Learning about mummies at the American Museum of Natural History
The new exhibition Mummies at the American Museum of Natural History gives us a rare glimpse into lives and cultures of the past, thanks to 21st-century tools and technologies
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Free attractions in Washington DC this spring
It doesn’t cost anything to visit the Lincoln Memorial at night, to play pilot in a mock cockpit at “America by Air,” a permanent exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum, attend a family event or one for young children at the Museum of African American History and Culture or visit the giant pandas at the National Zoo.
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Keeping kids water safe on cruise ships over spring break
It’s easy — far too easy — to lose track of kids in a crowded pool, especially on a big cruise ship. Drownings happen silently in a matter of seconds. How to keep them safe.
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Historic sites and museums to visit during Black History Month
February is the ideal time to visit a historic site or explore a museum exhibit celebrating African American History Month, which is also celebrated in Britain and Canada.
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South Georgia Island: home of the Oakum Boys
they’re juvenile King Penguins, also known as “Oakum Boys,” who still have a fluffy coat of downy brown feathers and they’re pecking at their moms to feed them
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Who Knew? A Trip to the Fire Station in the Falkland Islands
The fire trucks pull up to our ship Le Boreal in the Falkland Islands, sirens blazing and lights flashing. But there was no emergency.
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Six LA museums guaranteed to wow families and kids
But this wasn’t a big holiday sale. People were waiting for the chance to get free tickets to The Broad, Los Angeles’ newest contemporary art museum.
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Let’s Get Every Teen on a Train
A prominent member of the European Union Parliament is proposing that every 18-year-old receive a free trans-Europe train pass so they can get to know Europe better. We should do the same
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Yes politics is ugly. But kids need to learn about elections – here’s how
There still is a lot to be learned about the electoral process, of course, and museums around the country have mounted interesting, interactive exhibits that can answer kids’ questions and serve as a positive teaching tool—but only in the coming weeks.
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Halifax, Nova Scotia – History and Heroism Combine
Everyone knows about the Titanic, but few have heard about the Halifax Explosion of 1917 that killed 2000 people. Here in Nova Scotia history, tragedy and a beautiful city combine for some incredible stories.
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10 fall festivals for families
There are literally hundreds of Octoberfests around the country this fall — some kid-friendly — but there are also plenty of apple, pumpkin and harvest festivals from which to choose
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Touring the Vatican with kids – hidden gems to explore
Welcome to The Vatican, the world’s smallest sovereign state, established in 1929. It’s the modern version of the papal fiefdom that ruled Rome and much of central Italy before Italy was unified in the mid-19th century
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10 water-safety tips that can save a child’s life this summer
Who’s watching the kids in the pool? Someone should have eyes on them at all times — even if they know how to swim. According to new research more than 40 percent of children (5 to 17) who drowned in pools knew how to swim.
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Celebrating July 4 with the kids
There are plenty of ways to celebrate, starting with your local parade. When my kids were small and we lived in Evanston, Illinois, that parade was a highlight of the summer
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An Austrian monastery underappreciated by the Hapsburgs
Today, the Benedictine Abbey “Gottweig” may be the most famous symbol of this region—a huge complex at the top of the mountain that houses, besides the gorgeous church, a youth center, inn and one building that was built for the Hapsburgs to stay though they never did and boasting the largest staircase in all of Austria.
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Visit to a Sea Turtle Hospital in Palm Beach County, Florida
More than just a place to observe, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center is a working hospital with the goal of rehabilitating its animal patients. In fact, it’s the preeminent sea turtle hospital in the United States and animals in need of treatment are carefully transported here from around the country.
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Learning about our presidents from visiting their homes
All around us on a recent sunny Sunday, families were picnicking outdoors, gaping at all of the wild game heads inside and walking on the nature trail at Teddy Roosevelt’s Sagamore Hill home.
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Taking the Kids on a once in a lifetime adventure
Millennial families, according to the new 2016 MMGY Portrait of American Travelers, are more likely than millennial couples or singles, to travel internationally
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To Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Welcome to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the country with nearly 10 million visitors a year — twice what the Grand Canyon gets.
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Last Cuba port call – historic Santiago de Cuba and pirates of the Caribbean
Historic Santiago de Cuba is home to revolutions, gave birth to Cuban leaders Jose Marti and Fidel Castro and was the scene of Teddy Roosevelt’s famous charge up San Juan Hill.
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TO CUBA ON THE FIRST AMERICAN SHIP TO SAIL HERE IN NEARLY 60 YEARS
I’ve learned first hand that encouraging kids to be global citizens, to be comfortable outside their own comfort zones, helps them navigate unfamiliar and difficult turf in their lives as they grow up.
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In Havana, meeting people who are starting private businesses
Gilberto Valladares Reina has always been a barber—and a dreamer. That’s not always been easy in Cuba, where the government controlled so many aspects of your life.
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Into Havana on a “people-to-people” tour from the first American cruise ship in 58 years
Cubans lined the Havana shoreline, cheering loudly as the ship sailed in. Those on board lined the decks cheering, waving Cuban and American flags as Adonia, became the first American ship to enter Havana Harbor in 58 years
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How kids like making history on first American cruise to Cuba
The Russell kids had spent the last two weeks in the Dominican Republic where they joined in volunteer activities that ranged from wrapping chocolate bars at a women’s collective to helping to lay cement floors for several families.
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On the first American sea voyage to Cuba since the Revolution
Eleven kids are making history, though they may not realize it. The kids are among the 700 passengers aboard Fathom’s Adonia, the first American ship to win approval to sail into Cuba from American shores in more than 50 years. (Fathom is the newest cruise brand of Carnival Corp).
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Learning the consequences of war at five great war museums
Stand on the “bridge” of the USS Enterprise, the aircraft carrier that was so critical to the Allied efforts in the Pacific. Walk through “Green Hell” in Guadalcanal,
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When someone in the family has special challenges
Adaptive sports programs are about much more than the activities themselves, Disabled Sports USA, has some 124 chapters across 42 states, including 75 at ski resorts
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Vacationing like a 1 percenter in a staffed villa in Jamaica
It’s easy to see why these vacations are so popular with multigenerational families. No one is doing all the chores that typically come with a house rental.
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Bringing City of Light to City of Stars
The Walt Disney Concert Hall never fails to deliver exquisite music to its audience, especially with the current on-going concert series: City of Lights: A Century of Music From Paris.
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Winter Park’s adaptive sports program changes lives for disabled kids and adults
By Eileen Ogintz WINTER PARK, CO – Fifteen-year-old Kati Leasure can’t walk or talk very well and has progressive loss of muscle control as a…
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Huge Expansion at National WWII Museum, New Orleans
Welcome to The National WWII Museum’s newest exhibit: The Road to Tokyo which retraces the soldiers’ journey from Pearl Harbor ultimately to Tokyo Bay by many routes in Asia and the Pacific
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City lights. No cameras. Lots of action.
Wearing a gray hoodie and sunglasses, a suspicious man was trying to debrief us while also not being noticeable. This was: Accomplice the Show: Greenwich Village.
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Discovering the history and culture of Berlin, Germany
From the time the Berlin Wall went up in August 1961 till it was torn down in November 1989, thousands of East Berliners made their escape the short distance to the West in the most ingenious ways. At least 2,000 died trying. Today, it’s hard to believe this beautiful city was once divided by an ugly wall.
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Meeting the people through a unique program in Jamaica
We are visiting Doris Morgan, who has been welcoming tourists—more than 1000—since the mid-1980s, showing them a bit of Jamaican cuisine and culture through the little publicized Meet the People program. Did I mention she does this for free and that there is no charge to the tourists?
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Remembering Stein Eriksen; Rooting for Jake Burton Carpenter
Stein Eriksen, a founder of modern skiing, has died in Park City, UT at 88. Meanwhile, Jake Burton Carpenter, 62, is making an amazing recovery from a life-threatening illness.
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A fortress castle, a toy museum and a huge Christmas market
Nuremberg has long been a center of toy making and this museum is one of the city’s top tourist attractions. More than a dozen local toy manufacturers developed model railways and Nuremberg’s toymakers were known for coming up with new ways to make toys move.
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Exploring Jewish Berlin – dark history and revival
You can’t visit Berlin without considering the horror of the Holocaust–the six million European Jews (600,000 of them German-born) who perished. Countless others had their lives uprooted, among them millions of children. Germany’s capital city confronts the horror head-on at places large and small.
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Berlin – at Checkpoint Charlie and the Spy Museum
The idiosyncratic Mauer Museum at Check Point Charlie that is at the original border crossing between the Cold War American and Soviet sectors of Berlin. The location is no accident.
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Volunteering on Vacation: Memorable Adventures from Family Trips
When the two Whitaker teens talk about their holiday trip to Tanzania two Christmases ago, it’s not the animals they saw on safari that proved the most memorable, as amazing as the elephants and giraffes were. It’s how they helped a small unofficial orphanage.
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So much invention in Seattle: Inspiration for Kids
The Museum of History and Industry, now in the historic Naval Reserve Armory at Lake Union Park, boasts the largest heritage organization in Washington State with nearly 4 million artifacts. It is a good place to start any family visit to Seattle.
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Innovation on display at Seattle Museum
Seattle has always been a center of innovation and it’s on display at the Bezos Center of Innovation at the Museum of History and Industry. Did you know the Native Americans and traders invented a whole new language?
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A haunting visit to an elementary school in Hiroshima
I’ve got chills as Amber Whaley, 12, and her friend Miko Uno, 11, lead us into their elementary school’s basement. This was all that was all that remained of the Honkawa Elementary School when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima 70 years ago this past August 6.
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Hiroshima school: memorial and symbol of peace
The Honkawa Elementary School is in the heart of Hiroshima and when the Atomic Bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, all but one of the 420 students and teachers perished. Today is a again a bustling school and a memorial to those who died.
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Religion, education, culture at Indy Children’s Museum
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, the largest children’s museum in the world, hopes to inspire children—and their families—to think about religion in new ways with the opening of National Geographic Sacred Journeys on Aug 29.
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Enesi’s excellent adventure in the Dominican Republic – Part 2
Sixteen-year-old Enesi Domi shares his daily diary from a youth service experience in the Dominican Republic with the community service organization Rustic Pathways. This is the second of two installments. More than 5000 youths will go on Rustic Pathways service trips this year.
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Enesi’s excellent adventure in the Dominican Republic – Part 1
Sixteen-year-old Enesi Domi shares his daily diary from a youth service experience in the Dominican Republic with the community service organization Rustic Pathways. This is the first of two installments. More than 5000 youths will go on Rustic Pathways service trips this year.
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At Scotland’s Fort George: a youth bagpipe band
Tour buses took us to Fort George, where the Inverness Youth Band with 30-plus members –drummers as young as nine and led by adults are “Beating Retreat,” performing a traditional military ceremony 16th Century England.
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Learning about the origins of the Titantic in Belfast
We are on day two of our cruise aboard the Windstar yacht Star Legend – the Gaelic Explorers tour. We’ve anchored in Portrush and taken an excursion bus for the one-hour trip to Belfast to learn about the building of the Titantic.
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Boarding, burgers and teen bonding in Bolton Valley, VT
A high school junior and scholar in the A Better Chance program writes about a weekend of snowboarding fun and bonding time with his housemates in Bolton Valley, VT.
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Families get acquainted with Thomas Jefferson at historic Monticello
It is only fitting that the home of our third president and the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence is so kid friendly. Jefferson was very fond of his 12 grandchildren, many of whom lived here with him after his retirement.
