Best New Museum Exhibits for NYC Kids Winter 2013: 12 Awesome Installations for Families

Mugging it up at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial at the American Museum of Natural History'

An ancient Aztec marketplace at AMNH's Global Kitchen; photo: D. Finnin

Sperm whale and diver at AMNH's Whales: Giant of the Deep; photo: Brandon Cole, Romeo/V&W

Scale the rock wall at Brooklyn Children's Museum's Big Adventure

A child's self-portrait in CMA's Face to Face

Humpty-dumpty as imagined by Illustrator John Nickle at the 92nd Street Y

Play old-school video games at the Museum of the Moving Image's Spacewar!; photo: Sam Suddaby

A Tropical Paradise at the New York Botanical Garden; photo: Ivo M. Vermeulen

We love taking the kids to NYC's world-class museums at any time of year. But in the dead of winter, a trip to explore awesome and often interactive installations makes for a cool (yet warm) family outing.

We found a dozen fun exhibits that are worth checking out this season. From hands-on action at the Brooklyn Children's Museum's Big Adventure and Tony Hawk's Rad Science at the New York Hall of Science, to playable video games at the Museum of the Moving Image's Spacewar!, to an indoor tropical paradise at the New York Botanical Garden, to funky contemporary art at the Guggenheim's Gutai retrospective, here are the best museum exhibits for families this winter.

Our Global Kitchen– Upper West Side
American Museum of Natural History, 79th Street at Central Park West
Through Sunday, August 11
$25 for adults, $14.50 for children ages 2-12
My family and I recently saw this food-themed exhibit and we've been raving about it ever since. Farming, nutrition and trade; flavor and smell; even hunger, and the history and future of food are all given equal attention. My seven-year-old's favorite part was the virtual kitchen, where he could pretend to cook meals from different countries, and I loved the real working kitchen where chefs dole out free tastings. Coffee, cheese and pasta are all on the menu! While at AMNH, be sure to check out the refurbished dioramas in the Hall of North American Mammals and the recently opened Theodore Roosevelt Memorial.

Tropical Paradise – the Bronx
The New York Botanic Garden, 2900 Southern Boulevard
Through Sunday, February 24
Free with all-garden pass: $25 for adults, $15 for children ages 2-12
The garden's beautiful Victorian-style glass greenhouse is abloom with lush, colorful plants and flowers that are indigenous to warm weather climates in Africa, the Caribbean and South America. Kids can also go on a DIY Adventures in Adaptation scavenger hunt, which leads to the Everett Children's Adventure Garden where they can pot plants, do bark rubbings and create a nature notebook.

Spacewar! Video Games Blast Off – Astoria
Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35 Avenue between 36th and 37 Streets
Through Sunday, March 3
Free with admission: $12 for adults, $6 for children ages 3-12
We doubt you'll have to sell your kids on checking out an exhibit about video games. Spacewar! celebrates the first-ever animated video game (created 50 years ago!), the history of the genre and even features a real arcade stocked with classic and contemporary games like Asteroids and Space Invaders, plus titles by Atari, Nintendo and Game Boy.

John Nickle: Selected Illustrations, 1988-2012 – Upper East Side
92nd Street Y, Milton J. Weill Art Gallery, 1395 Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street
Through Monday, March 4
FREE
See more than 50 pieces by the esteemed children's illustrator, including original art from Ant Bully, Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?: And Other Notorious Nursery Tale Mysteries and Alphabet Explosion. The gallery's hours are erratic so be sure to check the website before you visit.

Drawing Surrealism – Murray Hill
The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue between 36th and 37th Streets
Through Sunday, April 21
Free with admission: $15 for adults, $10 for children ages 13-16, free for kids under 13
Best for tweens and teens, this exhibit features works by surrealist greats Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington and Joan Miró. Got younger kids? Visit on Saturday, February 9 when children ages 6 and up can try their hand at automatic drawing, frottage, collage, decalcomania and more with the help of museum educators.

10-Foot Cops: The NYPD's Mounted Unit – Upper West Side
Children's Museum of Manhattan, 212 West 83rd Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway
Through Monday, May 27
Free with admission: $11
On loan from the New York City Police Museum, which is still closed due to damage sustained during Hurricane Sandy, 10-Foot Cops celebrates the officers and horses that make up the NYPD's mounted unit. Kids can check out uniforms, archival photographs, training films and other artifacts, but the main attractions are a replica of a vintage NYPD horse stable and a mountable saddle, perfect for photo ops.

Tony Hawk | Rad Science – Corona
New York Hall of Science, 47 111th Street between 47th and 48th Avenues
Saturday, February 2-Monday, April 22
Free with admission: $11 for adults, $8 for children ages 2-17
Kids can explore scientific concepts like gravity, force, velocity and balance through virtual skateboarding, BMX biking and snowboarding activities. Developed in part by skateboard legend Tony Hawk, the exhibit features 25 interactive stations where children can balance on a stationary skateboard, go into a simulated free fall, play with a mini-tabletop skatepark and more. The museum will also host a series of special events to complement the exhibit, including two Skate Days when kids can take skateboarding clinics and even design their own boards.

Face to Face – Hudson Square
Children’s Museum of the Arts, 103 Charlton Street between Hudson and Greenwich Streets
Thursday, February 7-Sunday, June 9
Free with admission: $11
Explore 40 diverse self-portraits created by children from all over the world in a variety of mediums including painting, drawing and digital animation. Kids can explore texture, shape and sound at stations throughout the gallery, and even become part of the display by posing in the photo booth and seeing their images projected on the wall. In addition to daily drop-in activities, CMA will host special hands-on art workshops with the exhibit, and young artists are encouraged to submit their own self-portraits for possible inclusion in the museum's permanent collection.

Gutai: Splendid Playground – Upper East Side
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street
Friday, February 15-Wednesday, May 8
Free with admission: $22 for adults, free for children under age 12
Peruse 145 offbeat creations by Gutai, an avant-garde Japanese art collective from the 1950s and '60s. The artists in the group were incredibly inventive and worked in a wide variety of mediums including painting, conceptual art, experimental performance and film, installation art and more. Unlike most Guggenheim exhibits, Gutai will have experiential elements although we suspect most of the works will be hands-off.

The Big Adventure – Crown Heights
Brooklyn Children's Museum, 145 Brooklyn Avenue at St. Marks Avenue
Saturday, March 23-Sunday, September 15
Free with admission: $9
BCM's latest exhibit sounds like a sure-fire hit. Kids can ride a scooter, scale a wall, walk a balance beam, navigate tunnels and more, all while pretending they're on an amazing journey. So they get a real physical workout and a chance to use their imaginations. As always, the museum will host a number of special activities and events in conjunction with the exhibit so be sure to check the online calendar.

Whales: Giants of the Deep – Upper West Side
American Museum of Natural History, 79th Street at Central Park West
Sunday, March 23-Sunday, January 5, 2014
$25 for adults, $14.50 for children ages 2-12
My son has been obsessed with whales since he was three-years old, so we'll be checking out this exhibit on opening day! There will be dozens of whale skulls and skeletons on view (one is 58-feet long), and a life-size model of a heart that kids can crawl through. Other attractions include footage of New Zealand's whale riders and a log book from a New Bedford whaling ship circa 1830.

Shop Life – Lower East Side
Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 103 Orchard Street near Delancey Street
Permanent exhibit
$25 for adults, $20 for children
Last fall, the Tenement Museum added a new tour to its roster, Shop Life, which focuses on the businesses that thrived in the neighborhood during the 19th century. Children ages 12 and up can learn about immigrant commerce and tour a recreation of a period beer hall.

Looking to save money? Check out our list of free museum hours to find out when you can visit some of these institutions at no cost.

Find out about other great kid-friendly exhibits in our Museum Guide.