The leaves are beginning to fall and you're more likely to be looking for indoor activities that you and your children can share while traveling this autumn season. Luckily, we are blessed with dozens of sensational and educational children's museums dotted around the country. Here's what's on offer at a select favorite few this fall:
Brooklyn Children's Museum (tel. 718/735-4400; www.brooklynkids.org) opened its new building to the public in September and if you are looking for an amazing way to entertain your kids (best for those under seven years of age) for several hours in New York, this is it. The 1,700-square-foot Totally Tots area (for ages one to five) is particularly fun, with a water play area, sand creation zone, dress ups and plenty of other sensory attractions. There's a greenhouse where kids can put on an apron and use magnifying glasses to see how plants grow and dig for worms in a compost bin. Children of all ages love the World Brooklyn exhibit which features a number of shop fronts including a pizza joint, where you can pretend to make and serve your own pizza, and a sensational grocery store where kids can shop for fruit, vegetables, produce, and a huge variety of international foods before ringing them up at the check out lines. In the Mexican Bakery, you can run a giant mixer, weigh ingredients, shape your own pretend dough, or celebrate the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) holiday.
Their Neighborhood Nature exhibit has a freshwater pond where you get a fish-eye view when you crawl inside the pond aquarium to watch fish and turtles swim among aquatic plants. Special cameras and listening devices let you watch and listen for animals hidden throughout the diorama. Children can touch live horseshoe crabs and starfish at the tide pool in the saltwater beach. Create your own marine animal models and test how they move in the wave pool or in the sandy dunes.
Until January 2, 2009, the museum is hosting a "Living in Space" exhibit inspired by the International Space Station and created in collaboration with NASA. Children can experience sleeping, dressing, eating, exercising and working like astronauts, becoming crewmembers for a day. During the fall, the Brooklyn Children's Museum is open 10am to 6pm on weekends and 1pm to 6pm Wednesday to Friday (Totally tots opens at 11am in these weekdays). The Museum is pleased to offer a Grand Opening Celebration admission special of $5 per person (instead of $7.50) through November 30, 2008 with free admission to families before 11am every Saturday and Sunday. Best to bring a change of clothes for the kids, especially during the cooler months because the water activities can get them rather drenched despite waterproof smocks being provided. You can get to the museum on Subway line #4, Kingston Avenue stop and then it is approximately a seven minute walk.
Please Touch Museum (tel. 215/581-3158; www.pleasetouchmuseum.org), Philadelphia's hands-on children's museum has just reopened after an extensive renovation and expansion program. The Museum is perfect for preschoolers and kids of all ages. History comes alive when you step inside the bustling 1876 train station, part of Centennial Exploration. As one of the last remaining pieces of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Memorial Hall is a historical and architectural wonder. Families will love the personal accounts of everyday life at the Fair and the famous Centennial Exhibition visitors. Be amazed at the inventions revealed at the fair including the first telephone, typewriter, and root beer, plus the first bananas introduced to the U.S.
In the City Capers section, kids get a peek onto an urban streetscape and discover the people, businesses, and neighborhoods that make up city life. Dig a ditch in Busy Build, stock the shelves in a shoe store, review x-rays in the medical center, and pick up groceries at the supermarket. At Flight Fantasy kids experiment with balance, speed and coordination as they simulate flying, rowing, or playing hopscotch on a cloud. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 5pm and Sunday from 11am to 5pm. It tends to be busier on rainy days and during school semesters, mornings are a bit crowded with school groups so afternoons are the best time to visit, as well as Mondays when groups are not scheduled. Admission is $15 for anyone over the age of one.
Designed for children in the four to 12 age group, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (tel. 800/208-5437; www.childrensmuseum.org) is considered one of the country's best. Until January 4, 2009, children and adults can experience the world of cartooning in a new interactive exhibit entitled "Animation." The exhibition explores animation from concept to finished product -- from storyboarding, character design and drawing techniques, to movement, timing, filming and sound. Larger-than-life graphics of popular Cartoon Network characters provide a colorful backdrop to the exhibit, which also explores the history of animation and features a screening room and cartoon museum. Several exhibit areas feature digital slide shows of real animators working in the studios at Cartoon Network where visitors can learn about the skills and training needed to pursue a career in animation.
A crowd favorite, Dinosphere gives kids the chance to journey back 65 million years to the Cretaceous Period when dinosaurs ruled the earth. Experience "Dinosphere: Now You're in Their World," one of the largest displays of dinosaur fossils in the United States. There is also a functioning Paleo Lab, a hands-on dig, interactive stations and activities, and a great dinosaur art collection. Dinosphere's newest exhibit is "Dragons Unearthed," which considers the similarities and differences between dinosaurs and dragons based on research by Dr. Robert Bakker, the real-life inspiration for the character of Dr. Robert Burke in the movie The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The museum is open 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Sunday and admission is $13.50 for adults, $12.50 for seniors and $8.50 for kids aged two to 17. Entry is free for families on the first Thursday of each month from 4pm to 8pm.
The Children's Museum, Boston (tel. 617/426-8855; www.bostonkids.org) is home to an award-winning "Arthur's World" exhibit, where kids can role-play and read in the cartoon character's favorite settings. The museum has an opera house stage where children put on impromptu performances. There's a life-size lobster boat that lets kids dress up as sailors, an introduction to Japanese culture through a two-story silk merchant's home, and an extensive doll and dollhouse collection. For toddlers and preschoolers there's a special miniature rock-climbing wall and a tree-house with hidden pathways located in the museum's 4,500-square-foot PlaySpace area. The new a Messy Sensory Station lets toddlers dig treasure balls out of shaving cream.
The current temporary exhibition is the "Children of Hangzhou: Connecting with China," on display until January 4, 2009. Visitors have an opportunity to discover that contemporary Chinese life is a blend of ancient traditions with modernity. The exhibit uses interpretive elements like original artwork, music, history, role play and festivals. The young Chinese in the exhibit act as a bridge to learning about China and building cross-cultural understanding. Learn how to cook a traditional birthday meal, join in a performance of Chinese opera, play traditional instruments, discover the Great Wall, and try counting on the abacus and mastering Chinese writing. The museum's entrance fee is $9 for adults, $7 for children (two to 15) and it is open every day 10am to 5pm and Target sponsors a special $1 entry every Friday night from 5pm to 9pm
Minnesota Children's Museum (tel. 651/225-6000; www.mcm.org) in St. Paul has Habitot a large toddler play zone where visitors six months to four years old can walk, cruise, and crawl through four kid-friendly Minnesota habitats: the prairie, the pond, the forest, and the bluff caves. There's a Korean restaurant where kids can pretend they're the owner, chef, server, or customer. World Works is an exhibit where kids can make giant waves at a wild water table, use a crane to construct a building, and turn mess into paper art. Until January 19, 2009 visit the Hmong at Heart exhibit and get a glimpse at the everyday lives of the Hmong people in three environments: a village in Laos, a refugee camp in Thailand, and a Hmong-American home.
Visitors can use oversize colored beads to create unique patterns on dowels; examine genuine Hmong artifacts; practice everyday Hmong phrases at a pretend farmer's market booth; and plot out how to plant 50 acres of farmland. The recently revamped Ball-o-rama exhibit will run until February 1, 2009. At this hands-on exhibit, visitors will understand such mysteries as why people don't fall out of a rollercoaster when riding upside down. Many of the interactive components were modeled after century-old experiments created by Galileo and Newton. Children will learn about physics by sending golf balls racing down roller coaster ramps to demonstrate velocity, gravity, friction, inertia, acceleration and momentum. The revamped exhibit includes a newly-developed Tot Spot, designed for toddlers and preschoolers to build physical skills and begin experimenting with balls in motion. The exhibit's smallest visitors will discover how different sizes and textures affect how high or low a ball will bounce. Children can also experience the thrill of spinning by controlling how fast the balls turn. The museum is open Tuesday to Thursday and weekends from 9am to 5pm and 9am to 8pm Fridays. Tickets for ages one to 101 are $7.95 and Target sponsors free entry every third Sunday of each month from 9am to 5pm.
