Philadelphia Attractions

The Betsy Ross house, located on Arch between 2nd and 3rd Streets, is open year round and closed Mondays between the months of October through March. Admission is $3 for adults and seniors and $2 for children 12 and younger. Here you and your family will get a history lesson about the American flag and Ms. Ross.

Fireman's Hall Museum is a restored firehouse in the Old City of Philadelphia. The Old City is home to most of Philadelphia's historic sites, and is below Center City. Here you will learn the history of firefighting. Did you know that Benjamin Franklin formed the first fire department in America? Kids will enjoy a visit to this museum. Admission is free.

Our favorite museum is The Franklin, 20th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. This science museum is great for kids and adults. We were planning on spending just three hours here and then departing for home. However, all of us wanted to stay because we enjoyed participating in the interactive exhibits. You can walk through a giant heart, learn about healthy eating, and pretend you are flying a plane. My husband and I felt like big kids. There is so much to do and see here. There are IMAX and 3-D movies at The Franklin; we watched a movie about sea creatures, and my son sat enthralled. For some reason, I didn’t know much about aquatic dinosaurs. The film was fascinating.

The Franklin has a cafeteria (is this Ben’s Bistro or something else?) that serves a lot of kid-friendly foods. Lunch came to $30 for the three of us. General admission is $14.25 for adults and $11.50 for children 12 and younger. IMAX is extra. These exhibits celebrate science, and our child learned a lot while having fun. One machine showed us how fast the heart beats for humans, elephants, mice, and other animals; the train exhibit lets your child pretend to operate a steam engine (the engine actually moves when your child presses a lever.). There is onsite parking, which costs $12 for up to 5 hours.

Franklin's Print Shop is a recreated building on the site of Benjamin Franklin's original property. The tour takes about 20 minutes, and children will delight in the workers who are dressed in 18th century garb. Park rangers give demonstrations of how a daily newspaper was printed. Admission is free.

Independence Hall is more appropriate for older children, ages 12 and up. The red brick building, which was constructed in 1756 as the Pennsylvania State House, is the birthplace of the United States. Here George Washington was appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army. Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence was signed and the U.S. Constitution was adopted in this building. The tour takes between 60 and 90 minutes. The children on our tour were mostly 12 and up. We didn't see any other 7-year-olds. The tour can be a bit long-winded for a young child.

The Liberty Bell offers visitors an interactive experience filled with history about the Bell. Admission is free, and the lines usually move quickly. People do stop to take photos in front of the Liberty Bell. We saw children of all ages at the Liberty Bell. The Liberty Bell was a crown on Independence Hall. It was placed there in 1776, and on July 8 of that year it rang loudly summoning the people of Philadelphia to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. The bell was ordered by the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751 to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of William Penn’s Constitution.

What makes this bell so recognizable is its crack. There is a lot of discussion on how the crack was formed, and no set conclusion. It was taken down from Independence Hall in 1846 because the expansion of the crack rendered it unringable.

All weekend long, our child wanted to visit the Please Touch Museum, which caters to children from toddlers to age 7. He had a blast walking through the Alice in Wonderland maze, repairing cars, riding the carousel, and "shopping" at the kids' toy grocery store. The museum opened in its new location, 4231 Avenue of the Republic in Fairmount Park, in October 2008.

It's a great museum for children. They even have a cafeteria on site, which is good because the museum is located in a park. Plan to spend at least three hours here. Children have a hard time leaving. You can overhear many parents give their kids the 10-minute warning. We had to start with a 30-minute warning and work our way down.

The museum is open seven days a week and admission is $15 per person; children under 1 are free. Other parents we met here suggested getting a family membership if you live nearby because your kids will want to come again and again. There is on-site parking. Parking is $5 per car.

If this is your first visit, or even if you have been here before, a fun place to get acquainted with Philadelphia is on a Duck tour. Ducks are amphibious buses that ride on land and water. Kids love them. My son, who is obsessed with vehicles of all shapes and sizes, had a great time riding the ducks. Even the history that he learned on board made an impression.

We took the Ride the Ducks tour, which departs at 6th and Market and runs every half-hour from March through November. You can purchase your tickets at Independence Visitor Center at 6th and Market Streets, which is just across from the Liberty Bell. It is a good idea to arrive about 15 or 20 minutes before the tour departs, and even earlier during warm weather days. This ensures you will get a seat on the bus. Tickets are $26 for adults and $16 for children under 12. It is definitely worth it. Our tour guide, Fred, who is the captain of the duck on most weekends, has a corny sense of humor; he kept us laughing for a good part of the 90-minute tour. He also provided history, jokes, and tidbits about good places to eat and visit.