Free Museums in DC with Kids

Free still means a ticket at two of them

Two of the most kid-magnetic free sites require a pass before you arrive. Everything else on the list is genuinely walk-in.

• Walk in with no ticket at Natural History, American History and the National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Also walk-in: the Portrait Gallery, the American Art Museum and the Renwick
• The U.S. Botanic Garden requires nothing at all, its evening programming included

• National Air and Space Museum — WashingtonVisit official site →

  The Mall's biggest draw for an aviation-obsessed child, and the one free Smithsonian that gates entry.

  Tickets

  Free, but timed-entry passes are required for all visitors regardless of age. One person can reserve up to nine; groups of ten or more need Group Passes.

  Know before you go

  • Enter any time that day from your pass time and stay as long as you like
  • Leaving ends the pass — do lunch before you go in, not halfway through

  Who it's for

  Any age, as long as you reserve the pass the moment you decide to go

  Skip if

  Your plan was to duck out for lunch and come back — you cannot on one pass

• National Zoo — WashingtonVisit official site →

  Free, up Connecticut Avenue, and the one Smithsonian site that welcomes your own picnic.

  Tickets

  Free, but entry passes are required for all guests, including infants.

  Know before you go

  • Grounds 8am–6pm with last entry at 5pm; animal buildings 9am–5:30pm
  • Parking is paid, and the rate is not published on the visit page

  Who it's for

  Everyone, including the baby — who still needs a pass of their own

Security, bags, and the food rule nobody expects

Every Smithsonian entrance runs a full screening, and three of the banned items live in an ordinary diaper bag. The food rules then differ museum by museum.

• Screening is airport-style except that shoes and belts stay on: everyone through a metal detector, a wand if you can't walk through, bags by hand or X-ray
• Banned: pocket knives including Swiss Army knives, screwdrivers, scissors, pepper spray and Mace, firearms including for permit holders, and tripods, monopods and selfie sticks
• Bag limits are set per museum — the National Museum of Asian Art bars anything over 17 by 26 inches, and the American Art Museum bans suitcases and large backpacks from its galleries
• Coat check barely exists: none at Natural History, the American Art Museum, the Renwick or the Portrait Gallery, a small first-come locker bank at American History, lockers at Asian Art's Freer entrance
• No outside food at Natural History, where bagged lunches must be stowed and eaten outside, at NMAAHC at all, or at American History outside its two cafeterias and terrace
• Eat your own food in the American Art Museum's Kogod Courtyard, at the Zoo, or on the Mall — a family picnic needs no permit there, and alcohol is prohibited

Timing: be at the door at 10

The Smithsonian's own guidance is to arrive when the doors open at 10am. Crowds build from around noon and peak between 2 and 4pm.

• Quieter months: January, February, September, October and December
• Busiest: the cherry-blossom weeks of late March and early April
• Most museums run 10am–5:30pm and close December 25
• The Smithsonian American Art Museum opens at 11:30am and stays open to 7pm — hold it for a late afternoon
• The shape that works with young children: one big museum before noon, a packed lunch on the Mall, then the monuments from 2 to 4pm

Changing tables and nursing rooms

Restrooms at every Smithsonian museum and at the Zoo have baby changing tables and care spaces. Three museums publish exactly where.

• American History: family restrooms with changing tables on 1st Floor East across from the John Bull Locomotive and on 2nd Floor East outside American Stories
• American History also has a lactation room in the second-floor Welcome Center
• Natural History: a public nursing room in the Constitution Avenue lobby
• NMAAHC: a lactation space on Level 3 beside the women's restroom with a table, chair, changing table, sink and outlets, plus changing tables in every restroom
• Several museums have a Family/Companion Care restroom — ask at the information desk

The free one families skip, and two paid ones worth knowing

The Botanic Garden is the most under-used free stop in Washington with young children. Two paid museums are worth budgeting for, mostly because their closed days catch people out.

• U.S. Botanic Garden — WashingtonVisit official site →

  100 Maryland Avenue SW

  A warm indoor garden three blocks from Federal Center SW, with a Children's Garden of hands-on watering activities — the best bad-weather room in the city.

  Tickets

  Free, with no tickets required at all, evening programming included.

  Know before you go

  • Conservatory 10am–5pm daily; gated outdoor gardens 7:30am–7pm; the Bartholdi Fountain dawn to dusk
  • Closed December 25
  • A three-minute walk from the Capitol Christmas Tree in December

  Who it's for

  Toddlers, and any day that turns wet or cold

• National Children's Museum — Washington

  1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

  Purpose-built indoor play, steps from Federal Triangle and three blocks from Metro Center.

  Tickets

  $18.95 for adults and for children age one and up; under-ones free.

  Know before you go

  • Open 9:30am–4:30pm
  • Closed Tuesdays

  Who it's for

  Under-tens on a rainy day, if you would rather pay than queue

  Skip if

  It is a Tuesday

• National Building Museum — Washington

  401 F Street NW

  Across the street from Judiciary Square, with a Great Hall big enough to stop a child mid-sentence.

  Tickets

  $18.95 for adults and $15.95 for youth and seniors — but the Great Hall and the museum shop are free to walk into.

  Know before you go

  • Open Thursday through Monday only — closed both Tuesday and Wednesday

  Who it's for

  A genuinely good ten minutes of ceiling-gazing on a rainy day, at no cost

  Skip if

  It is Tuesday or Wednesday — a five-day week that is easy to get wrong