Children’s Museum of Manhattan

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The first time a child visits CMOM, she might crawl through a giant mouth to learn about digestion. The next time, she could plop down for giggle-inducing guitar concerts, or join artisans leading hands-on pottery workshops. Eventually, she may even discover Chagall paintings and make her own mosaic abstracts. As kids grow up, the museum seems to grow with them. With close ties to New York Public Schools, corporate funders and the mainstream art world, this enormous institution is bigger, slicker and more crowded than most other children’s museums. Expensive, hi-tech interactive exhibitions focus on ubiquitous children’s books (Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, Frog and Toad) and visual artists popular with grown-ups (photographer William Wegman, collage artist Romare Bearden). Rather than cultivating a permanent collection, CMOM emphasizes temporary and rotating installations—the first and second floor main attractions stick around for one or two years, while the fourth floor and lower level exhibitions change every three and six months respectively. Whenever the trip, make a beeline for the Visitor’s Information Center, where you can register for one of the museum’s free daily drop-in classes (they fill up early) or get tickets to one of the theater performances. While the building is overrun with rowdy children during all hours of the day, weekends and weekday afternoons are especially rough. So the earlier you arrive, the better your chances of a happy visit.

Rent the whole museum or just one room; birthday party prices range from $860 to $1400 and include pizza, cake, leaders, and free same-day admission to the museum for all party guests. See their website or call for details.

Target Free First Friday Night
Friday-night dates are either impossible, too expensive (dinner plus babysitter equals steep), or just a thing of the past. Not so fast: Forget bedtime, and take the whole brood to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, which will stay open late for free. Okay, it’s underwritten by Target, and apparently there’s dancing with the Target dog (he has a name: Bullseye). But still! It’s a night out together! At an actual museum! Kids allowed! For free!