When you’re planning a holiday with children, it can be tempting to look specifically for activities created for younger visitors, as though culture and discovering a different country aren’t really suited to them.
In reality, children and teenagers often love discovering new things, precisely because they’re naturally curious.
Of course, choosing museums that will genuinely hold their attention makes a difference, but there are plenty of options. This is particularly true in a city like New York, where you’ll find museums covering everything from dinosaurs and space travel to spies, public transport and art.
So, if you’re visiting the Big Apple with children or teenagers, here are some of the best museums in New York that are absolutely worth adding to your plans!
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History is a must-see for families visiting New York.
Its enormous collection has plenty to interest both adults and younger visitors, but its dinosaur halls are likely to be one of the biggest attractions for children. Here you can come face to face with fossils and mounted skeletons from some of the most famous dinosaurs ever discovered, including Tyrannosaurus rex, Apatosaurus and Stegosaurus
The dinosaur collection is far from the only reason to visit. The museum covers everything from mammals and human cultures to the oceans, biodiversity and the history of our planet.
One sight that tends to stop visitors in their tracks is the enormous blue whale model suspended above the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. At 94 feet long, it gives you some idea of the extraordinary size of the largest animal known to have lived on Earth.
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New York City Fire Museum
Have you got a child who dreams of becoming a firefighter? The New York City Fire Museum offers the chance to learn much more about the people, equipment and history behind one of New York’s most recognisable public services.
The museum is housed in a former firehouse in Manhattan and traces the development of firefighting in New York. Its collection includes historic firefighting equipment, uniforms, tools and vehicles, showing how the job has changed over the centuries.
It is also a chance for younger visitors to learn about fire safety while seeing the history of New York’s firefighters up close.
Brooklyn Children’s Museum
Brooklyn Children’s Museum is very different from the traditional image of a museum where you walk quietly between glass display cases.
Instead, it is built around hands-on play, experimentation and discovery, with interactive exhibits created specifically for younger visitors.
Children are encouraged to get involved rather than simply look. Exhibits combine sensory play, science, nature, art and everyday life, giving them plenty of opportunities to learn by doing.
World Brooklyn, for example, recreates child-sized shops inspired by businesses from across Brooklyn, while Totally Tots provides a sensory play environment designed specifically for the museum’s youngest visitors.
Children’s Museum of the Arts
The Children’s Museum of the Arts has changed considerably since its former museum space in Manhattan closed in 2022, so you can no longer visit it in the same way as a traditional museum.
Its work, however, continues through arts education, events, residencies and programmes for children, with the organisation focusing on giving young people opportunities to create and share their own artwork.
The idea behind the organisation remains centred on the relationship between art and childhood, encouraging children to see themselves as creators rather than simply spectators.
If you are interested in including one of its activities during a trip to New York, check the Children’s Museum of the Arts programme before you travel to see what events or projects are currently available.
Intrepid Museum
If your children are fascinated by aircraft, ships or space travel, the Intrepid Museum is likely to be high on their list.
What makes it particularly memorable is that the museum itself is centred around the USS Intrepid, a real aircraft carrier that served during the Second World War and later became a museum.
You can explore the aircraft carrier, see military aircraft at close range and climb aboard Growler, a former guided missile submarine. Access to the submarine is subject to restrictions, including a minimum height requirement.
The Space Shuttle Pavilion is another major attraction. It houses Enterprise, NASA’s prototype space shuttle orbiter, alongside exhibits exploring the history and technology of the Space Shuttle programme.
For children and teenagers interested in engineering, aviation or space, there is plenty here to keep them occupied for several hours.
New York Transit Museum
You probably use New York’s subway to get around the city, but have you ever wondered what it looked like more than 100 years ago?
The New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn is housed underground in a decommissioned 1936 subway station, making the setting almost as interesting as the collection itself.
Its platform stretches for an entire city block and contains a rotating collection of around 20 vintage subway and elevated railway cars, with some dating back to the early 20th century.
Rather than simply viewing them from behind a barrier, you can step aboard many of the historic carriages and see how New Yorkers travelled in previous generations. Children can also sit behind the wheel of a city bus and explore exhibits covering more than a century of public transport in New York.
It is an especially good museum for children who love trains, buses and anything that moves, but the museum also offers an unusual way for the whole family to learn more about the history of the city itself.
New York City Police Museum
The New York City Police Museum is dedicated to preserving and presenting the history of the New York City Police Department, with collections and exhibitions examining how policing in the city has changed over time.
Its collections have included historic uniforms, equipment and other objects connected with the history of the NYPD, as well as material documenting major events in New York’s history.
However, the museum is currently closed to visitors, with the NYC police museum’s official website advising people to check back for updates. If you are planning a future trip to New York, it is worth checking its current status before adding it to your itinerary.
Madame Tussauds New York
Want to take a photo with some of the biggest names in film, music, sport and popular culture? Madame Tussauds gives you the chance, or at least something very close to it.
The New York attraction is filled with lifelike wax figures of famous faces, and visitors are encouraged to get close, pose for photographs and interact with many of the displays.
Part of the fun is the staging. Rather than simply lining the figures up around a room, the attraction places them in themed settings designed to make photographs feel more convincing.
It’s a museum for children and teenagers who are more interested in celebrities, films, music and sport than traditional museum collections. It can provide a very different kind of afternoon in New York!
SPYSCAPE
Ever wondered how good you would be as a spy? SPYSCAPE is New York’s interactive espionage museum, where learning about real spies is combined with a series of challenges designed to test your own skills.
This is another attraction that feels very different from a conventional museum. As you make your way through the experience, you can learn about real espionage stories and equipment while completing challenges involving skills such as observation, decision-making and pattern recognition.
At the end, you receive your own Q Type spy profile, based on how you performed and responded during the experience.
SPYSCAPE is designed primarily for adults and teenagers, although children aged eight and over can also take part. Some of the challenges may be difficult for younger children, so it is particularly well suited to families travelling with older children or teenagers.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met, or Metropolitan Museum of Art, is one of New York’s great cultural institutions. Its collection brings together art and objects from cultures across the world, spanning thousands of years of human history.
A museum of this size can seem daunting with children, but you certainly don’t have to see everything in one visit. Choosing a few areas that match their interests can turn the museum into a chance to explore different places and periods rather than a long succession of galleries.
You might head for Ancient Egypt, explore art from Ancient Greece and Rome, look at medieval armour or discover objects created by cultures from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
For children and teenagers with a sense of curiosity, the Met can become a trip through thousands of years of history without ever leaving Manhattan.
