Recs in Washington, DC for 10 and 6 year olds
 

We're going to have three days in Washington DC later this week with our 10 and 6 year old girls. Recommendations?

Is the Spy Museum good for the 10 year old?

Depends on the 10 year old - there is a lot of historical, Cold War stuff there that my husband found fascinating but our teenagers were clueless about. With only 3 days, would not be my first choice.

With limited time, and a hundred free things to do, I would also not bother with the Spy Museum. Most kids enjoy the Smithsonian museums of Natural History and American History. Our less-obvious favorites include the Postal Museum and the Bulding Museum.

You should certainly cover all the major momuments - easy for kids to understand and you can add simple history lessons.

And the Smithsonian Natural Hispty and Air/Space are naturals. Also- they should both enjoy the zoo

Our then-8 and 5 year old kids both really enjoyed the Air and Space Museum - actually, we all did, and spent more time there than planned.

We spent a short time at the Natural History Museum, just visiting the exhibits that we'd chosen beforehand (the gems display was one).

I was surprised that none of us liked the American History Museum a huge amount. When we went, the flag was off display, which was a huge disappointment.

Our older child likes art, as do we grownups, so we spent time at the National Gallery.

We visited most of the monuments; they liked those, especially Roosevelt's.

The kids liked the Postal Museum, but I found it boring. We toured the Capitol, which was significant, but the kids didn't enjoy it a huge amount (but there are just some things you have to do).

I tried to keep the existence of the Spy Museum a secret from my older child, but he found out, so we ended up visiting it. It's open later than the rest of the museums, so we easily fit it in. He's a big spy buff, as am I, so it was a good time for us both (younger child was very bored), though I was ready to leave far before he was. I would say that if your 10 year old likes that kind of stuff, then go.