DC Family Activity | KidFriendly DC

Leveling the Playing Field, the nonprofit organization dedicated to giving underprivileged children the opportunity to enjoy the mental and physical benefits of youth sports, invites families to participate in the First Annual Field Day Fundraiser this Sunday, May 21! The event is an effort to support their mission of providing free sporting equipment to students in need in the DC area.

Since its launch in 2013, Leveling the Playing Field has distributed over two million dollars worth of sporting equipment to over 400 schools and youth development programs that serve low-income communities. They collect donations of used and new equipment from various sources, the community and sports organizations among them. Donations to LPF allow programs to allocate saved funds towards lowering registration fees, expanding scholarship programs, enhancing existing athletic programs and developing new ones.

Sunday’s Field Day is a great opportunity for the community to support LFP and have a ton of fun. Both kids and adults can participate in the games. Teams will compete against one another for some amazing prizes including sports tickets and memorabilia. Stations will include everything from relay and three-legged races to water balloon and Frisbee toss. And participants will be joined by some of the very kids who have benefited from LPF’s equipment program!

The event will take place in two shifts, from 1-3pm and 3-5pm. Snacks and refreshments will be provided. Registration is $25/person, and you can sign up online in advance here or day of at the event.

This will all take place at Pyle Middle School located at 6311 Wilson Lane in Bethesda, MD. More information is available on the Leveling the Playing Field website.

And PS: They welcome volunteers to help out at their warehouse and with equipment drives, and there’s no age minimum, so it’s a great opportunity for family volunteering!

Hunt for Harry Potter in the National Gallery of Art with Watson Adventures

A couple of wizards at work on their clues

I love discovering new ways to explore old favorites. Like many Washingtonians, we’d been to the National Gallery of Art countless times, but never on a scavenger hunt, nor with Harry Potter as inspiration for a tour.

When I first learned about Watson Adventures’ Wizard School Scavenger Hunt, I was immediately intrigued. Not only does our crew love a good clue-driven search, we’re also big Harry Potter fans. Not to mention it takes place at a magnificent museum, where wandering through the galleries even without a purpose is fantastic.

Does one of these paintings reveal an answer?

This scavenger hunt is also a competition, adding a whole other fun and challenging element to the adventure. You sign up as a team, which can be a family/youth or all-adult, and compete against other groups. You’re all on a mission to find art that echoes characters, places, and enchanted objects in the famed Harry Potter books and movies in search of answers to 24 questions. There are clever Harry Potter-themed clues to help you locate each one, but many of them are tricky to decipher and take some sleuthing and careful examination of the art to figure out!

Exploring the galleries armed with clues

Every team has the same questions, but ordered differently for each group to stay spread out, though we did run into other teams searching for the same art a couple of times. You have 90 minutes to complete the hunt, which takes place throughout most of the West Wing of the NGA. And that hour and a half goes by quickly — we were scrambling for those last few clues to finish before the hunt time was up!

The search covers a lot of museum ground

So excited to come across the guy they always sing about (Alexander Hamilton)

So excited to come across the guy they always sing about (My name is Alexander Hamilton…)

One point is given for every question answered correctly. The team that comes up with the most creative name also gets points. And you lose points if you’re not back to the starting place before the hunt time is up. The teams (one family/youth, one all-adult) that have the most points win.

Someone is feeling stumped

Waiting for the announcement of the winners

As the Hogwarts crew might say, this adventure is bloody brilliant! It’s unique, fun, and exciting, and something the whole family can do together. All four of us contributed to the effort, and while we didn’t win, we had such a great time together completing the task. On top of that, we all agreed that it made us take a much closer look at some of the art that we often casually stroll by, something we’ll keep in mind on our next visit.

Want to see the clues? Go sign up!

So, is your family ready to prove yourselves wizards among muggles? If so, here’s what you need to know about Watson Adventures:

* The Wizard School Scavenger Hunt is hosted monthly at the National Gallery of Art. The next one takes place Saturday, April 8, at 2pm. Sign up here.
* Cost is $17.50/ages 17 and under, and $19.50/adults
* While the website recommends this for ages 10 and up, I’d say about ages 8 and up can enjoy it. Sasha (8) loved it, and a couple of her 2nd grade classmates were there and had a great time, too.
* Watson Adventures also hosts scavenger hunts with other themes at different locations. Most are geared toward adults (think KidFree!), but Secrets of Georgetown is also for teens.
* Scavenger hunts are hosted in other cities, too. Visit the website to see where.