Keep It Local: The BIG Maze at the National Building Museum

For the past few years, the National Building Museum has set up pretty awesome architectural putt-putt golf courses. And we've been excited. And we've waited and schemed for the optimal time to go. And then we bombed.

So we were really psyched when we heard that this summer's feature was going to be a BIG maze instead. I mean, you're talking to the kid who asked mom if she could set up a labyrinth with live minotaur (AKA Uncle Steve in costume) for his birthday party. A BIG maze is a BIG deal (and we also now know the difference between a maze and a labyrinth).

We went early one morning this week and had no problem getting tickets (which, to be honest, seem a little ridiculously overpriced even with our membership discount) and ran the maze over and over and over again. Then we spotted a buddy in the maze when we were on the second floor and went back for more. We took a break at Play Work Build, and then went back for more maze. So, it's safe to safe that we got our money's worth at least. Mom loved the grand reveal design and we loved that we could do it endlessly.

It is pricey, but it's worth a visit (given that you get admission to the other museum exhibits) before it disappears on September 1st.

Keep It Local: Play Work Build at the National Building Museum

It had been a while since we'd been to the National Building Museum -- we seem to have outgrown the kids room a bit and aren't quite up to the regular exhibits just yet. But mom and I went last week with some buddies to check out the new "PLAY WORK BUILD" exhibit and were thrilled to find an interactive exhibit that was well suited to a wide age range of kids. I made a beeline for the giant light table (mom wants one!) and played for a bit with the mini Imagination Playground. Then mom directed me to the regular people-sized Imagination Playground and I was hooked. I mostly liked stacking, climbing, and defending my structures from the advances of children smaller than me. But I also spent some time building a ship with mom.  The "room" housing the Imagination Playground is pretty awesome and is set up so that you can even build onto the walls. It would be a perfect padded room.

Mom tried to lure me over to the interactive video screen where you can "knock down" virtual building blocks, but I wasn't that interested. We did make a loop back to check out the Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs, about which mom was pretty psyched. We went on a weekday morning right at opening time (10 a.m.) and it wasn't crowded at all.

We are big advocates of the Building Museum membership -- besides our National Zoo and Mt. Vernon memberships, it's the only other one we regularly renew.  If you're not a member, admission is $8/adults and $5/youth (2 and under are free).  The exhibit is set to stay at the NBM until next November and we're sure to be repeat visitors. Also, KidFriendly DC recently posted a more in depth review, which is worth checking out.

that would be mom judo kicking some blocks. very gracefully.

not too shabby.