Destination Spotlight

Stay-At-Home Summer: Washington D.C. Themed Activities for Families

Our trips are on pause for the summer, but if you can’t visit your favorite sites, why not bring them home? The WorldStrides Education team is happy to unveil a collection of activities centered around the locations we love (and the subjects we’re smitten with!). Each collection of projects is created with the whole family in mind, and will get you moving, thinking, creating, and most importantly of all – having fun!  

Our first location, Washington D.C, is a city we’ve loved touring for over 50 years! Our nation’s capital is where history, culture, and government come alive, and you can bring them to life at home by creating your own museum for your pet’s viewing pleasure, turning everyday items in your house into works of art, and re-creating some of the city’s amazing memorials.

Pet-Friendly Museum 

LEARN: Check out the America’s Presidents exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery to see the presidential portraits and learn more about our presidents.  

DO: Create a museum exhibit of your favorite Washington D.C. site by printing or drawing exhibits, and hanging them at eye-level for your pet. What do you think they’d like to see at that location? How can you make it pet- friendly?  For some ideas of Washington D.C. sites, check out all the Smithsonian Museums, the National Mall and Monuments, the U.S Capitol, or Mt. Vernon.   

THINK:    

• What D.C. site is your favorite or the one you most want to visit? Why?  
• How can you make your exhibit specific to one of your pets’ interests?   
• What did you learn about your location from your research?  

For example, here is Remington viewing her gallery of the Presidents and their pets! She enjoyed learning about the First Pets and seeing all the different White House dogs!  

Have fun sharing a museum with your pet! (Have a much younger sibling? This activity works well for them – and their eye line – as well!)  

Exhibit-fy your Home 

LEARN: Check out some of the great exhibits at the National Museum of American History. What makes a great museum label?   

DO: Create your own DIY museum cards. While you may not have ancient artifacts or masterpieces lying around your home, you can turn every-day, ordinary objects into exhibits by making museum-worthy annotations.  

THINK: Reflect on the items you chose and the labels you created:  

• How did you choose which items to write labels for?   
• What questions did you have to ask family members to learn more information about the objects?   
• Did you learn anything about any special family heirlooms that are important to your family?  

Re-create a Memorial 

LEARN: The Lincoln Memorial is one of the nation’s most iconic sites; however, it is far from the only tribute to Lincoln in D.C. At the Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership, visitors can see another unique tribute to Honest Abe – a 34-foot tower of books! The mountain of books contains almost 7,000 volumes about him.  

DO: Create your own book tower using books in your home. Stack titles of varying sizes to make the tallest assemblage you can, without gravity taking over!  

THINK:  

• How does your tower compare to the tower at the Center for Education and Leadership (consider materials, content, etc.)?  
• What is the maximum height you were able to reach, and how many books did you stack?  
• How many books from each tower have you read?  
• Why do historians continue to publish books examining Lincoln’s life and legacy?    

Take a look at what the WorldStrides Education team created at home!  Think you can beat their memorial re-creation?  

Did you create the best pet museum of all-time, a legendary home exhibit, or an epic book tower? Make sure to share it with our team at discovery@worldstrides.com! We might share your hard work and creativity on our social media!