Museums

Last week we let you in on the best museum memberships for families, and now we're exploring more of New York City's great institutions--gardens and zoos. Learn about membership options, what perks and extras are offered, and everything else you need to know to figure out if it's worth it for you and your family. 

You want to take the kids to every cultural institution in this city, but those family-of-four trips to the MoMA and CMOM are starting to add up. You wonder if you should get a membership, if it’s worth it, or if you should just brave the crowds and go during the free times. We did the leg work for you and created a list of the top museums in New York City that offer family memberships, what perks you get and what you need to know to figure out if it's worth it for your family.

Insiders Tip: A bunch of these museums offer free weekly programs along with admission, plus other special events, so a membership gets you in to lots of free, wonderful children's programming.

[UPDATED 9/09] We've added some new classes to this post about free after-school programs and wanted to share it again. There are some great, high quality after school programs that are absolutely free. Here's a round-up of the best of the free after-school programs for kids and teenagers.

All Aboard!  Your train loving kid will flip over these trains--eight miles of miniature railway track, old fashioned train trips, a ride through the Allaire State Park and kid sized trains in parks.  Put away the that Thomas video and check out the real deal--bring your child (and your inner child) to the trains of New Jersey.

Four hundred years ago Henry Hudson and his Dutch ship, the Halve Maen ("Half Moon") arrived at what is now New York Harbor. This week, from September 8-13, NY400 celebrates the anniversary of Henry Hudson's historic voyage with a sea of events culminating in NY Harbor Day on Sunday, September 13th. NY400 Week gives New Yorkers a chance to immerse themselves in Dutch culture, New York history and lots of fun stuff long the way. Here are some highlights:

We've rounded up the greatest places for you to land with your kids in New Jersey.  These museums all guarentee an exhausted, satisfied, and thrilled kid.  And you may find yourself driving home with a smile on your face too.  You can all check out the IMAX theater, see the inflatable planetarium, do a science experiment, see the the mini zoo...let us reassure you that you will all be entertained all day.  As you drive home, they may even fall asleep, and you can put the radio on your station.  Bliss.  Thank you New Jersey.  You don't get enough credit.

New York City is full of art, sure, but taking kids to an art museum can either be totally cool or a total nightmare. I wanted to know what's going on this summer in the art scene that my kids will enjoy and not turn into a whine-fest. Who better to ask than Natasha Schlesinger. Natasha is the founder of ArtKids, classes that take children into NYC museums and galleries and makes looking at art fun, exciting and acccessible for kids ages 3 to 12.

Here are five recommendations for cool art outings in New York City this summer from the founder of ArtKids, Natasha Schlesinger.

We recently visited the newly renovated Sony Wonder Technology Lab and by the end of the visit this great venue had shot up to the top of our list of must visit spots for kids in New York City. The Sony Wonder Technology Lab has always been a great find, with free movie screenings and a fun children's museum with interactive exhibits. But the new renovation and exhibits leap-frog the Sony Wonder Technology Lab to the forefront of NYC children's museums for kids.

New York is full of great children's museums, but the Sony Wonder Technology Lab does one thing really, really well that none of the other children's museums in New York City currently do: it teaches kids about the stuff they want to learn about most, technology.

Are baby strollers allowed in New York City Musuems?  The answer can be tricky. While many allow strollers, some have limitations on where you can bring your stroller, or the type of stroller you can bring. once you've wrangled your stroller through the subway, you hardly want to arrive only to be turned away, so we've compiled a list of popular museums and their stroller policies. However, calling ahead is always a good idea since rules change or you can find out if any current exhibits are off limits. 

They've turned the beautiful, historic Park Avenue Armory into a new arts space and are eager to bring the arts to children and families. The Park Avenue Armory is hosting a FREE Family Arts Day and a multi-discipline, teaching artist-run workshop series for elementary school-aged students in conjunction with the Armory's first commissioned installation, anthropodino, a large-scale, participatory work by internationally renowned artist, Ernesto Neto.

Anthropodino is an "epic installation" and large scale interactive work using hundreds of yards of translucent material to form canopies and aromatic "fabric stalactites" and a vast labyrinth of passageways and rooms. The exhibit is enchanting for adults and children alike and touching is OK (phew).