Top 10 FREE things to do in Washington DC with Kids
We have taken more trips to Washington DC
than I can count!
My parents live there now
and we took a trip there
with our oldest even before they lived there
All of our trips have been with kids
(first trip with our oldest was when she was 8 months old!)
Well, technically
I have been there several times before marriage and kids,
but my husband has only been there with kids in tow!
The GREAT thing about visiting Washington DC
is there there is so much to do there
for FREE!
Seriously,
you could spend weeks there
just seeing all the things offered for free!
I am not sure,
even with all of our many trips,
we have been able to see everything
(We have seen pretty close to everything!)
We take the METRO everywhere
as to not have to drive and park everywhere
VERY easy to navigate
and get around
It is clean
and can get you to almost anywhere in DC!
Everything on the Top 10 FREE things to do in Washington DC with Kids
list is within an easy walk of a Metro station
So here are our
Top 10 favorite FREE things to do in Washington DC with KIDS
We try to do these EVERY time we visit!
I have also listed a few honorable mentions 🙂
Because it was hard to narrow down to just 10!
Top 10 FREE things to do in Washington DC with Kids:
- Tour the White House – I love to take tours of the White House. There is just something amazing about getting to tour the most famous house in the United States! It is a thrill for us. The biggest problem with visiting the White House? You can’t take ANYTHING in! Other than ID and your cell phone, you pretty much can’t take anything else in. So plan for that in advance. As soon as you have your travel plans, contact your Senator or Congressman from your state to arrange a tour. You can do it as early as 6 months in advance. I have always contacted my Senator via their website – easy!
- Tour the Capitol Building – Again, History is everywhere in this building and you won’t regret a tour! We were lucky enough to get a Personal Tour with our Senator’s office aide, where we got to go in the underground Senator trains into the Capitol! Talk about a thrill! The new visitor’s center is also quite a lovely place to visit! Visits can again be arranged by your Senator or Congressman or you can just go to the visitor’s center and get in line for a tour 🙂
- National Zoo – This is an obvious choice for families! FREE zoo! The Pandas are famous. I am partial to the cute Red Pandas as well. TIP – take the Red Line to the Cleveland Park stop NOT the Woodley Park-Zoo stop. It is UPHILL to the park from the Zoo stop and both stops are about the SAME distance to the zoo!! We take the Cleveland Park stop TO the Zoo and then walk downhill to the Zoo stop when we are leaving 🙂
- Old Post Office – I think this is a HIGHLY overlooked spot in DC! You get a GREAT view of Washington DC with hardly any wait (we’ve never experienced a wait). No wait or having to return (like Washington Monument) is important with little kids!
- Air and Space Museum – My kids LOVE this museum! We were actually inside this museum during the Earthquake of 2011! We watched the planes swing from the ceiling! CRAZY! This is the most popular Smithsonian for a reason – it’s AWESOME!
- Natural History – Dinosaurs and GIANT Diamonds… Need I say more?!?! Kids love this place and you can also see the famous Hope Diamond here
- American History – I have to admit that I liked this museum more BEFORE the renovation, but it is still a wonderful place to take kids to see the history of our country. Plus Old Glory is here.
- American Indian – Fantastic museum, beautiful building! Check out the wonderful elevators. The architecture of this building alone is worth the visit. I have Native American heritage, so this place is a wonderful stop for our family. The food served here is pretty good as well!
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing – Another Awesome tour! You can to see and learn how they make money! What’s not to like?!?! Kids love money! (or maybe it is only my kids always asking for some??) We’ve never had a problem getting tickets and walking right onto a tour, but if you are going during the busy tourist season, get there early to get your ticket!
- The Monuments – is it a cop-out to list these all as one? There are so many and they are ALL worth a visit, but they don’t take much time to see and you can walk to all of them in a short amount of time, since they are all close by each other! Get tickets to go up the Washington Monument and then walk to the WWII, Korean, Vietnam, and Lincoln Memorials while you wait for the Washington Monument. The Jefferson is a bit of a walk (we usually drive to it!). And DON’T miss the FDR Memorial!! It is one of my favorite’s! We discovered it on one of our trips (having always skipped it before) and ALWAYS make a point of walking to it now. It is AMAZING and simply wonderfully done – so don’t skip it! 🙂 (trust me). Plus the new MLK memorial is nearby the FDR now as well (we happen to be there the opening weekend of it!) Seeing the Monuments at night is also very beautiful!
Honorable Mentions:
There are so many favorites, I just HAVE to list a few more of our favorite stops!
- National Archives – The reason this is not in my top 10, is because it can be a bit boring. However, it is worth a quick stop to see the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Magna Carta, etc. Just don’t try and take a picture 😉
- Sculpture Garden – When touring the National Mall, take a stroll through the Sculpture Garden. It has some fun and weird pieces of Art to view, plus a great fountain!
- National Art Museum (West) – Visiting an Art Museum might not be every kids cup of tea, but they offer free strollers and my son was SO EXCITED to get his picture taken with This famous Monet! There are MANY famous pieces of art to check out!
- US Botanical Garden – This would be higher on my list, if I weren’t allergic to so many flowers! But this is a beautiful and great place to visit and there is a fun children’s garden area for your kids to play in!
- Arlington National Cemetery – This is an AMAZING, AWE-INSPIRING stop for any family. I HIGHLY recommend visiting! However, it did not make my top 10, for the simple reason it is VERY hilly, and therefore difficult to tour with children for free. However, you can pay for a tour, to see it all, which I would reccomend! You can tour it for free, but it is very large and hilly, and very difficult with small children! But well worth a visit! (and worth the $ for the tour, if you have the means, but just going for a quick visit, you can see quite a bit without trekking up the hills!)
- LDS Washington DC Temple – We stop here every visit. The grounds are beautiful and the visitor’s center is AMAZING. It is not easily accessible via he metro (probably by bus? we always drive). We are LDS and are biased, but well worth a stop, LDS or not 🙂 It also has a BEAUTIFUL Christmas light display at the Holiday’s!!
