Things to do in Philly with Kids
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Philadelphia has over 2000 acres of park space, ranging from small center-city squares to Fairmount Park’s spacious open areas and forest hiking trails. Public squares abound, and during the summer, you can strike up a conversation with the historical figures you come across. Penn’s Landing, located along the waterfront, hosts activities and festivals all year.
The Delaware River Trail as well as the Schuylkill River Trail run alongside the city’s two rivers. You can walk or bike along the river, passing by parks, gardens, the Fairmount Waterworks, and Boathouse Row. Do you want to unwind while learning about the city? Consider taking a trolley or horse-drawn carriage ride. If you prefer to walk, there are a variety of self-guided or specialty tours available that cover topics ranging from ghosts to art, history, and food.
Big Bus Tour
My family did not agree on the bus tour completely. Bus tours, in our opinion, are a great way to get an overview of a city and get ideas for attractions to visit. You also get to sit down. My children are not convinced. Because the Big Bus Tour uses open air double decker buses (as well as trolleys), my husband and I sat on the top and the kids sat downstairs, inside, where I couldn’t see if they were paying attention or not.
Isaac, our tour guide, did an excellent job of quickly familiarizing us with Philadelphia’s history. I’m pretty sure drinking isn’t permitted on the Big Bus Tour, but if it were, chug every time the tour guide said “Ben Franklin.”
Philadelphians have strong feelings about the best cheesesteak. Pat’s, Jim’s, and Geno’s are the three mainstays. Isaac’s point of view? All of them! He recommends Sonny’s Famous Steaks on Market Street between the second and third floors. If you’re reading this as a resource for your own trip, you probably won’t take my next piece of advice, but I’ll give it to you anyway. Cross the Ben Franklin Bridge, drive a few miles north on Route 130, and go to Gaetano’s in Willingboro, New Jersey, for the absolute best cheesesteak. Get the small. You’re very welcome.
Franklin Institute
Imagine walking up and down the stairs, through the ventricles and atrium, into the lungs, and back to the heart, all while hearing the heartbeat and the whooshing of blood. Tell me that isn’t the greatest thing ever. No, please don’t tell me. I’m not interested in hearing it.
So, on this trip, I finally had the opportunity to take my children through the heart. It was the only reason we went to the Franklin Institute, and they knew better than to object after hearing me talk about The Giant Heart their entire lives. If it means marching through those ventricles, so be it. They planned to walk through the heart.
But they didn’t fight back. They walked happily (or at least tolerantly) through, and one even went through again with me. Everything was exactly as I remembered. Similarly cool. That would have been enough, but they insisted on staying and doing “everything.” So that’s what we did. The electricity exhibit, the Observatory, and the “brain” room are all highlights. You do not walk through the brain. If you know anything about the anatomy of the brain, you know that would be absurd. However, there was a large play structure related to brains that little kids were shrieking all over.
Which brings me to my next point. You might want to avoid going after 4 p.m. I adore children. All children are our future. But when the hundredth group of kids in matching summer camp t-shirts tears through the exhibits at high volume you’ll excuse me for starting to have less than warm feelings toward the embodiment of our future. Believe me. P.M. time.
Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens
This place is best described as magical. Long-time South Street resident Isaiah Zagar has been beautifying his neighborhood with mosaics since the 1960s, and began working in the vacant lot next to his studio in 1994, excavating tunnels and grottos, sculpting multi-layered walls, and covering every surface with tiles. When the landowner decided to sell the lot in 2002, the neighbors banded together to support Zagar. Magic Gardens in Philadelphia became a non-profit organization and opened to the public.
Today, mosaics and sculptures cover 3,000 square feet. The fact that there are so many different ways to look at the artwork is part of the magic. You notice a tiny scene made of figures, or the way a bicycle wheel frames a window through a wall, or a collection of brilliant bottles jutting out of a corner, or a magnificent scene under your feet, or in the ceiling above your head, just when you think you’ve taken in everything around you. You can examine the art in a large area or in minute detail. It’s similar to switching a camera lens between wide angle and macro, except your eyes and mind do the switching.
Eastern State Penitentiary
Dark, gothic, creepy… In stark contrast to the otherwise genteel surroundings, the Eastern State Penitentiary looms over Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood. It was a prison from 1829 to 1971 and is now a tourist attraction. Visitors can walk through the semi-ruined cellblocks where, until the early 1900s, all prisoners lived in solitary confinement, even wearing hoods when leaving their cells so they wouldn’t see another human being. However, Eastern State Penitentiary’s new “Pennsylvania system” was considered a humane alternative to the prison system of the time and was emulated in many prisons across America and Europe when it was built.
Admission includes a fantastic audio tour narrated by none other than Steve Buscemi. There was also a guided tour available, but we chose not to take it because it was not led by Steve Buscemi. We discovered that the most famous prisoner at Eastern State was Al Capone, who served his time there in relative comfort due to his celebrity. He also had his tonsils removed in the cellblock.
Although the tour is disturbing and sobering, it is not frightening. If you want to be scared, the Penitentiary hosts a haunted house, Terror Behind the Walls, during Halloween season, which is said to be one of the best haunted attractions in the country.
Mütter Museum
The Mütter Museum at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia houses a collection of preserved anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments. The world’s largest colon, the plaster cast and conjoined liver of “Siamese twins” Chang and Eng, a slide of Albert Einstein’s brain, the skeleton of a 7’6″ giant, and the “Soap Lady,” a corpse that turned to soapy matter, are among the exhibits.
My children are huge fans of medical anomalies, so the Mütter Museum was a big hit with them. Although less gruesome than many of the museum’s artifacts, I was fascinated by the collection of over 2,000 swallowed objects collected and catalogued by Chevalier Jackson, MD (1865-1958). There are so many pins! There are so many buttons!
Because photography is prohibited, don’t even think about taking a selfie with President Grover Cleveland’s jaw tumor. You can, however, take your memories home with you by purchasing something from the gift shop. Some options include the Mega Colon Plush Toy, conjoined twins cookie cutters, and hand soap shaped like the Soap Lady (rose or lavender scent.) Didn’t you see that coming?
You can “adopt a skull” if you want to help the museum but don’t want to bring home a medical oddity trinket.
The museum treads carefully. Most visitors are drawn in by the oddity and shock value of the artifacts, but the museum’s mission is to educate, and the artifacts are displayed in a serious, no-nonsense manner, with respect for human dignity, despite the gift shop. Or, at the very least, with as much dignity as possible for those whose organs are kept in jars.
