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Kids’ dreams are founded on and inspired by these ravishing soaring devices and spectacular rockets, while their parents and grandparents can reminisce over the early days of aviation and see how far we’ve come. End the visit by treating children to a scoop of the freeze-dried ice cream.

The animals in Washington, D.C.’s zoo are housed in large, recreated natural habitats and are close enough to be clearly observed. Sea lion demonstrations never fail to delight. The Kids’ Farm is an educational, interactive, outdoor exhibit, where children can touch and learn about farmyard animals.

These first-class exhibits explore the major domains of society, including foreign cultures, nature, archaeology, and superb photography. The hall is at the forefront of designing and constructing interactive and immersive displays to involve visitors in their fascinating subject matter. Kids need little direction here – they take to the explorations and activities enthusiastically, sometimes with a more immediate grasp than adults. The well-stocked shop complements the exhibitions.

Children love the energetic events here. The Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus performs here, along with touring ice skating spectaculars, professional wrestling, hockey games and many top-name pop and rock acts. The food is better than usual at an arena and, naturally, is geared toward kids (see MCI Center).

This interesting museum runs regular programs for families, where children and parents can learn about various methods of construction, architecture, and design. Together, families can build edible houses, learn about different construction materials, or solve a city’s transport problem. The permanent and visiting exhibitions will also appeal.

The star attraction for children here is the 2pm feedings: sharks on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, piranha on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, and alligators on Fridays. The aquarium houses about 300 specimens in its glass tanks, and provides easy-to-understand informative material about freshwater habitats and the oceans and the marine life they support. Inquisitive little visitors always surround the touch tank. The staff are extremely friendly and helpful, and children’s questions are handled with aplomb.

This outdoor-oriented center for children aged between three and eleven years provides wonderfully engrossing activities that bring to life aspects of local nature, arts, and history. Operating from the only one-room schoolhouse surviving in the city, the museum uses the natural setting of beautiful Glen Echo Park for its programs and events. A Friday-morning program for toddlers is always popular with Washingtonians.

There is plenty here for young visitors, in particular the Insect Zoo featuring live specimens of giant hissing cockroaches and large leaf-cutter ants, and the Dinosaur Hall which contains a cast of a nest of dinosaur eggs and reconstructions of dinosaur skeletons. The new, interactive Hall of Mammals features 274 taxidermied exhibits from a variety of environments. For another hands-on experience, the Discovery Room allows children (and adults!) to hold objects like crocodile heads and elephant tusks.

In front of the Arts and Industries Building (see Best of the Rest) at the Smithsonian is a delightful authentic carousel with brilliantly painted hand-carved animals. It only operates in good weather, but don’t miss this bit of old-world fun if you have the chance. It also makes a refreshing break for kids beginning to tire of the surrounding museums.

The short nature trail here is only 1-mile (1.5-km) long (see Rock Creek Park) so it is easily negotiated by children. Many native species can be spotted en route, including foxes, racoons and deer. There is also a small planetarium. A number of activities that appeal to children, including arts and crafts workshops, are scheduled throughout the year. On a sunny day, this is also a great place to bring a picnic, and enjoy one of the city’s truly natural environments. In other parts of the park there are also tennis courts and horse riding trails.