Picnics at the National Mall: Every Day is the 4th of July!

Every Spring locals in Washington, DC, observe a phenomenon on the first warm day of the year akin to a flutter of butterflies simultaneously emerging from their cocoons. Outdoor dining chairs and tables suddenly appear on sidewalk patios of restaurants and are quickly filled by cheerful patrons enlivened with good food and restorative doses of sunshine and fresh air. Before our son was born, my husband and I certainly enjoyed our share of outdoor dining experiences just a few blocks from home. While our restaurant budget has since diminished, we happily still find ways to dine alfresco with a picnic in the park. Whether its a little snack for our immediate family or a larger potluck meal with friends, its always worth the extra time it takes to pull it all together.

There are so many pluses to having a family picnic that I even saw a chapter devoted to it in a parenting book. Of course the main benefit is sharing time with friends and family in a relaxed setting that is conducive to quiet conversation or active play, whichever fits your mood. It is also an opportunity for your child to experience the outdoors, possibly exploring part of a park you have never visited before, and develop friendships socializing with children of other families. And from a thrifty parent's standpoint, a potluck picnic is a great way to save a few pennies while exposing your child to new culinary adventures.

Most Washingtonians have celebrated at least one Independence Day down on the National Mall, but we assert our constitutional freedom to peacefully assemble (with family and friends for a picnic) there on a more regular basis. We have three favorite picnic spots near the National Mall, all within easy walking distance of the Smithsonian Metro station. One is on the grounds of the Mall itself, close to the Smithsonian Carousel at 1000 Jefferson Drive, SW. This is the best place to throw down a big blanket and cooler for a large group picnic. A few large trees provide shade here, but it is smart to pack sunscreen as you will likely spend time in the sun. Wide grassy areas lend plenty of room for kicking around a soccer ball, throwing a Frisbee or even flying a kite after lunch. Kids can be kids and make as much noise as they like in this vibrant public space. Leashed dogs are welcome, too. Tickets for the carousel, open 10-5 daily (except Christmas), are $2.50 per rider and worth every penny to a child. The carousel features sixty Dentzel horses, two chariots, a spinner tub, and one very popular dragon. It was built in 1947 and relocated to the National Mall from Baltimore, MD in 1981.

The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, across the National Mall opposite the Smithsonian Carousel, at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, offers shady picnic spots appropriate for small groups. Enjoy your lunch while sitting in the grass under a canopy of flowering trees, shrubs and perennials within view of modern and contemporary sculpture installations, including Roy Lichtenstein's illusionary House I and Louise Bourgeois' colossal, bronze Spider. A cooling fountain at the center of the Garden is surrounded by additional seating areas. We spent a few minutes tossing pieces of leftover sandwich bread to the Mallard ducks swimming there. You may also take advantage of the public restrooms at the Pavilion Cafe, a pleasant alternative to the portable toilets available on the Mall grounds. Pets are not permitted, so leave Fido at home if you choose to picnic here rather than on the Mall. Sculpture Garden hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 to 5 and Sunday from 11 to 6, mid-March to Memorial Day.

My last recommendation is for the public gardens behind the Smithsonian Castle. Picnics are not permitted on the grass to protect the delicate plants, but plenty of outdoor seating on benches is available for a brown bag snack with your immediate family. Take the time to stroll along the garden pathways to choose the perfect seating area and admire the elaborate flower beds and hanging baskets, 19th century cast-iron furnishings and reproduction lampposts and the turn-of-the century urns in the Haupt Garden. Consider resting along pink granite benches in the Moongate Garden, inspired by Chinese gardens and architecture, or upon one of four Victorian benches surrounding a cast iron fountain in the sweetly fragrant Folger Rose Garden. As you tour the Haupt Garden, it is fun to realize that you are actually walking atop the roof of the subterranean National Museum of African Art and Sackler Gallery.

Admission is free to all three locations, so don't wait until July to start planning a family picnic!

Raising Art-smart Cyberkids

There is a computer in the children's section at our neighborhood library that is loaded with educational software. Now that my son can walk, he makes a bee-line for it as soon as we arrive. Here we are surrounded by hundreds of beautifully written and illustrated books, but he wants to play with a computer. If it is not already in use he climbs up into the desk chair, makes a grab for the mouse or starts tapping away at the keys. Often, though, another child is playing one of the spelling, math, drawing or music games, and AS contentedly watches. When this first happened, my heart sank a little. Then I reminded myself that 19th century critics were initially skeptical about the applications of the newly invented camera (a "soul-less" black box) until master artists and scientists showed them photography's full potential as a medium for creative expression and learning not unlike a paint brush or a book.

Now I sit down beside AS at the library's computer and use digital painting tools to draw animals with basic shapes that he can identify and label by name, "Cat!", or with a sound, "Meow!". When he eventually loses interest in looking at the PC monitor, we go in search of similar subjects in some of my favorite children's books, such as Geoff Waring's Oscar and the Bird, by illustrators who use Photoshop computer software. I hope a seed of understanding will eventually begin to germinate and help AS form connections between the process of drawing animals with a computer mouse and the images he sees in published books like Waring's illustrations of Oscar the cat.

Our tech-savvy librarian has also hipped me to the fact that some children's book authors and illustrators have launched their own kid-friendly interactive websites. Mo Willems' site features games, art activities and video animations with his famous book characters, including Pigeon, Knuffle Bunny and Elephant & Piggie.

Last week, I received a phone call from my 8 year-old niece asking for help with a multi-player on-line computer game, Poptropica. Poptropica is a safe, virtual world designed by the Family Education Network (a network of educational resources for teachers, parents, and students on the internet) where kids engage in narrative quests that are both entertaining and informative. My niece had entered into a virtual art gallery and needed to match reproductions of paintings with the name of the style in which they were rendered, such as a Pablo Picasso piece with the style "Cubism". She was able to describe the images to me in enough detail that I could envision the paintings and help her successfully complete the task. She was enjoying learning about art, and I was glad to have an opportunity to play along with her.

These experiences recalled a discussion I heard pertaining to the pros and cons of children playing on-line games. Some parents and teachers express concerns that young people who sit in front of the computer for hours every day are more sedentary and have less social interaction than those who are encouraged to play sports or engage in other activities with friends. On the plus side, computer games can motivate reluctant learners by presenting educational content in an entertaining framework and provide a participatory alternative to passive television viewing.

I wondered if there were websites with free on-line gaming options that could teach us more about the city in which we live as my son and I explore them together. I discovered that the Smithsonian Institute, for one, has a Smithsonian Education site to familiarize kids, families and educators with the museum collections, special exhibitions, and upcoming events designed with young people in mind. You may explore different topics that are of interest to your student, "Everything Art", "Science and Nature", "History and Culture" or "People and Places", through interactive games and activities. Or, navigate directly to the Smithsonian Kids page for more on-line fun, such as matching games, trivia quizzes, crossword puzzles, art-making, and home or school project ideas.

The youngest computer users may especially appreciate the National Gallery of Art's interactive website NGAkids "Art Zone". Since a child must develop mark-making ("bang-dots" and scribbles, the most rudimentary visual symbols), prior to forming the controlled lines and shapes that become letters of the alphabet and subsequently the written language, demonstrating and learning how to click and drag a computer mouse to create images is a worthwhile collaborative activity for a parent and child.

The brazen young Dada artists of the first half of the 20th century embraced technology. In the Yellow Manifesto of 1928, the Dadaists proclaimed, "Machinism has revolutionized the world." It seems that nearly a century later many of us are still trying to make peace with youths' manifest fascination with machines, but playing interactive on-line games from the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art is one way for families to have fun learning about new digital media together.