Day 3 in Washington DC 11/17/14 National Museum of Natural History

The weather forecast called for rain all day so we checked out the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. It was the perfect place to spend the day. There was so much to see. 
We started on the first floor and first explored the Mammals exhibit. Loved it! So many animals for the kiddos to see up close and they looked real.

My five year old enjoyed looking at the signs and the hands on displays they had that showed certain parts of an animal.

I liked how they had some mammals separated by continents. They had Australia and South America.

The museum had lots of little short movies and I was surprised that the kiddos actually wanted to sit and watch them. They watched this one twice. It talked about how mammals from millions of years ago are related to current mammals. 

Here are a couple of other shots I took of the kiddos watching the short movies.

We then came across the Human Origins exhibit and it was interesting to see the faces of early humans and how humans evolved over time. Below is a display of how our brains have gotten bigger over time.

There was also a neat part where you can take your picture and see how you would look as an early human. Both kiddos got their pics taken and below is what they would look like. :p

After checking out the Ocean hall, we had lunch. I had bought some bagels and some snacks for the kiddos to eat and we found a nice place downstairs that was perfect for lunch.

After lunch we headed to the second floor to check out the Wilderness pictures. I loved a lot of the pics especially because they are outdoor pictures of mountains, waterfalls, etc. Looking at the gorgeous pics made me want to go on a hike or an expedition somewhere. :p There was another room with animal pictures that just make you smile. 

We then checked out the geology section and saw many meteorites and cool rocks. If the boys saw a button that lights up words or played sounds, they pressed them. 

I enjoyed looking at all the different rocks. I liked the colors in the Malachite. I really liked the quartz as well. In this section my 5 year old enjoyed reading where the rocks were from.

Below is the Hope Diamond. It is famous for its flawless clarity and deep blue color. It is 45.52 carats. Pretty amazing!

 

Next up was the bones section where we saw skeletons of many animals.

Lastly we checked out the live insect zoo. The kiddos enjoyed this part and liked looking at all the bugs. They even had someone doing a bug demonstration and you could hold one if you wanted but my kiddos weren't interested. I definitely did not want to touch one. 

The National Museum of Natural history is a great museum! There is lots to see and so much to learn. It is great for kids of all ages. Definitely recommend if you are in DC.