As the mother of three and grandmother of eight I have done my share of traveling with children. It is a challenge but with some good planning it is very do-able. Unless you are going to give up traveling for 20 years it makes sense to start early with your children or grandchildren and instill in them a love of travel.
Begin with these simple suggestions:
1. Try to make sure that they get a good nights sleep. There is nothing worse than a tired child.
2. Feed the troops. An army and children travel on their stomach, if there is anything worse than a tired child it is a hungry child. Not only have a good breakfast but carry along some snacks and drinks.
3. Depending on how far you have to travel in the car make sure that you bring along a bag of tricks. Books, coloring supplies, small travel games. Yes, you guessed it, a bored child is not a pretty sight either.
4. Keep the day short if you have young children. One major mistake parents make is trying to do too much with small children. Pick one major thing and then have a break.
5. Pick a hotel that has a pool. There is no better de-stresser with kids than a good romp in the hotel pool.
Here are a few of our favorite places to visit. Getting around to them is fun and in expensive if you use Phlash the big purple buses.
PHILADELPHIA ZOO
One of our favorite places to visit is the zoo. It is one of the premier zoos in the United States and has a petting zoo for the little ones and also a wonderful collection of snakes and poison toads for the older crowd. Lots of space for running and no one has to be quiet at the zoo. The zoo has its own parking and they offer family friendly day tickets as well.If you live nearby their family membership is well worth the investment.
PLAYGROUNDS
Franklin Square at 6th and Race. This is a playground where kids can just enjoy themselves. There are plenty of playgrounds in Philadelphia. Plan your trip so that you can take some time and relax with the kids. http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/browse/subcat.j sp?area=190&category=33
PLEASE TOUCH ME MUSEUM
This is a great place to take the smaller children. It is nice to have a place where touching things is encouraged. This museum is all about letting kids be kids and parents are just along for the ride.
THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE
This is a real kid pleaser. There is an IMAX theater, a huge heart that kids can climb through, lot of things that they can do and touch without getting in trouble and a planetarium. Little children may not like the dark so keep that in mind, the last time I was there a little one started to shriek as soon as the lights went down.
THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
A fascinating place even for small children. They can dig for dinosaur bones and visit with small animals; there is a live animal show as well as a movie. There is an interactive room where if you stand just right it looks like a dinosaur comes down and eats you, my kids loved it. It is also a natural history museum with displays of buffalo and such. Even our tweens loved it.
NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER
This is a very good place to visit with older children and tweens. Mine loved posing with all the statues in the Signers Gallery and they got to go into a booth and pretend to vote. The show "Freedom Rising" was interesting enough to keep their attention and I really enjoyed it.
UNITED STATES MINT
What kid doesn't like money. Watching it being printed and shredded is fascinating for children and adults alike. Visit here early in the day to get on a tour.
LIGHTS OF LIBERTY
With older children Lights of Liberty is the perfect way to give them a history lesson in a way that they will enjoy. This is a light show that takes place in the historic area around Independence Park. It is interactive and very cool, our kids loved it. You wear a set of head phones which has a running tour. There is some walking around involved and it is at night so you need to be aware of where they are at all times, groups are quite large and with the headphones on it is easy to be distracted. Once they have gotten the general history down you can decide if they are ready for the daytime tours of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. My tweens said that they didn't need to go through Independence Hall they had already learned everything they wanted to.
PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART
On Sunday there are child friendly programs at the Museum and with the Pay what you want entrance fee this is an inexpensive and appropriate time to introduce the kids to art.
The Philadelphia Pass is a good option if you are visiting with older children. It has tickets to six major tourist sites and also includes a tour bus ride. Tweens will love riding on the upper deck of the bus. It will also save you money if you are planning to visit the sites that the pass covers.
So pack up the kids and plan to have a great and stress free visit. It isn't as hard as you would imagine.