Things to Do With Children in the DMV

The DC metro area is a great place to introduce children to museums and art on the Mall.  Show your children dinosaurs and meteors at the Museum of Natural History and ancient native American artifacts at the National Museum of the American Indian or check out the space shuttle at the  Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia ,

Nature comes alive at Calvert Cliffs where you can look for ten to twenty million year old fossils from the Miocene age or on a walk along the Billy Goat trail on the Maryland side of the Great Falls park.

Introduce your children to the world’s cuisines from Turkish food to Ethiopian to German, French and Vietnamese.  There are enough restaurants in the DC metro area to eat out every night and not repeat in several years!

There are wonderful annual events like pumpkin picking or cutting down your own Christmas tree or flying a kite on the grounds of the Washington Monument.   There are so many things to do with children in the DMV.   Here are a few other things to think about doing.

For 46 years, people have celebrated the reign of Henry VIII at the village of Revel Grove at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.  This
year the Festival celebrates 1536 when King Henry VIII joyfully awaits the signal so he can be betrothed to Jane Seymour, who will be his third wife.  The  marriage will take place as soon as his second wife, Anne Boleyn, is beheaded.   What a start to a third marriage!

Get your picture taken with Henry VIII!  Meet the courtiers, like the Seymours and their allies!   Watch Thomas Cromwell orchestrate all the moving parts!  In the village, Sir Richard Mondes, Mayor of Revel Grove, and his wife, the Baroness Marney, await the arrival of Alessandro de’ Medici, Duke of Florence.

All of the villagers of Revel Grove are on hand to welcome the King, court, and all the guests from the 21st century to a fabulous day of feasting, some intrigue, and much merriment!  Jousting, the state sport of Maryland, takes place every day. There are crafts for sale, turkey legs, chicken on a lance and shepherd’s pie to be eaten – and so much more!

Sept. 17, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

This free aviation extravaganza was virtual in 2020 and was limited to a plane pull in 2021. Now it’s back in full force, and it has wings when it comes to opportunities for kids. Families can form teams and grab a rope to test their strength against an 82-ton FedEx Airbus A320 or a United Boeing 757, or kiddos can go up against a 123Junk dump truck. Other kid-friendly activities include riding a firetruck

and spraying the hose on a runway, checking out aircraft and classic car displays, bouncing around an inflatable, and chilling in an air-conditioned mobile lounger (those bus-like units that transport passengers between terminals). All profits from the 30th annual event benefit Special Olympics Virginia. Presented by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and United Airlines, the festival attracts about 15,000 people each year and raised $400,000 in 2019, according to Ellen Head, senior director of development at Special Olympics Virginia. “We’re really excited to have the full-blown event back,” she says. // Dulles International Airport, 1 Saarinen Circle, Dulles, Virginia

Just as an FYI, Currently, Canadian Kevin Fast holds the record for heaviest aircraft pulled by one man. He moved a CC-177 Globemaster III, weighing 416,299 lbs (188.83 tonnes) on a distance of 28 ft 10.46 in (8.8 meters) in 2009!

The 51st Annual Labor Day Art Show at Glen Echo Park will be held in the historic Spanish Ballroom from Saturday, September 3 through Monday, September 5, 2022 from 12pm to 6pm.

Presented by the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture, the exhibition and sale — one of the largest art shows in the area — runs from 12 pm to 6 pm each day. Admission is free. The exhibition features the work of more than 200 artists from the mid-Atlantic region. The show includes works in a wide range of artistic media, including:

• Sculpture
• Painting and Drawing
• Ceramics
• Glass
• Jewelry
• Fiber Arts
• Photography
• Furniture
• Works on paper

The 42nd Annual Pumpkin Festival starts September 24th, 2022 and runs through October 30th.   Tickets are $10 a person.  Included in the tickets are the following: