Visiting with Kids

Everything you need to plan your art adventure.

Essential tips

  • Entrances and checkrooms

    Both the West Building's 6th Street entrance and East Building's 4th Street entrance have ramps to accommodate strollers. Free checkrooms are located at all of our entrances. 

  • Strollers and carriers

    Strollers and front-worn baby carriers are permitted in the galleries. We also have strollers available if you left yours at home!

  • Restrooms and lactation room

    Changing stations are located in many of our restrooms. Family restrooms are located on the East Building's Mezzanine level, the Concourse level by the Cascade Café, and the West Building Main Floor by the men's restroom. A lactation room is located on the East Building's Concourse level by the Auditorium.  

  • Food and drink

    All our cafés include kid-friendly menus. Food and drinks are not permitted in the galleries.

  • Make it an adventure

    Pick up a kids guide at one of our information desks. Don't miss our Paint 'n' Play stations in the East Building's Atrium and West Building's East Garden Court.

  • Look but don't touch

    Keep at least an arm’s distance from artworks and explain to your kids that touching the artworks even lightly can damage them. If you have a child under the age of five, we recommend that you hold their hand in the galleries.

Preparing for your visit

Food and Drink

Browse our five cafés and their kid-friendly options.

Getting Here

Figure out how to arrive via public transit and the nearest entrance.

While you're here

Audio Tours :  Kids West Building Tour

Not sure where to start? Bring your phone and listen along as you check out some of our most famous artworks.

Six women, eight men, two satyrs, and one child gather in pairs and trios in a loose row that spans the width of this nearly square painting. They are set within a landscape with craggy rocks, cliffs, and trees. Most of the people face us, and the men, women, and child have pale skin. The two satyrs have men’s torsos and furry goat’s legs, and they have darker, olive complexions. Most of the men wear voluminous, knee-length togas wrapped in short robes in shades of white, topaz blue, grass green, coral orange, or rose pink. Most of the women wear long, dress-like garments in tones of shell pink, apricot orange, or lapis blue over white sleeves. For all but one woman, their garments have fallen off one shoulder to reveal a round, firm breast. Several objects are strewn on the rocky, dirt ground in front of the group, including a wide, wooden bucket with a piece of paper affixed to its front to our right, a glass goblet, a pitchfork, a large blue and white ceramic dish filled with grapes and small yellow fruits, and an overturned cup near the center. Cliff-like, craggy rocks rise steeply behind the group to our left, filling much of the sky opposite a tall grove of leafy, dark green trees to our right. A few puffy white clouds float across the vivid blue sky. The slip of paper on the barrel has been inscribed, “joannes bellinus venetus p MDXIIII.”

Self-Guided Tour :  Must-Sees at the National Gallery

Visiting for the first time? Only have an hour? Use our guide of highlights to check out.

Interactive :  Paint 'n' Play

Paint a digital canvas in the West Building's East Garden Court and East Building Atrium. 

Family Programs

At-home activities

Laptop with program running

Interactive :  Paint 'n' Play

Create your own work of art using brushes and palettes from artists in our collection.

Videos :  How-to Projects Inspired by Art

Watch and learn how to make "do it yourself" crafts inspired by brilliant artists and some of their boldest works.

A pale turquoise footbridge arching over a pond lined with tall grasses and filled with petal-pink and butter-yellow waterlilies spans this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted with touches of vibrant color. In the top third of the composition, the shallowly arched bridge nearly touches the top edge of the canvas, and it extends off each side. The shadows on the bridge are painted with eggplant purple. Bands of waterlilies gently zigzag into the distance on the surface of the water. The spring and emerald-green grasses growing along the banks fill the space around and over the pond, and they blend into a screen of trees beyond that enclose the scene. The green of the grasses and trees is reflected in the surface of the water, as is the underside of the bridge. The artist signed and dated the work with dark paint in the lower right corner: “Claude Monet 99.”

Educational Resources :  Teaching Resources

Available by grade level or subject.