Are you thinking about going to Washington D.C. with your kids for one day but are completely overwhelmed by what you should do? Are you trying to find a way to see as much as possible in that one day, but don’t know where to start? If you answered yes, then this article is for you.
How to Plan One Day in Washington D.C.
When I began to plan our family vacation time in Washington D.C. I realized that our family would only have one day to be there. I was overwhelmed at the possibilities. There was so much to do. Our children were only ages 3, 6, and 8 years old. What did we want to see? What did we want to do? How much could everyone handle before getting cranky? It was hard to know where to begin.
Creating a Plan
One thing I did know was that I needed to have a plan. Before Chris and I had our own family we had visited Washington D.C. several times, but we never had a plan or a schedule. We just wandered the city. And I’ll admit that it was nice, but looking back, we missed out on sooo much! We went into a few museums and saw a few sites and at the time, we were happy. It was only later that I started hearing about some amazing sites, museums and items in these museums that I would have desperately wanted to see. I was kicking myself that I had not done any research ahead of time. I was so close to so many cool things and I had missed them. This wasn’t going to happen again.
Research
I know that there will always be something fun that is missed while traveling. And I know that it is impossible to see everything everywhere you go. But at least with a plan I knew that I could prioritize what we felt was the most important things to see or do.
Now traveling as a family, I researched the top sites that I wanted our family to see in Washington D.C.. I soon began to realize that almost everything I wanted my kids to see, during our limited time ,was on the National Mall. I knew then and there that this was where we wanted to focus our time.
The National Mall:
Website: https://www.nps.gov/nama/index.htm
The National Mall is a 1.9 mile long park in the heart of Washington D.C. Here you can find The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial, The Capitol Building, The White House and 11 Smithsonian Museums and Galleries!
D.C. Metro
Website: https://www.wmata.com/rider-guide/index.cfm#main-content
To get to the National Mall it is best to take the DC Metro (subway). For us riding this subway was more confusing than in other cities. Here each person needs their own ticket and your ride price is measured by how far you are going. Therefore you have to use your ticket to get into the subway and again when you are exiting.
Reading more about how this subway works would be beneficial before you go. At the National Mall there are actually six subway stations that service this area. Choose the one that is the nearest to what you will be wanting to see. We chose to get off at the Smithsonian subway stop. This stop lets you off right by the Washington Monument, The National Museum of American History and the Natural History Museum.
How to Narrow it Down:
The National Mall is enormous and you could easily spend more than a week just seeing what this area of Washington D.C. has to offer.
The National Mall is basically divided into two sections. The side towards the Capitol Building has the museums. The side from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument has the national memorials.
Museum Hopping – It’s Free!
It is also good to know that all of the Smithsonian Museums are free, yes free! This makes museum hopping a wonderful option for anybody that is looking to sample a wide variety of topics and is short on time.
To see the most of Washington D.C. in one day with our kids, we chose to see the national memorials first thing in the morning before the museums opened at 10 am. This allowed us to beat the heat and the crowds. We then chose to museum hop for the remainder of the day. We definitely didn’t try to see everything and I tried to focus on what I thought was the most important things for our children to see.
Sites in This Post:
Memorials on the National Mall
The National Mall
We began our one day in Washington D.C. with our kids at 8 am on the National Mall. Luckily we had our stroller for our three year old because we knew this was going to be a heavy walking day for our family.
Memorials
We began our journey of the National Mall at the Washington Monument. This was a great opportunity to begin talking to our children about George Washington and the roll he played in creating the United States. The Washington Monument here was built to honor him. From here we headed toward the WWII Memorial and then on to the Lincoln Memorial. I loved being able to use this time to give mini-history lessons as we walked.
Lincoln Memorial
When we reached the Lincoln Memorial our boys were shocked at how large it was! They loved it!
As a side note: This walk so far was already 1.2 miles.
As we headed away from the Lincoln Memorial we stopped at Constitution Gardens for an amazing view of the Washington Monument.
Next we walked up Ellipse Park to see
The White House.
I was so excited that in just this morning walk, our children had now seen many of the iconic images that they would learn about in school.
Walking this section of the National Mall was about 2.3 miles and took us about an hour and a half. For us this meant that we had about a half hour to take a break and have a small snack before all of the Museums opened at 10 am.
If you are following this route then right after the White House you are the closest to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We chose to see this museum first.
Before our trip to Washington D.C., I went online to each museum’s website and chose items or displays that I thought my family would enjoy. I also printed out a museum map and jotted down notes as to where each item was located so that we could quickly navigate these enormous museums to find the highlights that we wanted to see.
Smithsonian Museums
Below is our Top Things to See lists for the Smithsonian Museums with kids. By following this list we were able to see some of the most incredible highlights at each of these museums all in one day. I know this is not ideal, but this is all the time we had so we wanted to make every minute count.
National Museum of American History:
Wesite: https://americanhistory.si.edu/
1st Floor – Lighting a Revolution Exhibit – Edison’s light bulb
America on the Move Exhibit – We pointed out the steam engines, combustion engines and turbines and discussed how they worked and their role in shaping America.
2nd Floor – The Star-Spangled Banner: The actual flag that inspired the National Anthem
Hear my Voice Exhibit – Alexander Graham Bell – we listened to some of the earliest sound recordings ever made.
3rd Floor – American Culture Displays – Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers
Price of Freedom Exhibit – George Washington’s sword and coat
George Washington’s Sword
As a side note: There are audio tours available at the museum as well if you are looking for a more in depth tour. You could easily spend all day at this museum if you had the time (and your kid’s attention span could handle it.)
Lunch Suggestion:
If you are looking for a place to eat while museum hopping in Washington D.C. with kids, try the Pavillion Café by the National Gallery of Art. We loved this cafe. It has indoor and outdoor seating with panoramic views of the Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden. Food here includes pizza, sandwiches and salads.
National Gallery of Art
Website: https://www.nga.gov/
For the National Gallery of Art, before our trip, I looked up some of my favorite artists and paintings that I thought our kids would like. I also looked at the museum’s highlights on their website so that I could create my own short Top Artworks to See List for this museum.
First, we decided to only visit the West Building in this enormous museum. The East building contains modern artwork and exhibitions and this is not what I wanted to concentrate on for this first short visit.
(Please double check artwork location, in case they have moved)
Main Floor:
Gallery 79 – The Only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Americas! – “Ginevra de’ Benci” – This painting was one of Leonardo da Vinci’s first experiments with using oil paint as a new medium. The use of oil paints allowed Leonardo to create a new naturalism that would transform Renaissance painting!
Gallery 83 – Vincent Van Gogh -“Self Portrait 1889”
He painted this self portrait apparently in one sitting! He had been sick and this was his first painting once he was able to paint again. His belief was that only painting again could restore his health.
Gallery 85 – Impressionism Gallery– notice how the artists capture the light and shadow. Up close the paintings may look messy but stand back and watch the picture emerge. Works by Renoir and Monet are in this gallery.
Renoir – “A Girl with a Watering Can”
Monet – “Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and her son”
Fun Fact: Did you know that Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Pissarro and Degas were all friends and they created the Impressionist Movement together!
Gallery 89 & 90 – Works by Renoir, Manet, Pissaro and Cassatt
Cross to the other side of the museum
Gallery 20 – Works by Raphael – “The Small Cowper Madonna” (1505);
Raphael is best known for his Madonna paintings and for his works in the Vatican.
Gallery 48 & 51 – Works by Rembrandt -“Self Portrait 1659”
Rembrandt, a Dutch painter, is best known for painting realistic portraits, for his incredible use of light and shadow and for painting numerous self portraits.
We then headed downstairs to walk through the beautiful gallery of sculptures.
Gallery 2 – Rodin – “The Thinker” – although this is not the original which lies in Paris, Rodin created this smaller version which was the original size of his first clay model.
Gallery 3 – Degas – “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen”
Degas is especially known for his paintings and sculptures of dancers.
Another highlight of this museum (which is currently not on display at the the time of this writing) is Monet’s – “The Japanese Footbridge” painting.
Seeing that this was not on display reminded me that paintings do go on and off display and occasionally change to a different room. Please do not assume that the list above will still be correct when you visit this museum. (But hopefully it gives you a good starting point as to what amazing artwork is here.)
Side Note: There is also a National Gallery of Art App you can download with more than 130 stops written by the curators of this museum.
National Air and Space Museum
Website: https://airandspace.si.edu/
1st Floor – Gallery 100 – Milestone’s of Flight –
*Touch a Moon rock!
*John Glenn’s Mercury Capsule Friendship 7 – The first American to orbit Earth was in this capsule!,
*Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis – first solo nonstop transatlantic flight was in this plane!,
*Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1 – The first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound!
*SpaceShipOne – the first privately developed, piloted vehicle to reach space!
2nd Floor – Gallery 209 – *The Original 1903 Wright Brothers Airplane – the first successful flight of a powered heavier-than-air flying machine!
Side Note: Audio Guides are also available to rent.
Please note that displays change so please check with the museum if there is anything specific you want to see. For instance in October 2019 Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Vega 5B is not on display. It may be displayed again later, so it’s always good to check with the museum website itself for the most current information.
National Museum of Natural History
Website: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/
This was a museum in Washington D.C. that I really wish we had more time to just wander with our kids. We’re already itching to come back!
1st Floor – Ocean Hall – *see a life-sized model of a North Atlantic right whale, *see a 25 foot long preserved squid, *see the jaws of a Megalodon
2nd Floor – Hall of Geology – *Hope Diamond – 45.5 carat blue diamond
*Gems and Minerals – explore gem and mineral specimens of every size shape and color of the rainbow.
Live Insect Zoo – watch the daily tarantula feedings!
For an extra charge you can see the Butterfly Pavilion to stroll among free flying butterflies.
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For our family these short highlight lists gave us a great, brief introduction to the wonderful Smithsonian Museums. It was enough time at each museum for our family to learn a lot but it wasn’t too much for our 3, 6, and 8 year old to handle.
This brief one day visit in Washington D.C. was just a taste of all that this city has to offer and it definitely gave us the itch to come back later and explore some more.
Highlights For Our Family in Washington D.C.
Here are a few of our family’s favorites.
My Son Spencer absolutely loves history and airplanes. He was ecstatic to see the actual Wright Brothers Airplane and stand next to George Washington’s sword!
My son Matthew is fascinated by rocks and nature. He was over the moon in the gem and mineral rooms of the National Museum of Natural History and he couldn’t believe his eyes when we found rocks that glow in the dark!
Bryan, my youngest, loved the National Mall itself best and was completely enamored by how large Lincoln was in the Lincoln Memorial!
My favorite museum, being an avid art lover, was the National Gallery of Art. This was such an amazing museum for me to begin introducing the world of art to our boys.
My husband, Chris, absolutely loved the National Air & Space Museum but he told me that the National Gallery of Art was really his favorite. This was because it is where he learned the most. He really enjoyed watching me talk about each painting, the styles used, the history behind them and giving a little background about each artist.
Hearing this from my husband helped me realize how important it is to visit places that each person in your family is passionate about. Their passion may just inspire you to love something new.
This Concluded our Amazing Day in Washington D.C. with Kids!
I hope you enjoyed learning about how we chose to spend one day in Washington D.C. with our family and picked up a few ideas from our Smithsonian Highlight Lists to help you in planning your perfect day!
Have a Great Visit to Washington D.C. with Your “Traveling Feet!”
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