New Yorkers take their pizza seriously. (Maybe it's just crust, sauce, and cheese...but it's also So. Much. More.) The Museum of Pizza, which opened October 13 and runs through November 18, treats its subject with all due respect, without missing out on opportunities for fun. There's no ball pit here (thank goodness), but there are lots of engaging, interactive elements for kids to enjoy.

Check out the pretty cool collection of pizza boxes at the entrance of the museum. 

In the museum's entrance, you can check out selections from the world's largest pizza box collection (which is much cooler than it sounds). Then learn about the history of pizza and its rise to fame with a holographic "guided tour" of oddball pizza facts and figures from a real NYC pizza historian. There are short pizza-inspired films and video pieces on view throughout the museum, some funny, some abstract.

RELATED: 35 Best Things to Do with Kids in Williamsburg

Pull the cheese strings in the Cheese Cave.

One of the Museum of Pizza's definite must-sees is the Cheese Cave by Caleb Gilbert and 11th Street Workshop, where kids can pull on dripping cheese-like stalactites and pretend to live in a cave made of cheese. Since most NYC kids already live in a cave made of toys and laundry, yours will probably feel like she's come home.

Crawl into a giant pepperoni pizza in the Say Cheese room. 

In the colorful Say Cheese room by Shawna X, kids can live their best lives and crawl right into a giant pepperoni pizza pie. (Heaven.) Some kids may be a bit creeped out by the Pizza Vortex room, in which flying objects seem to be getting sucked into a bottomless cheesy pizza pit. But if your kid's a fan of the 1971 Willy Wonka movie with Gene Wilder, this experience has some of that slightly menacing-but-silly vibe.

Because it's a pop-up museum in NYC, there's some inevitable embedded corporate branding...That said, the DiGiorno Pizza Playground is actually pretty fun. There's a pizza cornhole game to play, and a seesaw to ride in front of a giant pizza mural, where you can take a boomerang GIF that can be emailed to you later.

RELATED: Guide to New Domino Park Playground in Williamsburg

Explore pizza inspired sea creatures at Pizza Beach. 

Pizza Beach by Adam Green is a fun room for kids, too: There's space to run around and explore, and the characters and pizza-inspired sea creatures are interesting to study. Spend some time exploring the Psychedelic Pizza Parlor room, which features a $25,000 stuffed pizza called "Mystic Pizza” by artist Hein Ko, and a pizza guitar created by Andrew WK.

Williamsburg Pizza serves up free slices at the end of the experience. 

The Museum of Pizza experience ends in a pizza parlor where you and the kids can nosh on a slice, which is included with your ticket. Be warned: The only condiments here are ranch dressing and ranch-flavored powder, which pizza purists may hate...but your kids will probably love.

The Museum of Pizza is on view from October 13–November 18, 2018 in the William Vale Hotel at 55 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Timed-entry tickets are $35; children under 5 are FREE. We suggest visiting on a weekday after school for the best experience with young visitors.

All photos by Janet Bloom