College Park Aviation Museum in Maryland

Today we met up with friends and took a trip to the College Park Aviation Museum, the oldest continuously running airport in the world. The staff was friendly and gave us a map of the museum that showed all of the “kid friendly” areas in the museum, of which there were many. When we first walked into the exhibit, my son loved looking at the different planes and seeing some planes on the ground while others were suspended in mid-air. There were many electronic displays that explained a breakdown of different parts of the history of flight and a breakdown of the importance of each part of the airplanes. An animatronic Wilbur Wright gave an explanation of a Hangar.

Activities included, a flight simulator, exhibits showing air flow, flight stamps, model plane creating, flying a plane in a wind tunnel and much, much more. There were also several different types of propellers that children could move and interact with as well. Additionally, the museum frequently hosts different aviation events such as building Lego planes which will take place next week. My son particularly enjoyed getting to sit inside one of the planes and pretending to fly all over the museum.

We also got a chance to go outside to a fenced in area that had about 15 wooden planes that children could sit in and drive around in. The fenced in area is right through a glass door in the gift shop and is easy to miss, so keep an eye out for it. There were manual planes that either had foot pedals to ride like a bike or kids could sit in them and be pushed around. As you look through the fence, the runway is right outside with all of the planes lined up. This museum kept us entertained for 2 hours and cost us less than five dollars per person. We had a blast and time “flew” by. This museum is best geared toward children 2-8 but would be enjoyable by anyone that enjoys airplanes and/or history in Maryland.

Website: http://www.collegeparkaviationmuseum.com

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Chesapeake Children's Museum in Annapolis, MD

We ventured out to the Chesapeake Children's Museum today with a bunch of friends, not knowing what to expect. We ended up having a great time. Upon arrival, we were worried based on the appearance of the dilapidated house, but we were pleasantly surprised when we walked in. There were several different rooms that had various important elements that were linked to the Chesapeake bay.
The main room had a 10 foot boat for children to board and "sail" which was parked right near a small wooden dock. There were also many fish tanks that had various animals that can be found in or near the Chesapeake bay. The staff was friendly and we were given permission to take a corn snake out of the cage and hold him, pick up turtles from a small indoor "pond", and look at different types of frogs and geckos. The room also had a train table and tons of different blocks for kids to build various types of structures.
Some of the other rooms included a doctors office with a real (but old) dental chair, a bunch of X-rays, and some microscopes. Literally "stuffed" in the closet was "Stuffee", a 7 foot man who unzips to spill out his various cotton organs. There was also a small kitchen and shopping area, and two different arts and crafts areas that used recycled materials to provide the children a fun way to do projects while saving the environment.
The basement also offered another area to do arts and crafts as well as several bunnies that could be taken out of their cage, and a music area with a piano, bongos, and some other types of drums. While our visit unfortunately was hampered by rain, there are also outdoors nature walks as well as an underground railroad walk that we were told is very educational. Along the nature walk, several different types of wildlife are frequently seen in the surrounding areas. Despite not being the newest or fanciest of attractions, at 3 dollars per person, and after spending several hours having fun with our friends, we are definitely planning a trip back when the weather warms up.

Website: http://www.theccm.org
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