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Big Family Excursions – Denver Art Museum

    Big Family Excursions

    A spring break trip to the Denver Art Museum

    Over spring break I decided to take the kiddos to the Denver Art Museum. We had not been there before and I wanted to take an educational trip.

    The museum is located downtown at 14th Ave and Bannock. We rode the light rail into Denver and walked the few blocks from the station.

    Admission for adults is $10 and $3 for youth aged 6-18,non-residents are $2 more. Family membership is $70. We paid $22 for the 5 of us to get in. If hubs would have tagged along it would have been $32, making a membership pay off in just two visits.

    The museum has been at the current location since 1949. The North Building was opened in 1971 and the oddly shaped Frederic C Hamilton Building opened in 2006. There are seven levels to the museum. We were there for fivehours during our trip.

    Hours of learning can be had by going through all the collections of art at the museum. Collections include African Art, American Indian Art, Asian Art, Modern & Contemporary Art, Spanish Colonial Art, Western American Art and more.

    The first few levels we walked slowly, reading the informational plaques. However after lunch there was no savoring the art as we were getting tired. There was so much to see and the museum so big that the last few levels we zipped through trying to get it all in during our trip. For this reason I recommend  a membership so as to break the large museum into several smaller trips.

    Little ones will be bored and easily tired. Although there are hands on activities to do on each level, such as dress up and crafts,  I still wouldn’t recommend taking kiddos younger than 5 or 6. Although Baby Momo suggests that it should be 13 since some of the art included “naked people”. 🙂

    Denver Art Museum Tips:

    1. Look into a membership. Pays off for family of 6 in two visits.
    2. Lockers are located on the first level. Lockers are a quarter.
    3. If driving, best place to park is the garage at 12th Avenue and Broadway. Rates are $1/hour.
    4. Bag lunches are welcome. We ate at tables located on the bridge connection between the Hamilton Building and North Building. The kids liked eating lunch and watching traffic pass below us.
    5. Palettes Restaurant is located on site and offers fine American cuisine.
    6. Find free things for the kids to do on the DAM learn & play page.

     

     

    Theresa Jorgensen

    Theresa Jorgensen

    Theresa Jorgensen is a mother to four children including twins. She recognized the necessity for a comprehensive resource of hotels that cater to big families with rooms and suites for 5, 6, 7, or 8 people in a single room while traveling with her own family. In 2008, she established SixSuitcaseTravel to compile a database of such hotels. Over time, the website has grown to include travel advice, itineraries, road trip suggestions, national park guides, and more. Theresa takes pleasure in assisting other big families in creating unforgettable travel experiences.