Visit DC: Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is the most visited natural history museum in the world.

Located on the National Mall in Washington, DC, the museum houses over 145 million objects and specimens, many of which are showcased through a variety of exhibits focused on such subjects as human origins, insects, gems and minerals, mammals, and so much more.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History is huge - 1.32-million square feet, and sees over 6 million visitors a year.

During our visit, we crammed in as much as we could in the short time we had to spend at the museum.  We viewed animal exhibits large and small, recyclable art displays, a rainbow of butterfly chrysalises, dinosaur fossils, and an ancient sarcophagus.

There were many, many interactive exhibits and innovative displays throughout the museum that helps to keep kids engaged.  In the new, temporary exhibit (through 2021), Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World, visitors can play a game to help contain an outbreak before it spreads.

Guests could also watch paleontologists work on fossils in the FossiLab.

And one of my kids' fave was an exhibit that gave them an idea of what they would look like as an early human.

There were so many things to do and see, but one of the highlights was Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center. In this interactive learning space, kids could examine thousands of objects up close - insects, bones, amphibians, and more.

They could even view certain objects under a microscope, and they were fascinated with what they saw!

I definitely wish we had more time to spend at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
10th St. & Constitution Ave.

NW, Washington, DC 20560