Family Friendly, and Young People Love the Packards!
Family Friendly
America’s Packard Museum is family friendly. Children of all ages are welcome, but we ask that anyone under 18 is accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Strollers can be used, there are seats in all parts of the Museum, and we have two restrooms each for men and women. Plus we have a wonderful location just for our junior executive guests full of activities.
Questions? Email or call (937) 226-1710
Build Their Interests
How do kids get interested in technology, engineering, art, and design? By experiencing it. There are no ropes or barriers to our cars so our families can get as close as possible. Please, no touching the vehicles because we are preserving them for the next generation.
Many young persons are fasinated by carefully looking at a single object, like the spokes or the grill. Let them look at different headlights and ask questions. Why are some white and some yellow? Let them choose their favorite car and color. Keep asking what is the same and different about the vehicles mom and dad drive compared to these historic Packards.
Starting a car seems simple. Put in the key or push a button and you drive off. It was not so easy with earlier cars. Click on the this page from the driver’s manual for a 1914 Packard Model 48 and look at how many steps it took. Turn on the gasoline? Ignition coil switch? Spark lever? Air valve wheel? Crank motor? Actually, our cars today do the same things, but electronically. Ask the docents to show you how this all worked.
Writer Sarah Glenn Marsh and illustrator Gilbert Ford's Alice Across America is a nonfiction picture book account of maverick Alice Ramsey, the first woman to drive a car across America in 1909. A wonderful book for readers aged 5-9. 48 pages. ISBN 978-1250297020.
Fun Questions!
Why do some cars have spokes, like bicycles?
Why are the trucks built out of wood?
Why do some cars have so many lights?
How do engines work?
Where are the seatbelts?
Why do some cars have spare tires on the side?
Are any of the cars EVs?
Where is the Apple CarPlay?
Where is the push button start?
What reminds you of your car?
Need help? Our docents are happy to assist!
Packard never built an electric vehicle, but from about 1900-1920, about one-third of all cars were electric. Henry Ford’s wife Clara did not drive a Ford. Her car was a 1914 Detroit Electric Model 47 Brougham, Ask our docents why electric cars vanished for so long.
Questions? Email or call (937) 226-1710
The Junior Executive Suite
The Museum has a room just for our younger guests. The junior executives can color their favorite Packards, watch videos, or build Legos, race cars, or just relax. The children cannot be left unattended.
Click on the drawings to print them out for your junior executives!
Learning to Drive
Today, we take learning to drive for granted. Usually a young person takes classes at school, gets a learner’s permit, drives a certain number of hours, and eventually gets a license (all while terrifying mom and dad in the process). It was not always that way. Simply starting a car was far more difficult and took lots or practice. The hand cranks on the front of cars were extremely dangerous! Kettering, Ohio is named for Charles Kettering who invented the electric starter. Which pedal does what? That varied between manufacturers. Even licenses and exams were not standardized. 14-year-olds could once drive in California. Michigan required drivers licenses in 1919, and Henry Ford was 56 years old when he received his.
Be sure to look for Packard pedal cars while at the Museum. These are originals items and please do not let kids sit in them.