is this a good place for children ages 10 and 13?

how long do you spend here?
thanks

melissa beckoff

Yes. 2 hours.

I would have thought that they were a little young for the spy museum.

Our kids (12, 10 at the time) really loved it, but it was a bit much for our 8 year old. Make sure you get your tickets ahead of time or you could be on line for up to a few hours...with a timed ticket, you can go right in.

HI--here is some input from my 20-something y.o. son who went there last year---

1) yes, but some stuff might be over their heads, especially for the 10 year old; and 2) about 2 hours

thanks

My daughter was 11 and my son 14 last year when we went. They both said it was cool. We spent 2-3 hours there. The only draw back to me was the relatively high cost for the amount of time spent there, epecially compared to all the free museums in DC. We showed up at 9:30 on a Friday morning in June and didn't have to wait at all.

Sunday mornings right when they open is a great time to go. Be aware that most of the rooms are SMALL and cramped and get even more cramped when it is really crowded. Best to go at a time when you can move and will not get clautrophobic and not able to see the exhibits and little explanation cards next to them due to crowds.

I think your kids have to be into spy and espionage. It was not interactive. My teenagers were bored after 30 mins...I was disappointed. We got our tix online before we went. Would advise that.

Above poster and I seem to be only 2 people on the planet who were not thrilled with Spy Museum. We took our kids, 12 and 16 there 2 summers ago. My husband loved it, but the lack of interactive stuff and the fact that the kids had little knowledge of "spy history" - such as Cold War issues, made it rather boring.

I just found it crowded and tedious. A lot of glass cases with historical things to read - I wanted more stuff you could touch and more "tools" of spy trade rather than historical narratives.

However, everyone else seems to love it, so perhaps you should go.

My 7-year-old loved the place, and could have spent all day there (he is into the whole spy thing), though I think we were there for about 2 hours. My 5-year-old and I weren't too interested; I'm somewhat interested in spy stuff, but I was familiar with a lot of the history/stories and the spy gear wasn't that thrilling to me.

I would say that the museum was pretty interactive; it was definitely different from the more traditional museums in D.C. I'd put the Spy Museum more in the category of enter-cation (entertainment disguised as education, or maybe it's the other way around).

Take your children. It's a cool place and unlike other musuems in DC. We spent about 2 hours. Take the advice of others on this post - get there when it opens; get your tickets in advance. Have a great time!