Weekend picks for families in and around Washington, DC

Refinery29 is taking its annual immersive festival of style, culture and creativity, 29Rooms, on a five-city tour including its first international showing. The 29Rooms: Expand Your Reality experience will bring the iconic immersive event to new audiences with tickets now on sale for the event’s first time in Washington D.C. from October 18 – 27.

Boo at the Zoo; where kids can go trick-or-treating at the wildest spot in town. Celebrate Halloween early with more than 40 treat stations, a dance party and kids’ karaoke. This frightfully fun evening is a magical time for the whole family. Taking place October 18-20, get tickets in advance.

Join Eliana’s Light on Saturday at Race for Every Child.

This weekend you can celebrate the autumn season at Fall Harvest Family Days at Mount Vernon. The entire family will enjoy autumn activities including wagon rides, wheat treading in the 16-sided barn, 18th-century dancing demonstrations, a straw bale maze, farrier (blacksmithing) demonstrations, corn husk dolls demonstrations and early-American games and music.

There are plenty of ways for you to have a date night while your Bambinos have a great time out as well, with these Parents Night Out events!

For more than forty-two seasons the Maryland Renaissance Festival has provided a unique outdoor entertainment experience to patrons from all over the world. This is the final weekend of this year’s festival!

Saturday

9:00am-12:00pm: Clean the Creek (4 locations)
Every Fall the Little Falls Watershed Alliance joins forces with the
Westmoreland Garden Club to clean the entire Little Falls watershed. No need to stay the whole time.  Come for an hour or two, come on time,
come late, leave early or stay the entire time – whatever suits your
schedule is perfect. There will be bags and gloves to share.  Come prepared to get muddy! Bring grabbers if you have some to reach trash in trees and other hard to get spots. Pre-approved for SSL hours for MCPS.  Perfect for all ages!  Under 14 must be accompanied by a supervising adult.

10:00am-4:00pm: Archaeology Family Day at National Museum of Natural History
Join a family-friendly event celebrating International Archaeology Day! Talk to archaeologists. Learn about fascinating finds, career paths, challenges in the field, and the joy of discovery. Do archaeology. Practice the skills archaeologists use to piece together the past. Participate in mock excavations, illustration, decoding ancient writing systems, experimentation and artifact analysis. Explore collections. Examine museum artifacts in the Q?rius Collections Zone. Get resources. Find out about opportunities to get involved in archaeology in your community. Archaeology Family Day is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. 

10:00am-12:00pm: Halloween Workshop at Red Panda Art Studio
Join a workshop to draw yourself dressed up for Halloween! Artists will use a variety of materials to create a mixed media portrait– perfect for remembering this year’s costume for years to come! Workshop will include plenty of other halloween-themed activities and sensory play. Drop-off ok for ages 3.5+, caregivers always welcome to stay!

10:30am-11:15am: Saturday Song Circle at Imagination Stage
You and your child are invited to a fun, interactive musical experience! An Early Childhood Teaching Artist explores a popular children’s book with your family through song and musical instruments, and you will receive a list of all the songs to practice at home.

11:00am-3:00pm: Fall Family Day at AU
All activities are free and inspired by the current exhibitions. Create hands-on art projects, explore art with a scavenger hunt, take a tour with a guide, listen and participate in storytelling and music-making, and more. Free, please register in advance and check-in at the door.

11:00am-2:00pm: Community Fun Fest at the Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home
Bring your friends and family! Enjoy a day filled with food, fun, laughter and games! Held on the grounds of the Lisner Louise Dickson-Hurt Home; this community event is truly fun for all ages. Intergenerational Art Activities. Paint a miniature canvas or make a dazzling sand art piece to take home. Help paint a life size animal statue in the garden. Visit the Resident Art Gallery to view contemporary artwork created by the talented artists of the Home. Baby Farm Animals & Pony Rides. Meet cuddly ducks & chicks, squeaky pigs, fuzzy sheep & funny goats and take a ride on a pony! Moon Bounce, Juggler and Face Painting. No admission fee but a small cost for rides, activities, & food.

11:00am-11:45am: Sunday Funday at Imagination Stage
You and your child are invited to bring your favorite stories to life through dramatic play activities, music, movement, and visual art. Each session you leave with a special take-home item we used or created that day, as well as a Parent Pack to extend the experience at home. These popular workshops are themed around beloved children’s books.

12:00pm-5:00pm: 24th Annual Art Safari at Torpedo Factory
An Alexandria tradition for almost a quarter-century, Art Safari returns for a day of hands-on activities for kids and families. Dozens of artists lead budding art enthusiasts in exciting and creative projects throughout the building. Dress to get a little messy. Great for kids ages 5+. Younger children may need some extra help, but will still have a lot of fun!

2:00pm-3:00pm: The Lakota Music Project with the South Dakota Symphony Chamber Ensemble
The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra’s Lakota Music Project makes its national debut. Enjoy this musical collaboration by members of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, Lakota singer Emmanuel Black Bear (Oglala Sioux Tribe), and cedar flutist Bryan Akipa (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), performing together for the first time outside South Dakota. The concert will include commissioned works by Akipa and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (Chickasaw Nation), participants in the SDSO’s Music Composition Academies.

3:00pm: GALA Hispanic Theatre: Que las hay… las hay. Believe It or Not!
A tale with a fairy, a sorceress, magic, and puppets for the entire family, especially for children up to 12 years old! This bilingual play finds Lilí, the moody sorceress of dark clouds and
thunder, and Lulú, the cheery fairy of sunshine and chirping birds, feuding.
Both try to help their new neighbor Juan Juan build a house, but things
become chaotic when the sorceresses use their magic wands to cast opposing spells on the project. Children will delight in the fun-filled action as
they discover that friendship, diversity and tolerance are key to building
community.Playing from October 19 – November 2, 2019. $10 children, $12 adults.

Sunday

9:30am-11:00am: Families Serving Together: “Soupkot” Edition
Join the EDCJCC and PJ Library to celebrate the end of the harvest holiday of Sukkot and make instant soup kits for people experiencing food insecurity in our city. The morning will include learning about the holiday of Sukkot and doing the service project. Children of all ages are welcome! They request a $20 per family tax-deductible program fee to help us cover the costs of supplies.  Register above; walk-ins welcome if space available.

10:00am-5:00pm: The Future of Transportation at KID Museum
What will transportation look like in the future? We can imagine electric vehicles, self-driving cars, and high-speed rail, but what about all the new technologies we have yet to discover? As global population rises and urban congestion increases, we will need to find new ways to move people efficiently, sustainably, and safely. Come to Future of Transportation Day at KID and learn to think like an engineer, scientist, or designer who tackles these kinds of challenges!

10:00am-11:30am: Lion Lessons! Preschool Class
Looking for the PURR-fect activity this weekend? Come learn about what it takes to be part of the pride. Learn what it’s like to be a lion and test your skills with us and our wild role models.Friends of the National Zoo preschool classes are designed for children ages 2-3 to discover a whole new view of the National Zoo. “Adult-and-me” format classes use interactive learning stations, hands-on activities and crafts, Nature Play, and exciting Zoo Walks to engage your child’s sense of wonder and curiosity about wildlife and the natural world.

2:00pm & 4:00pm: NSO Family Concert: Halloween Spooktacular at Kennedy Center
Enjoy spooky fun for the whole family at this annual tradition! The Concert Hall transforms into a ghostly sight when our ghoulishly attired musicians perform new and old classics to celebrate Halloween. Nicholas Hersh leads this exciting concert experience, which features music from Harry Potter and more. Arrive early for trick-or-treating and a special Haunted Hall Musical Instrument “Petting Zoo.” Ages 5+

2:00pm-4:00pm: Become an Entomologist at US Botanic Garden *Middle & High School Students
Join for an afternoon with an entomologist and learn about the exciting world of plants and insects. Students will explore our gardens looking for the good bugs and the bad bugs, learn about our IPM (integrated pest management) program, and capture and mount their own insects.

2:15pm: Preschool Pioneers: Batty Batty Bat
SEEC’s workshops offer a variety of hands-on experiences that introduce young children to concepts in engaging ways. Each class begins with playful classroom activities that are intentionally chosen to support your child’s development. The learning continues when the class moves into a museum where children and parents are encouraged to learn and explore together as a family. You might be seeing lots of bats around now that Halloween is getting closer, but what do we actually know about these animals? Through hands-on activities, we will learn about these flying mammals’ characteristics, habitats and more. Best for ages 3 – 5 years.

3:00pm: Darci Lynne at DAR Constitution Hall
Winning NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” at just 12-years old by the most votes for a final performance in the history of the show, singer/ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer impresses audiences across the country with her sweetheart disposition and undeniable, show-stopping talent beyond her years. Accompanied by her musical friends including a divaesque rabbit: Petunia, a shy and soulful mouse: Oscar and a sarcastic old woman: Edna. Singing through her friends helped the young entertainer find a voice inside she didn’t know she had, and helped her overcome a lifelong struggle with shyness. An Oklahoma native, Darci began participating in talent-based pageants at a young age, and picked up ventriloquism shortly after.

5:30pm: Gustafer Yellowgold at AMP Strathmore
Gustafer Yellowgold is a funny and touching multimedia performance filled with music, animation, and storytelling. These music and “moving art” shows are performed by Grammy-nominated artist Morgan Taylor. The New York Times proclaimed Gustafer Yellowgold as, “Dr. Seuss meets Yellow Submarine,” and its unique crossover appeal has earned opening act slots for indie stalwarts Wilco and The Polyphonic Spree. The songs are whimsical, super catchy narratives detailing the life of a friendly alien from the sun who now resides in a wildly imaginative version of the woods in Minnesota. Recommended for ages 3 through 8.

Theatre:
Disney’s Frozen, Jr at Encore Stage & Studio: Through October 20, 2019
Elephant & Piggie’s “We are in a play” at Adventure Theatre: Through October 27, 2019
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show at Imagination Stage: Through October 27, 2019
Squeakers & Mr. Gumdrop at Arts on the Horizon: Through October 20, 2019

Date Nights:
October 18, 19, 25 & 26 (various times): Soul Strolls in Congressional Cemetery
Trespass into the past and discover the secrets of some of Congressional Cemetery’s “residents.” Soul Strolls, the Cemetery’s annual twilight tours, explore the stories of individuals buried here through guided tours and costumed interpreters. Experience the history of this hallowed ground exactly the way it should be experienced in October – in twilight and darkness, happening upon vignettes and individuals under the guidance of one of our “Dozen Decent Docents.

October 21- 6:00pm-9:00pm: Boos & Brews at National Building Museum
Join the National Building Museum for an evening to eat, drink, and be scary! Boos & Brews will feature scary ghost tours around the famous landmark, a costume contest, a monster mash-up of songs by DJ EPX, games, devilishly delicious food, and wicked good beer from various breweries including Port City and Right Proper.

Plan ahead for all of the amazing Halloween events that are to come next week!