Last month while spending time in the New York City area, my kids and I ventured from Dobbs Ferry over to Long Island to visit the Long Island Children’s Museum in Garden City, New York. Recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service — the nation’s highest honor conferred on museums and libraries for extraordinary service to the community — the Long Island Children’s Museum is conveniently located on Museum Row. General admission is $13 per person over the age of 12 months and $12 for adults age 65 and older. Infants are always free, and my kids and I got in for free as well with our membership to the Children’s Discovery Museum because both museums are part of the ASTC (Association of Science-Technology Centers) reciprocal network.
When my kids and I first arrived at the museum, we first stopped in the Tot Spot, which is an age-appropriate environment designed especially for the littlest visitors to crawl, climb, giggle, wiggle, jump, slide, pretend, and play. My daughter loved exploring the entire room while my son loved crawling up and down the toy bridge in the center of the exhibit. He spent a good half hour crawling up one side and then sliding feet-first down the other. My daughter enjoyed playing with other kids her age.
After playing in the Tot Spot for a while and then a quick sack lunch in the cafeteria, my kids and I headed out to explore the rest of the Long Island Children’s Museum. We started in the current When the Earth Shakes exhibit. My daughter got a kick out of the tsunami tank in which we built some block structures that we then tried to knock down with different strength waves. Both kids also enjoyed playing with the earthquake table.
Next my kids and I explored the rest of the first floor of the Long Island Children’s Museum. We started in the bubble room, making huge bubbles, which my son really loved seeing. Then my daughter played for a few minutes in the sandbox of the Sandy Island exhibit. She usually loves sand, but the Climb-It! climber quickly captured her attention. She crawled and climbed through the giant suspended two-story climbing structure all by herself a few times. She was quite proud of herself!
On the second floor of the Long Island Children’s Museum at the top of the ramp for the Climb-It! climber are even more exhibits. Both my kids had a blast building and destroying creations in the Bricks & Sticks exhibit. My daughter was especially intrigued by the Roman Arch Puzzle. My son just liked knocking over the small buildings that I made for him! Both kids also enjoyed the colors and shapes in the Pattern Studio, and I really liked the sounds and music in the Sound Showers exhibit. All in all, my kids and I had a great time at the museum. If you are ever in the Garden City area of Long Island with children, I highly recommend spending a few hours at the Long Island Children’s Museum!
For more information, visit the Long Island Children’s Museum website.
Image Credits
Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson
Tot Spot at Long Island Children’s Museum 1 © 2016 Heather Johnson
Tot Spot at Long Island Children’s Museum 2 © 2016 Heather Johnson
Tsunami Tank at Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson
Sandy Island at Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson
Bubbles at Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson
Climb-It! at Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson
Building Blocks at Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson
Bricks & Sticks at Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson
Roman Arch Puzzle at Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson
Wooden Balls at Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson
Pattern Studio at Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson
Feasts for Beasts at Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson
Sound Showers at Long Island Children’s Museum © 2016 Heather Johnson