by Leigh Goessl

Created on: November 24, 2008   Last Updated: January 08, 2009

Washington DC is chock full of things to do, but when you travel to the District with kids it can get tiring pretty quickly because of the high activity. Long lines, crowded streets and lots of walking, kids sometimes have a tendency to get a little tired.

The good news is there are plenty of places you can go to let your kids blow off some steam or simply be able to enjoy the sights themselves without getting bored. There are plenty of museums, monuments, and buildings to look at, and if you know what to look for you can easily plan a kid-friendly visit.

MUSEUMS

The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is a fantastic place to take your kids. There is much to see and do in this renowned museum. Kids can look on in wonderment at aircraft, spacecraft and see historical memorabilia relating to pivotal points in air and space history. There are also flight simulators kids can try out for a nominal fee.

If your kids enjoy aircraft and you're feeling adventurous and want to venture outside the city you can also take a ride over to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum over near Dulles Airport. It is about a 20-30 minute ride depending on traffic.

The Enterprise resides in this museum and the kids have plenty of room to walk around in this museum. This museum is constructed with wide open space with lots of aircraft hung from the ceilings and parked on the floors. There is also an IMAX Theatre which your kids are sure to enjoy.

The Museum of Natural History is another terrific museum for kids to visit. After all what child wouldn't get excited over seeing dinosaurs, birds, mammals, reptiles and fish? There are many exciting exhibits in this museum that will keep your kids interested. A word of caution though, this museum can get rather crowded, it might be best to try and tour this one earlier in the day.

A benefit to the Smithsonian museums is that they are free of charge and most of them are open from 10 am to 5 pm daily.

The International Spy Museum is a hot kid friendly-spot to take the kids to visit. This museum charges an entrance fee and it is recommended you purchase tickets before you arrive because many of the tour times sell out quickly. At the Spy Museum kids can learn all about spies, how they create effective disguises, crack secret codes and about spy missions. There are many kid friendly hands-on activities within the tour that your children are bound to delight in.

There are dozens of other great museums located in the heart of Washington D.C., but these are the

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