of reasons:

• The Pentagon — tours are available online but, similar to the White House, require winning a lottery to get in. We were not winners this time.
• Ford’s Theater — located near our hotel, but we weren’t sure the venue and its history would be appropriate for our three year old. There are shows here at the theater but note there is an age requirement to attend.
• Mount Vernon — while it’s certainly possible to drive there yourself, it would have forced us to rent a car. There are tours that go there and we had booked one, but the White House changing dates on us forced us to drop this experience. There is a boat that goes here, but it’s not available in the winter.

Where have you gone in Washington DC that you would recommend to others?