Museum sleepovers give kids a new perspective of history

WASHINGTON — It’s like a scene out of the “Night at the Museum” movies. Kids between 8 and 12 can bring a chaperon this summer and stay overnight in either the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum, or new this year, the American History Museum.

In the American History Museum, kids will be charged with solving a mystery of historical proportions — finding the items that museum-created character Miss Rose says she stole.

Before an IMAX movie, evening snacks and crafts, kids will roam the museum galleries and collect clues to figure out which items are missing. They might even sleep near the Star Spangled Banner.

The tickets start at $135 each, which includes a breakfast, after visitors roll up their sleeping bags.

In the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, just feet from the giant Woolly Mammoth in the museum’s atrium, kids and their chaperons will close their eyes beneath a giant whale in the Sant Ocean Hall.

Before that, kids will go on an interactive exploration of the museum, make crafts and watch “The Island of Lemurs: Madagascar 3D” in the IMAX theater. There are snacks and breakfast provided as well.

Tickets start at $135 and two dates are already sold out. It should be noted that the museum’s dinosaur hall will be closed for renovation by the time the sleepovers are held.

Adults cannot attend by themselves, and there is a kid-to-chaperon ratio that must be met as well as a lot of other other rules and regulations.

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