Monday, January 18, 2010

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.
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2 comments:

  1. Hey Brett! This looks fantastic! Do you think it's good for older kids, too? Ages 7, 9, 10? Or better for littler ones?

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  2. It is more geared towards 2-7 but the 9 and 10 year old kids would probably enjoy it as well. I think you can also call and ask beforehand when they have planes taking off and they can let you know. There might even be air shows on certain dates, or activities that they have scheduled.

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