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Family Fun Along the Brandywine Treasure Trail!
Make some new friends at the Brandywine River Museum! Two life-size sculptures on the riverside path, a cow named Miss Gratz by J. Clayton Bright and a pig named Helen by André Harvey, create a bronze petting zoo and a terrific photo op. Indoors, don't miss "Portrait of Pig" by Jamie Wyeth. Go on a gallery hunt and see if you can find the items on our Discovery Game Sheets. Museum Explorer Mornings for ages 3-10 and Advanced Explorer Workshops for children ages 10-14 are offered on select days; plan ahead and reserve your slot.
Design your own masterpiece, cuddle up with a good art-related book, learn about the tools artists use, and actually touch reproductions of some priceless works in the Delaware Art Museums Kids' Corner. Outdoors in the Copeland Sculpture garden, Tom Otterness' 13-foot-tall Crying Giant is a kid favorite. A sound sculpture by Joe Moss manipulates the voices of those nearby, while Three Rectangles Horizontal Jointed Gyratory III, by George Rickey, moves with the slightest breeze. Toward the back of the sculpture garden is the Anthony N. Fusco Reservoir, which has been recast as a labyrinth. Follow the single, folded path to arrive in the center.
Connect with your teens at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts. The artwork in this rebuilt railroad car factory is fresh, thought-provoking, and sometimes experimental, in keeping with the DCCA's focus on approaching socially relevant topics through art. Past exhibits have included cast cement waveforms, paper jewelry, video art, even an installation created from Jell-O.
Delve into the First State at The Delaware History Museum of the Delaware Historical Society. Located in a renovated Art Deco Woolworth's store, the Museum features three galleries of changing interactive exhibits. Displays of rare items from everyday life, costumes, children's toys, and art show what life was like in the recent and distant past. Dress up, play games, run the corner store, and have old-fashioned fun in "Grandmas Attic". Families have lots to talk about after touring the restored 22-room Read House and Garden, located in Delaware's Colonial capital, Old New Castle. Notice the contrast between spacious family bedrooms and cramped servants' quarters, see how the colonists grew their own medicinal plants, and dont miss the 19th-century cutting-edge technology: hot-air roasting ovens and steam tables in the kitchen!
Take a family-friendly voyage of discovery at the Delaware Museum of Natural History. Sense the heat of the African plains and the refreshing waters of the Great Barrier Reef...but watch out for the dinosaurs! Extensive collections of birds' eggs and mollusks catch everyones' attention; hands-on exhibits, a scavenger hunt, and daily films add to the fun. Kids have a blast in the Discovery Room where they can dress in field scientists' garb, handle specimens, look under the microscope, and enjoy books and puzzles. Outdoors, a one-mile trail is a great place to experience nature.
Hands-on exhibits and the parklike setting of the 235-acre Hagley Museum and Library make it a family-friendly destination indoors and out. The site of the original du Pont black powder works, Hagley tells the story of life and industry in the nineteenth century, and puts modern inventions on display as well. Sit in Jeff Gordon's #24 DuPont NASCAR, get up close to a space shuttle suit, and learn the secrets of machines as you turn axles, lift levers, and learn the ropes with pulleys. Stroll along the Brandywine River and marvel at the working machinery from the original powder mills. Walk up Workers Hill to get a taste of what mill life was like. Hagley is the ideal place for a picnic.
Longwood Gardens is the ideal place for family fun! Explore three awesome tree houses, have your picture taken next to animal-shaped topiaries, examine insect-catching plants up close, enjoy dancing fountains that shoot water 130 feet in the air, and be dazzled by colorful indoor and outdoor floral displays. The Indoor Children's Garden is an enchanting space of ramps, mazes, grottoes, and lots of running water. Outdoors, kids will enjoy frolicking in the Bee A-mazed garden designed especially for them. Special events and performances are a treat for every family member.
Rockwood Museum proves that historical sites don't have to be stodgy! Along with tours of the Gothic Revival mansion, Rockwood offers six acres of formal landscape; seventy-two acres of woods and meadows; 2.5 miles of paved, lighted trails; and a café where you can enjoy a light bite in a Victorian parlor. Rockwood's trails connect to an extensive network at Bellevue State Park bring your bicycles.
Children enjoy their own magical space in the Enchanted Woods at Winterthur Museum and Country Estate. The whole family will have fun stepping over the Story Stones, winding along the S-S-Serpentine Path, then rumbling across the Troll Bridge. Tuck your kids into a huge bird's nest for a memorable photo. A working pump provides a cooling splash, and there are spaces to climb into, hide behind, and explore. Check out the newest addition to the Enchanted Woods, the Upside-Down Tree, and see where the fairies live. Indoors, go back in time with the "K is for Kids" exhibition in the Winterthur Galleries, an alphabetic exploration of the museum's collections. The Touch-It Room is a popular stop, providing children with the opportunity to dress up in period costumes; role-play in the colonial kitchen, parlor, and general store; and explore toys and books from a bygone era.
Request more information at info@brandywinetreasures.org
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