Children’s Museums & Playrooms

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Explore All Children’s Museums in NYC & Vicinity

Museums/playrooms exclusively for kids, plus some bigger museums with great kids areas… all of them make for nice places for young minds to see and explore for a few hours…

Jump to: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island, Westchester, Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Upstate NY, Pennsylvania

MANHATTAN

  • Children’s Museum of Manhattan– Stand-by with 5 floors of educational entertainment…
  • New York Historical Society– DiMenna Children’s Museum is the kids’ place in this museum presenting NYC history…
  • Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling– A gem of a place with art to make and look at and people telling stories to participate with…
  • MoMath/National Museum of Mathematics– Math museum with patterns and structures… best for 4-8 grades…
  • New York City Fire Museum– Located at a renovated fire house in SOHO and exhibits fire fighting gear through the years…
  • FDNY Fire Zone– State of the art fire safety learning center at it’s core, but who doesn’t love fire trucks, especially if you can climb on them…
  • Children’s Museum of The Arts– Paint, sculpt and discover to your hearts content…
  • Color Factory NYC– An interactive art museum exploring color… and some great photo-ops…
  • Arcadia Earth– Interactive features ( or augmented reality journey) themed around sustainability…
  • Museum of The City of New York– Lots of programming and interactive displays for kids…
  • American Museum of Natural History– This everyone’s favorite has a kids section as well…
  • Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum– Lots of fun stuff for kids to do, besides looking at some cool planes…
  • Museum of Ice Cream– Do we need to say more…
  • Museum of Illusions– Of all kinds… great for kids for an hour of amusement…
  • Spyscape– For the inner-Bond types…perhaps better for older kids…
  • South Street Seaport Museum– Learn about ships…
  • Kidville– 4 locations in NYC and NJ. Old stand-by with classes (and hair salon), but also offering open play hours…

BROOKLYN

  • Brooklyn Children’s Museum– World’s first for the kids… with 30,000 objects for kids to discover…
  • Jewish Children’s Museum– Explore the values and traditions of Jewish people through fun and games…
  • New York Transit Museum– Anything transit and trains in a 1936 subway station…
  • The Play Lab– Eco friendly, Montessori inspired space with open play hours…
  • Twinkle Playspace– Cute play space for 6 year olds and under…
  • Kids Town Playspace– Another great Brooklyn spot for small kids…
  • Fairytale Island– A playspace for kids 7 and under… fun, but can get chaotic…

QUEENS

  • New York Hall of Science– Science and tech exhibits in a former 1964 hall for the World’s Fair…
  • Museum of Moving Image– Besides the Jim Henson/Muppet Exhibit, a great place for budding directors…
  • Kanga’s Indoor Playcenter and Cafe– Big play area with climbing structures and a cafe…
  • Kid’s Play World and Cafe– Local mom owned and operated spot for tots…
  • Sabrina’s Play Studio– Indoor play space with climbing structure etc, entrance fee is per day too…
  • Playlab Kids Indoor Playground– Nice and clean space for <6 crowd…
  • Jungle Adventure NYC– A standard play spot in Whitestone…
  • Fun Galaxy– Local indoor space with 2 floors of fun for small kids…

BRONX

  • Bronx Children’s Museum– First ever children’s museum in Bronx…
  • Tots Playspace– Soft play area for infants and toddlers…
  • Billy Beez– In Bay Plaza. Large kids’ entertainment center in a mall…

STATEN ISLAND

  • Staten Island Children’s Museum– Clean and airy with lots to do inside and out…

WESTCHESTER

  • Westchester Children’s Museum– Small and more geared towards smaller kids, but has a beach near-by…
  • Pop In! Play Space and Cafe– Play place for toddlers with drop off available…

LONG ISLAND

  • Long Island Children’s Museum– Activities for toddlers to (early) teens in a former airplane hangar…
  • Cradle of Aviation– Lots of activities about the history of aviation suitable for children in a massive space… take teens here while toddlers visit the near-by LI Children’s Museum…
  • Nassau County Museum of Art– The Art Space for Children is great for kids in this art museum that also has grounds (with sculptures) around it for running around…
  • Long Island Explorium– Lively, nautical themed museum, fun and affordable, though on the smaller side…
  • Children’s Museum of the East End– Lot’s of fun, hands-on activities for tots if you happen to be in the Hamptons…
  • The Children’s Social Club– Modern space for kids 9 mo-6yrs old…
  • Planet Play– Space alien themed place with climbing structure and arcade…
  • Liddle Bites Play Cafe– Cute boutique-style place for young kids…

CONNECTICUT

  • The Children’s Museum– Small and fun place meant for younger kids in West Hartford… has an animal sanctuary too…
  • Stepping Stones Museum for Children– Educational with nice staff, check out the energy/water area… in Norwalk…
  • Lutz Children’s Museum– Manchester. Small and made for tots, but also has some live animals and a “shadow room”…
  • Niantic Children’s Museum– Niantic. More like an indoor play area for toddlers, but good for rainy days…
  • KidsPlay Children’s Museum– Torrington. Small, but well-run place with a small climbing wall too…
  • EverWonder Children’s Museum– Newtown. On the smaller side, but younger kids will have fun exploring different exhibits for a few hours for reasonable prices…
  • Kidcity Children’s Museum– Middletown. Themed exploration areas (like a pirate ship) for kids up to 7 years old…
  • The Institute for American Indian Studies Museum– Has a children’s discovery room for shorties to learn what life was like 600 yeas ago… plus a wigwam escape room…
  • Imagine Nation Museum– Instructor led experiences, rather than self-exploring, but offers some interesting family workshops…
  • It’s Playtime– Affordable, beautifully decorated and lots to do…
  • Kidz Klub– A few locations (Danbury, Milford, Trumbull), check their website. Nice clean play spaces for younger kids, they allow outside food too…

NEW JERSEY

  • Liberty Science Center– 4 floors of exhibits, plus a planetarium… fun/education focused, but can get pricey…
  • Sterling Hill Mining Museum– Tours of the mine that kids will love, including the fluorescent rocks… sluice for gems too…
  • Ripley’s Believe It or Not– Classic Atlantic City antics, but a good (if pricey) option to spend an hour or so…
  • The Jersey Explorer Children’s Museum– Art, history and science exhibits built and staffed by at risk youth at a somewhat shabby setting…
  • Monmouth Museum– Cute inside playground in addition to innovative and changing art exhibits. Good for a rainy day…
  • Hunterdon Art Museum– “Real art classes” and summer camps for kids in addition to contemporary art and design to look at this 19th century stone mill…
  • Children’s History Center of the Burlington County Historical Society– Great programming for kids and a cute little town around to boot…
  • TiLT Museum– Not strictly a children’s museum, but a 3D art house in the American Dream Mall that makes for some great photo-ops…
  • Imagine That!!!– Learning focused with a few climbing sets around, better for younger kids…
  • The Morris Museum– Like walking around in a life-size “slightly creeeppyy” musical box, plus a STEM-filled space for budding engineers…
  • Lily and Liam– Standard indoor playspace with a nice cafe…
  • Hudson’s House of Play– Smallish space set up like a village…
  • Funzy Play– A smaller size standard place for smaller kids…
  • Village Tree House– A cute small place for tots with great owners…
  • Princeton Playspace– Standard playspace with coffee and magazines for parents…
  • Tay & Te Imaginative Play– For kids under 3…
  • Bounce Safari– Indoor inflatable playground and party party place…
  • Paper Street Play– With structures for imaginative play that reflect the community…
  • The Great Story– 2 locations in Ridgefield and Hackensack. Spacious indoor playgrounds with kid’s cafes…
  • Kid and Caboodle Play– Morristown’s first kids play space…cafe for parents too…
  • Exceptional Explorers– A travel-themed play space…
  • The Village Play Cafe– Lots of toys and play houses to keep them entertained for awhile… coffee for parents too……
  • Xtreme Energy– Play spaceFor those who like to run, jump and climb…
  • Catch Air Indoor Playground– One of the bigger ones around…

UPSTATE NY

  • The Strong National Museum of Play– Near Rochester, but has the world’s largest collection of dolls, games and toys…
  • Farmer’s Museum– Museum for reenactments of 19th-century village life, plus craft demos, farm animals & a carousel…
  • The Children’s Museum at Saratoga– Designed for kids 7 and under with a series of playrooms…
  • Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum– Great for the younger set, with easy parking too…
  • The Discovery Center of The Southern Tier– In Binghamton, with 25+ interactive play exhibits and an outdoor story garden
  • Billy Beez– In Palisades Center. Large kids’ entertainment center in a mall…
  • TurtleBoo– Reasonably priced venue with mini-rides and lots of other fun in Rockland…

PENNSYLVANIA

  • The Bucks County Children’s Museum– Friendly and clean little space, good for kids 8 and under for a few hours…
  • Please Touch Museum– Spacious and aimed for kids 3-12… lots and lots to do with great staff…
  • Hands-on House, Children’s Museum of Lancaster– Roomy venue with some outside activities too…
  • Keystone Kidspace– Inside skateboards, plus lots of other STEM activities… cool space too…
  • Charming Star Playroom– ~4000 sq/f for ages 0-6… most seem to love it…

MORE/SIMILAR

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