National Building Museum

We went to the Building Museum and joined a museum tour. We walked through all four levels and learned about its history. The building is a huge open atrium supported by Corinthian columns. There are 250 busts decorating the very top, along with windows and decorative moldings.

The kids did pretty well lasting 30 minutes of the 45 minute tour. By the time we got to the fourth level, Justin and Brian were no longer patient. They walked around the whole expanse of the fourth level while the tour guide talked.

We left the tour and went to the David Macaulay exhibit. It was about the art of drawing architecture. There were several stations set up throughout the exhibit for people to try their hand at drawing various structures. All three kids did a drawing of a railroad track that disappears into the mountains in the background.

The Building Zone is a play area for kids to experience hands-on building. The kids built tower after tower with large, soft legos. They built boxes and pyramids with large plastic puzzle pieces. They also formed different shapes with magnetic sticks and balls, did puzzles, puppets, and played in a large wooden playhouse.

The 75-foot columns in the National Building Museum are magnificent Justin and some of the beautiful molding on the fourth level Kevin enjoys playing in the Building Zone Brian builds a tower taller than himself Brian puts a hard hat on Daddy and himself