Exciting and Educational Kids Activities in Northern Virginia

  • Author: Devin Henry
  • Last Updated: November 30, 2023
Table of Contents

Northern Virginia is a fantastic place to raise a family. It’s chock full of fun things for kids to do that keep the adults interested too. There is an activity or establishment to amaze and delight every child, from toddlers to teens. 

The exceptional flora and fauna of Northern Virginia make it easy to please any kid who loves the great outdoors – hiking, biking, camping, and outdoor sports abound. There are also plenty of chances for educational outings, considering the many museums and historical hot spots. Laser tag, bowling, ziplining, trampolining, and water parks keep the adventuresome sort happy.

Whether it’s summer vacation, a winter excursion, or simply family time, there’s something in Northern Virginia to keep the kids entertained. Here are a few of the top fun and educational kids activities in Northern Virginia.

Great Falls National Park

Over 800 acres of forest along the Potomac River in McLean, VA, await adventurists of every age at Great Falls National Park. The self-guided waterfall tour is perfect for older kids and experienced hikers. 

A few lookout points don’t have barriers, so it isn’t ideal for toddlers on foot. Hiking along the Potomac, though, as it builds speed and force leading to the waterfall is a healthy activity that provides meaningful memories. 

Wolf Trap Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods

Tucked into the forest of Wolf Trap National Park in Vienna, VA, is a charming little theater aimed solely at children. It presents musicals, puppet shows, storytelling, dancing presentations, and more all summer long, and its performances are designed to be an absolute thrill for children ages 4 and older. 

There’s something to engage the whole family’s attention here as well. A walk through the surrounding park and a picnic after the show make the experience enjoyable for everyone. 

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center

Breathtaking is one way to describe the massive exhibits at this museum in Chantilly, VA, with almost 200 aircraft on display to the public. Some of the most notable include:

  • An Air France Concorde
  • The last World War I-era Sopwith Camel (Snoopy’s dogfighting plane of choice)
  • The most extensive collections of Japanese and German World War II aircraft in the world 
  • Helicopters 
  • Commercial and private airplanes

The museum also includes the McDonnell Space Hangar. Visitors can marvel at the many space travel artifacts, including the Apollo 11 Mobile Quarantine Facility, Space Shuttle Discovery, satellites, space suits, rockets, and space toys. Children of all ages enjoy this destination, especially those with a fascination for aviation and space travel.

Cox Farms

Kids interested in animal health or farming are always excited to visit this family-friendly farm in Centreville, but anyone who loves farmers markets, fresh fruits and veggies, and seasonal festivities will enjoy this special place.

The Corner Market at Cox Farms provides seasonal goodies all year round. It’s fun to stop in after enjoying the farm to stock up on special items and find the perfect gift for loved ones back home. The Fall Festival and Fields of Fear are two popular attractions for locals and visitors alike in the autumn months.  

Virginia Safari Park

Virginia Safari Park is another fantastic destination for kids who love animals. Visitors can drive through the park in Natural Bridge, VA, to watch the animals from the safety of their vehicles. Another option is a village walk-through where visitors can explore animal habitats. Visit tigers, giraffes, penguins, Cheetahs, and an aviary. 

Animal encounters are a special perk of this park, where visitors can touch, interact, and feed animals such as sloths, penguins, anteaters, and rhinos. It’s a fun way to spend the day and learn something along the way.

Great Waves Water Park

Great Waves is so much more than a water park. There are plenty of water play opportunities, such as exhilarating speed slides, kiddie pools, a giant wave pool, and twisting cool water slides. There are also two restaurants, an action-packed, beach-themed playground, batting cages, mini-golf, and cabanas. One of the pools turns into an ice-skating rink in the winter months to keep the fun going all year long. 

Kids of all ages have fun in this all-inclusive play and water park in Alexandria. The cabanas give everyone a chance to sit back and relax whenever they need a break from the excitement.

Children’s Science Center Lab

This Fairfax museum is the only interactive science center in Northern Virginia. It provides endless science-based activities, exhibits, demonstrations, programs, and interactive labs for school-aged children. 

This museum hosts Family Fun Weekends, where the whole family can enjoy STEM and math-based projects that help foster creativity and critical thought. Families can have a blast visiting together at any time of the week to check out the experiments in the lab and learn how natural chemical compounds work every day in the world.

Escapology

Adolescents and teenagers are most equipped to understand and enjoy the activities at Escapology, an escape room in Fairfax. Visitors arrive in teams of two to eight to escape a space of their choosing. They study clues, solve puzzles, and pick locks to escape rooms with titles such as The Lost City, Arizona Shootout, Cuban Crisis, and Narco.

They offer a Kidmode for 7- to 11-year-olds to enjoy a milder experience. Kids are provided with a detective checklist to help them through the clues and puzzles that will set them free. It’s a fun activity that also builds teamwork and problem-solving skills.

Northern Virginia is loaded with kid-friendly, family-fun opportunities the whole family can enjoy, whether you live here or are just visiting. The best part is that it isn’t hard to find an exciting activity the kids will love while it also teaches them something. 

Community Information From a Local Real Estate Professional

Families can flourish with all the kids activities in Northern Virginia, and many find it’s a great place to settle down. Nomadic Real Estate can help with expert property management, renting and leasing, and sales service for homeowners and investors who have decided it’s where they want to be.

Our experienced team provides an all-in-one, no-hassle approach to home sales that will help you find the right place for your family. Contact our office today to discuss your real estate needs.

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Enhanced Reporting

Your portal includes a selection of extremely useful reports. Reports are available in the “Reports” section, and are distinct from the financial statements. Unlike financial statements which are static records, Reports are dynamic real-time records that will update with current data every time you view them. 

Scroll down to learn more about Reports:

Navigate to the "Reports" module in your portal:

Owner Portal Reports
  • Keep in mind, these reports are dynamic records. They will refresh to display current information every time you view them. 

Enhanced Rent Roll Report:

Enhanced Rent Roll Report
  • The Enhanced Rent Roll Report will show the rent amount, last payment date, move-in date, lease expiration date, and security deposit amount for each of your tenants. 
  • It will also show a portfolio summary with occupancy percentage, vacancy loss, and more!

Unit Comparison Report:

Unit Comparison Report
  • If you own multiple units (or buildings) with Nomadic, you’ll get access to the Unit Comparison Report. 
  • This report enables you to quickly compare financial performance between your units at a glance without toggling between individual reports. 

Income Statement Month-Over-Month:

Income Statement by Month Report
  • The Income Statement Detail – Monthly Report serves as a month-over-month record of portfolio performance. You’ll see itemized income and expense categories and can track monthly. This report will update with fresh data every time you view it. 

Financial Statements

Financial statements will be published to your portal on a monthly basis. The statements are found in your Documents library, and provide a historical record of all financial performance. The statements serve as a snapshot of financial performance over a given period, and are static documents (unlike Reports, the statements do not update/change in real-time). 

Scroll down for more info about the Financial Statements in your Documents library:

The Documents area contains monthly financial statements:

Owner Portal Documents
  • The statements in the Documents are are static documents. They are posted to the portal once a month to serve as a historical record of financial performance. 

Download a statement to see month and YTD financials:

Owner Portal Property Statement

You'll also find a month-over-month operating statement:

Month over Month Statement

Portal Communication Tool

You can use your owner portal to communicate with our team. Any messages you send through the portal will go straight to your Account Manager. When we reply, you’ll get an email notification and you’ll also see the message in your portal next time you log in. 

Here’s an overview of using the communication platform:

Click "Communications" and navigate to "Conversations":

Commincation Dashboard Screenshot
  • The communications module will contain a record of all messages that you create through the portal. 

Click the "New Message" button and send your message:

Owner Portal New Message Screenshot

Responses will show up in the conversation ticket:

Portal Conversation Response Screenshot
  • You’ll get an email notification whenever you get a response, and you’ll also see the message in your portal next time you log in. 

You can reply in-line using the comment box:

Owner Portal Comment

Each conversation will be logged in its entirety:

Portal Conversation Snapshot

Understanding the Ledger

Your portal includes a ledger with all transactions. The ledger is populated with data in real-time as transactions flow through our accounting software. Much of this information is also available in the Reports area, as well as the Statements in your Documents library, but the ledger is the most comprehensive resource for diving into the details. 

Please scroll through the sections below to get a better understanding of how to interpret the ledger. 

By default, transactions are sorted chronologically:

Owner Ledger Dates
  • The date reflected in the lefthand column is the actual transaction date, not the “bill date”. This is the date the transaction was actually processed. 

If you have multiple properties with Nomadic, you'll see the address for each transaction in the "Location" column:

Ledger Property Column
  • You can filter the ledger to look at just one property, all properties, or specific sets of properties. 
  • If you only have one property with us, you’ll just see the ledger for that property. 

The Description column displays the transaction type:

Owner Ledger Description Column
  • BILL: this is an expense transaction, such as for repair costs or management fees.
  • CHARGE: this is a transaction  billed to the tenant, most typically a rent payment. 
  • NACHA EXPORT: this is a credit we processed to your distribution account. This type of transaction is how you get paid! 

The Amount column shows the dollar value of each transaction:

Owner Ledger Amount Column
  • Positive Amounts: if an amount is positive, it reflects a transaction that is payable to you. Typically, this will be a rent payment that we collected from your tenants. On occasion, a positive number could also signify a journal entry or credit adjustment. 
  • Negative Amounts:  if an amount is negative, this is a transaction that is either payable to Nomadic or is an amount that has already been paid to you. Typically this will be for repair costs or management/leasing fees. Owner draws (net distributions into your checking/savings account) also reflect as negative amounts, since they have already been paid to you. 

The Account Balance column shows a sum of positive/negative transactions at a given point in time:

Owner Ledger Account Balance Column
  • Account Balance should always equal zero after a net distribution has been processed. When the balance is zero, this means that all expenses have been paid and you’ve received the remainder as net operating income, leaving a balance of zero (meaning: no one is due any money, as all funds have been distributed appropriately). 

Navigating the Propertyware Owner Portal

Your portal includes some extremely useful features that help you understand your property’s financial performance at a new level, with real-time transparency into every transaction.

Scroll through the snapshots below for an overview of portal navigation! If you need more help or have specific questions about using the portal, you can reach out to your Account Manager any time for a screen share. 

You can filter all info by date range or property:

PW Portal Filters

View a snapshot of income and expenses on your dashboard:

PW Owner Dashboard View

See every transaction in real-time on your ledger:

Owner Portal Ledger View

Statements and forms will be posted to your documents library:

Owner Portal Document Library

View a suite of real-time financial reports:

Portal Reports View

See a running list of all bills, and drill down for more detail:

Owner Portal Bills View

Under Bill Details, you'll find dates/descriptions/amounts and more:

Portal Bill Details

You can also communicate with your Account Manager through the portal:

Owner Portal Communication Tools

How do net distributions work?

Net distributions keep your accounting clean and simple. Each month we’ll collect rent from the tenants, deduct any repair expenses for the previous month and any management/leasing fees for the current month, and credit the remaining net operating income to your account. 

Net Distribution

You’ll receive a statement via email each time a net distribution is processed, and can view all transaction details in your Propertyware owner portal.