DC’s Top 10 for Kids

• At the National Zoo [1], gorillas touch the hands — and hearts — of kids through their glass containment areas.

• Tarantulas are fed daily in the Orkin Insect Zoo at the National Museum of Natural History [2]. Great fun for kids, but not for the crickets.

• Even small children are awestruck by the Lincoln Memorial [3]’s 19-foot-high seated statue of the 16th president.

• The National Air and Space Museum [4] is a wonderland of technology and opportunity: Kids can walk through planes and a space station and participate in experiments.

• The smell of fried seafood wafts across the parking lots and along the busy waterfront at the Maine Avenue Fish Market [5], a carnival of food kiosks and vendors selling fried fish, fresh oysters, soft- and hard-shell crabs and nearly every type of fascinating, weird, edible creature of the deep.

• Kids are captivated at Adventure Theatre (www.adventuretheatre.org [6]), a professional theater group that caters exclusively to children with shows like the beloved Charlotte’s Web and the amusing adventures of Frog and Toad.

• Something’s always growing, harvested, dyed, dried, or crafted at Claude Moore Colonial Farm in McLean, Virginia [7], a rendition of a modest circa-1771 frontier farm.

• The Washingtons were a tad wealthier than the residents of Claude Moore: From the Orangery to its vast veranda overlooking the Potomac River and the winding path that leads to Washington’s grave, Mount Vernon [8] offers children a world of excitement and room to roam.

• Tweens and teens like the International Spy Museum [9], which features one of James Bond’s Aston Martins and tutorials on shadowing, trailing, and losing a tail.

• No need to drive all the way to Baltimore to check out an aquarium; the National Aquarium [10] in the basement of the Commerce Building is a hidden delight, unknown to many locals.

Links:
[1] http://www.moon.com/destinations/washington-dc/sights/national-zoo
[2] http://www.moon.com/destinations/washington-dc/sights/national-museum-natural-history
[3] http://www.moon.com/destinations/washington-dc/sights/lincoln-memorial
[4] http://www.moon.com/destinations/washington-dc/sights/national-air-and-space-museum
[5] http://www.moon.com/destinations/washington-dc/restaurants/maine-avenue-fish-market
[6] http://www.adventuretheatre.org
[7] http://www.moon.com/destinations/washington-dc/excursions-washington-dc/virginia-countryside/mclean
[8] http://www.moon.com/destinations/washington-dc/excursions-washington-dc/alexandria/sights
[9] http://www.moon.com/destinations/washington-dc/sights/international-spy-museum
[10] http://www.moon.com/destinations/washington-dc/sights/national-aquarium