Kid Baltimore | Family Activities with Children in Baltimore, Maryland

National Museum of Dentistry

The Museum of Dentistry?

I figured I was going to see some quirky little row home stuffed with old dentistry tools, but nothing could be further from the truth. (I'm going to make a point here of avoiding all tooth related puns. I'm so tempted though). The Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry is actually 7,000 square feet of beautiful museum space. It is affiliated with the Smithsonian and houses an amazing collection of dental ephemera, from George Washington's not-so-wooden denture to a life-sized model of Penny Wilson performing her "iron-jaw" act.

I felt a little guilty walking around this great big space, practically all by ourselves. We stopped by for story time (Wednesdays through the summer) and then practiced  brushing my daughter's favorite set of chompers – appropriately named Giant Mr. Gross Mouth^TM (Yes, there is really a ^TM on that). There is so much to see here, even with little ones, including a mini-dentist's office complete with lab coats and dentist chair; vintage TV shows and films; and our favorite – old stone lithograph dental posters. Now what toddler wouldn't love those? Okay, maybe that last part was for me. 

410-706-0600

National Museum of Dentistry
University of Maryland
31 South Greene Street
Baltimore, MD 21201-1504

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Welcome BMA!

I'd like to welcome our new sponsor, the Baltimore Museum of Art! The BMA has a lot to offer families, and looking over their upcoming events I am so excited. My daughter has spent the last few days quilting with my mom, so we may just have to check out the quilting workshop next weekend. Upcoming events also include a kaleidoscope workshop, sketching in the garden and more!

B & O Railroad Museum

Today we headed to the B & O Railroad Museum to check out the trains. I'm sure all of you who travel with little ones can appreciate on-site parking and there is plenty here. I slid my oh-so-cool minivan into a spot close to the entrance next to beautiful train 2705. Okay, maybe beautiful is not the right word, but it has this great type and neat patina. Either way, it makes my minivan look that much less cool, as if it needed any help. The parking lot is surrounded by vintage trains in varying conditions, but all amazing.

We marched inside. Admission here in not particularly cheap. If you are just stopping by to ride trains, you would be better off trying the good ole MTA Light Rail. But if you are looking for trains as art, or if your kids are train-crazy (aren't all 3 year olds) you are in the right spot. The roundhouse has an amazing collection that dates back to the beginning of American railroading. Some of the trains are open for kids to explore. My kids spent way too much time playing at the Thomas the Tank Engine table. It's arguably the least impressive part of the museum, but on Toddler day it's a popular spot. Outside the roundhouse is a wooden train to climb on, a miniature train to watch, and the kiddie train ride. Check the calendar for Toddler Time, when kiddie train rides are operating.

Regular train rides are also included in the price of admission and operate at scheduled times, April through December.

410-752-2490

B & O Railroad Museum
901 W. Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21223

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Baltimore Streetcar Museum

Despite the fact that our studio is just a stone's throw away from the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, I had never stopped by. But streetcars are a wonderful part of Baltimore history and this museum, staffed by a dedicated group of volunteers, has worked hard to preserve a part of the past. Volunteers man the ticket booth, restore the streetcars and even maintain the tracks here. The Streetcar Museum is open Sundays only, most of the year. In the summer, they expand their hours to include Saturdays as well.

We showed up just as the gates were opening. I would recommend arriving just a little bit later so they have time to check the tracks and get the streetcars operating. The museum itself has various miniature streetcars and displays, but the real draw here is the streetcar rides. For the price of admission, you can ride authentic streetcars as many times as you like down the track. These streetcars date from the late 1800's to the1940's, although some were in service until the 1960's. The conductors stop at the turnaround and give a brief history and then drive you back to the museum. Back and forth. Back and forth. We could do this all day long...

410-547-0264

Baltimore Streetcar Museum
1901 Falls Road
Baltimore, MD 21211

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College Park Aviation Museum

This week, we stopped by the College Park Aviation Museum because, well, airplanes are cool. This 27,000 facility is located on the grounds of the historic College Park Airport which is "the world's oldest continuously operating airport."

The museum itself, beautiful and thoughtfully designed, was opened in 1998 and offers a wonderful collection of aircrafts. But what I liked most about this museum was how they had managed to cater to all age groups. There is really something for everyone here.

For little ones, there is "The Imagination Plane" - a real 1939 Taylorcraft airplane that kids can climb in and explore. There are also mini flight jackets to put on. An outside play yard has hand built wooden airplanes to ride.

For older kids there are exhibits that explore air velocity and real propellers to turn although, truth be told, my 3 year olds enjoyed that too.

And for adults, there is plenty of rich history including a library for research.

301-864-6029

College Park Aviation Museum
1985 Corporal Frank Scott Drive
College Park, MD 20740

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American Visionary Art Museum

The American Visionary Art Museum is one of my favorite museums around Baltimore. We are really lucky to have such a great and unique museum so close. I had been here a few times before, but decided to revisit it with my 3 year old twins. I came away with a rather different, and very entertaining experience.

If it's a nice day, spend some time wandering the grounds. There is a giant whirligig sculpture that is enough to amaze anyone, and a sparkly tree just covered in dangling mirrors. Today was windy and the tree was loud! The Wildflower Garden has a "wooden meditation chapel" but don't let the name fool you. It's an awesome fort  as far as we were concerned. In warmer weather it is surrounded by vines and flowers.

The main building is wonderful, with lots to see. This is where I would normally spend most of my time, but I don't think it was the twin's favorite part. Still, they loved the giant cloth dolls by Zona Gordon and a dress made almost entirely out of buttons by Grace Bashara Greene. So maybe there is hope that I am raising future artists (or at least art critics). We bought some shiny pinwheels in the gift store and got ready to leave.

As we were heading out the door, the people at the front desk mentioned that we should check out the far building (Jim Rouse Visionary Center). "Lots of buttons to push." Those are magic words to my ears and so we hurried right over. One side of the building is dedicated to crazy mechanical sculptures. They are all safely behind glass, but they have buttons and cranks in easy reach for little people to play with. This is a fantastic collection of funny animals, boats, people, mermaids and had us all mesmerized.

410-244-1900

American Visionary Art Museum
800 Key Highway
Baltimore, MD 21230

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The Walters Art Museum

My first encounter with the Walters Art Museum was many, many, too many years ago as a design school grad. I was wandering around the streets of Baltimore trying to kill some time between job interviews. As I recall, I was wearing a less than subtle, interview dress with a huge wallpaper print all over it, and lugging a portfolio the size of my future minivan along with me. So as I wandered into a questionable area of town, a couple of undercover cops (or that's what I'm hoping they were) called me over and asked if I was lost. They politely redirected me towards the Walters and, now that I think about it, possibly saved my life in the process. So it goes without saying that I have a bit of a warm spot in my heart for this place.

The Walters is a huge building located at the edge of Mount Vernon. It's filled with a collection of world art from antiquity to the 20th century that was initially collected by William and Henry Walters. The collection now includes Asian, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque art, to name a few.
Honestly, with young kids, I know I need to edit my trip.  The staff here is really friendly and they point me in the right direction. With toddlers and preschoolers here are the key spots:

1. Mummies - Head to Level 2 and check out the Egyptian art.
2. Suits of Armor - The 17th century Flemish Collection (also located on level 2).
3. Chamber of Wonders - In the room right next to the suits of armor. Butterflies, bugs, snakes, etc. set at a perfect height for kids to study with a magnifying glass.
4. Family Art Center - In the Lower Level, they have a good selection of toys, books and costumes. They also have Drop-In Art Activities for Kids every Saturday.

410-547-9000

The Walters Art Museum
600 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

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Baltimore Museum of Art

Whenever I enter a museum with toddlers, I’m never quite sure how long we will be there. It’s probably going to be somewhere between 2 minutes and 2 hours. If I make it 2 hours, I got my money’s worth. I’m happy. But 2 minutes? I don’t think so.

But now, thanks to special funding, the Baltimore Museum of Art is free. FREE! I could finally use that threat I’ve been saving “If you don’t stop that, we are leaving” without fear. But I was hoping I wouldn’t need it just yet.

The museum doesn’t open until 11:00 so we had to be there when the doors opened to make it work with nap time, but I could handle that. It just meant that when we arrived, there was still plenty of parking available. A happy volunteer in the lobby told me that kids seem to like the Cheney miniatures because they “think they are like dollhouses.” He pointed me to the left. Let me say here that I agree with the  kids. They are dollhouses, or parts of dollhouses, all behind glass with step stools everywhere so the vertically challenged can stare. I’m not a big fan of this kind of thing, but the kids were mesmerized so it was all good with me.

We continued past the European Decorative arts where we learned about the word “echo.” I don’t think anyone was paying attention to the art, because the echo (echo…echo…) was so nice. The American Modernism section was not a hit with the kids. Too bad for me, but we kept going to one of my favorite sections, contemporary art. The toddler perspective on contemporary art was really kind of entertaining. I will admit it took a tiny bit of coercion to get them to walk past the Rauschenberg’s, but it was worth it. There are so many shapes and colors to talk about along the way.

The Cone collection is absolutely fantastic and arguably the best part of the museum, but I was sensing toddler turmoil, so I decided to save that for another day.

Baltimore Museum of Art
443-573-1700
10 Art Museum Drive
Baltimore, MD 21218

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Sculpture Gardens at the BMA

After lunch at Gertrude's, we headed to the sculpture garden, another great place to talk about shapes as we climbed the steps “rectangle, rectangle, rectangle,” and walked around the path “square, square, square” to end up at another sculpture “quarter circle.” Did my child really just say that? A genius, now I am sure.

Baltimore Museum of Art
443-573-1700
10 Art Museum Drive
Baltimore, MD 21218

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Fire Museum of Maryland

Picture a room full of shiny red fire engines - toddler heaven, right? Of course, this is a museum, so that means lots of things that you can't touch. Fortunately, the good folks at the Fire Museum understand, so they included a play room that is complete with fire fighter uniforms and a real (kid-proofed) fire engine ready for "test driving". They can even ring the bell. My little fire-fighters keep asking to go back.

410-321-7500

Fire Museum of Maryland
1301 York Road
Lutherville, MD 21093

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