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Things to Do in Rochester With Kids
Thank you to the Strong National Museum of Play and the Rochester Museum & Science Center for hosting our family’s visit. All opinions are my own.

While planning a trip over the Fourth of July to visit my uncle in Amherst, Massachusetts solo with three kids, I knew that I would want to split up the nine hour drive from Cleveland. A few weeks before our trip, I heard an advertisement on a local radio station for the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester. I am not one who is easily swayed by advertisements of any sort, but we love museums, and one with the words “strong” and “play” really piqued my interest. Even though I’d never actually been to downtown Rochester, I thought to myself that the next time we drive through New York, we’ll have to check it out. Because Rochester is roughly halfway between Cleveland and Amherst, our visit to the Strong occurred much quicker than I ever imagined. We also planned a stop at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, and our five hour visit to Rochester was an ideal pit stop. There are a surprising number of things to do in Rochester with kids for families driving across the New York turnpike or otherwise visiting the city. We would definitely stop in Rochester again.

Museums in Rochester, New York

#1: Strong National Museum of Play

The Strong National Museum of Play is located in downtown Rochester and regularly considered one of the country’s top children’s museums. It’s definitely our favorite. The Strong Museum opened in 1982 and was initially based on the personal collection of Margaret Woodbury Strong, a philanthropist who was an avid collector of toys. The Strong features 100,000 square feet of exhibit space and the most colorful museum exterior that I’ve ever seen. With so many exhibits in this enormous museum, make sure to pick up a Strong Museum map at the front desk.

The Strong National Museum of Play exterior

Field of Play Exhibit at the Strong Museum

We started at the Field of Play exhibit, which includes hundreds of creative play activities and artifacts. The kids particularly enjoyed the drag racer simulator and the rock wall.

Drag racing

My kids really have never met a rock wall they haven’t wanted to climb. We have a tiny one on our back yard playset. The rock wall at the Strong was distinctive because the holds consisted of letters, numbers and animals.

Climbing the Rock Wall

There was also an exaggerated perspective room that made me feel nauseous, but my four year old dragged me back into it several times. Of course, parental supervision in the room was required. My boys have never had more fun with a puff of air than directing one through a cannon at a target. I honestly think my kids could have spent an hour in this exhibit alone. But, we knew we were short on time and had so many other things to see.

Directing a puff of air at the target

Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street Exhibit

Although my kids have never been regular Sesame Street watchers, they know all the characters. We were excited for the Sesame Street exhibit, and I couldn’t resist a photo opportunity with the 123 Sesame Street stoop. Even though the doors did not actually open, my four year old daughter was excited to stop by. This exhibit includes many Sesame-themed opportunities for imaginative play, including the Cookie Monster Foodie Truck.

The iconic 123 Sesame Street stoop

Wegmans Super Kids Market Exhibit at the Strong Museum

The Wegmans Super Kids Market exhibit was a realistic grocery store recreation. As we entered, the kids were instructed to get a cart, pretend to be shoppers and pick five items. Then, they transformed into the check out clerks to ring up their items and when they were done, they got to restock their items. While the kids were shopping, I remembered my sister raving about a grocery store exhibit she visited at a children’s museum a few years ago and wondered if it was at the Strong (it was!). I did not remember her museum recommendation and am pretty sure that she did not describe the museum with the words “strong” or “play” like the radio advertisement.

Checking out the produce

While our kids have played at many mini-grocery stores in other children’s museums, botanical gardens and science museums, this Wegmans one upped every other grocery store exhibit due to its realistic size and its cash registers that printed accurate receipts.

Accurate receipt

National Toy Hall of Fame at the Strong Museum

The National Toy Hall of Fame was established in 1998 and moved to the Strong in 2002. As we entered the National Toy Hall of Fame, I felt as if I was walking into one of the Toy Story movies. It was hard to pry my daughter away from the Big Wheel-powered ramp. I think the big wheel I had as a small child looked very much like this red and yellow model.

Big wheel at the Strong

The National Toy Hall of Fame inductees include iconic toys like Clue, Jack-in-the-Box, playing cards, hula hoop, LEGO, paper airplane and my favorite, the cardboard box. The exhibited toys on the second floor were more of a walk down memory lane of favorite toys from my childhood and many were foreign to my kids.

World Video Game Hall of Fame at the Strong Museum

The World Video Game Hall of Fame opened at the Strong in 2015, and currently, 24 games have been inducted. The Strong also includes eGameReveolution, a giant video arcade room featuring historic and current video games. I purchased a few dollars’ worth of tokens, and not surprisingly, my kids loved trying out the video games.

Winner!

My daughter’s video game experience is really minimal, but she played several rounds of Space Invaders, each with a little more excitement than the last.

Intense game of Space Invaders

Another walk down memory lane came with the Pong exhibit. Pong was our family’s first video game. My brother bought it at a rummage sale in the mid-1980s, and we connected it to our console television in the center of our living room and played for hours. Pong was one of the earliest video games and simulates table tennis. Players use knobs to move their paddle in a game that reminds me of Brick Breaker that I used to be addicted to on my Blackberry. It’s only a matter of time before my iPhone X looks as much as an antique as Pong does now, right?

Pong

Other Exhibits at the Strong Museum

My kids fully explored the Imagination Destination, and my daughter particularly enjoyed the role playing opportunities. All three got involved with constructing a shingle roof. One History Place gave them an opportunity to step back into the 19th century, and my son played on the parlor piano. Fairy tales and children’s literary classics came alive in Reading Adventureland. My daughter excitedly identified each of the scenes in the Fairy Tale Forest and then took off to explore the shipwreck of Adventure Island. We ended our visit with a ride on the Elaine Wilson Carousel.

Aquarium

The Strong Museum With Older Kids

While much of the Strong Museum is geared for kids eight and under, older children and adults appreciate the National Toy Hall of Fame and World Video Game Hall of Fame. My nine and eleven year old boys would not have spent so long on the first floor if their four year old sister was not with them. They followed her through the museum and played with her, but with slightly less exuberance than she had. My older kids and I thought that the enormous and colorful picture window was pretty impressive, but my daughter was much more interested in playing. We highly recommend a visit to the Strong.

Colorful picture window
- The Strong Museum Hours: The Strong Museum is generally open Mondays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. In 2019, the Strong Museum is closed on October 25, November 28 and December 25.
- The Strong Museum Tickets: As of July 2019, Strong Museum admission costs $16 for visitors age two and older. Children under age two are free.
- The Strong Museum Parking: Free parking is available in an adjacent surface lot.
- Time Spent at the Strong Museum: We spent two and a half hours at the Strong Museum and would have stayed longer if we had not planned to visit the Rochester Museum and Science Center on the same day.
#2: Rochester Museum and Science Center

We proceeded from the Strong to the Rochester Museum & Science Center, a science, natural history and local history museum under one roof in downtown Rochester. It was very easy to travel from the Strong to the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Both have free, adjacent parking lots, and the drive between the two museums was only about five minutes. Visiting these two museums on the same day is a great way to combine imaginative and scientific play. We arrived about 90 minutes before closing and made sure to explore as much as we could.

Rochester Museum & Science Center exterior

The Rochester Museum & Science Center is a member of the ASTC Travel Passport Program. Like many science centers, there are many hands-on exhibits that my kids had fun exploring. We started in the AdventureZone exhibit on the ground level. My sons found the second rock wall of the day.

More rock wall fun

My daughter immediately headed to the puppet show area and started planning her performance.

Puppet show

Wholly Mammoth skeleton

The Rochester Museum and Science Center is unique because it combines a natural history, local history and science. There is not only a taxidermy exhibit featuring a gigantic wholly mammoth skeleton but also several exhibits that focus on the local history of Rochester and Western New York.

While museums often consist of a series of dark and windowless rooms, the Rochester Museum and Science Center has two large exhibit areas, the Patricia F. Hale Hands-On Gallery and the Reidman Gallery. Each gallery features large windows on three sides. The natural sunlight made the space naturally cheerful, and we returned to these exhibit areas several times.

Science fun

The kids gleefully darted from one exhibit to the next, trying to fit in as many science experiments as they could.

STEM learning

The kids’ favorite part of the Rochester Museum and Science Center was the Inventor Center, a hands on “maker space” where my three kids worked together to construct a car to deliver supplies to people trapped in a mountain pass. The kids planned, built and then enhanced the car and managed to pass the challenge just as the Inventor Center was closing.

The finished vehicle

We did not have enough time to visit the adjacent Strasenburgh Planetarium, but definitely have that on the list for our next visit to Rochester. The Rochester Museum and Science Center is a great place for hands on science and history learning.

Strasenburgh Planetarium
- Rochester Museum and Science Center Hours: The Rochester Museum and Science Center is generally open on Mondays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on July 4, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
- Rochester Museum and Science Center Tickets: Rochester Museum and Science Center admission costs $15 for adults, $14 for seniors and college students and $13 for children ages 3 to 18. Kids under three are free.
- Rochester Museum and Science Center Parking: Free parking is available in an adjacent surface lot.
- Time Spent at the Rochester Museum and Science Center: We spent only about 90 minutes because of closing time.
Where to Eat in Rochester

#1: The French Quarter

We all really worked up an appetite with our museum exploration. We left the Rochester Museum and Science Center when it closed at 5:00 p.m. and headed straight to French Quarter, which was advertised as the best Cajun and Creole food in Rochester. My husband and I have visited New Orleans several times, including an April 2019 trip to Jazz Fest. While my kids have never been, we drag them to Cajun restaurants when we travel, and enjoyed a delicious meal at MudBugs in Sanibel this Spring. It’s no secret that we all love Cajun and Creole cuisine. We also loved the authentic New Orleans architecture and the bright red door.

Arriving at the French Quarter

Because it opened right as the Rochester Museum and Science Center closed, we were the first diners, but four or five other tables filled up while we ate. Our meal was tasty and served quickly. We were back on the road by 6 p.m. headed for our final destination of the evening, a hotel near Oneida, New York.

Traditional New Orleans architecture and art

#2: Tom Wahl’s

On our drive back from Amherst, we stopped again in Rochester for lunch. My parents suggested Tom Wahl’s for wahlburgers, gourmet hamburgers. While I don’t eat beef, my kids almost always enjoy a good cheeseburger but had one too many over our long weekend and opted for chicken instead. It was better than the average food court option! We stopped at the nearby Lands’ End Outlet before getting back on the road for home.

Home of the Wahlberger’s

Rochester With Kids

Our visit to Rochester was planned as a pit stop on our road trip to Amherst, Massachusetts and was an unexpected surprise. The Strong Museum and the Rochester Museum and Science Center both offer fun, hands-on learning enjoyable for both parents and kids. We would definitely recommend a trip to Rochester with kids!
August 10, 2019
Heritage Farm in Huntington, West Virginia
Guest Blogger: Clayton is a writer, editor, and devoted family man. A proud husband, father, and grandfather, Clayton enjoys running and cycling in his spare time and is also devoted to supporting literacy and arts programs in his hometown of Worthington, Ohio. Clayton and his wife enjoy taking trips with their children and grandchildren, including a recent vacation in Perth, Australia. To learn more about Clayton, visit his website, Clay Writes.

Appalachia

By Muriel Miller Dressler

I am Appalachia. In my veins
Runs fierce mountain pride; the hill-fed streams
Of passion; and, stranger, you don’t know me!
You’ve analyzed my every move–you still
Go away shaking your head. I remain
Enigmatic.

These opening lines from Muriel Miller Dressler’s poem “Appalachia” are true in some ways. To people who don’t live there, Appalachia can feel remote, strange, perhaps even sad. But these feelings will be swept away like a leaf in a mountain stream after a visit to Heritage Farm Museum and Village. Nestled in a small valley outside of Huntington, West Virginia, Heritage Farm offers visitors a taste of Appalachian history and culture, fun and education for children and a variety of child-friendly activities.

Heritage Farm dates back to 1973, when avid antiquarians Mike and Henriella Perry moved from Huntington to a farmhouse just outside the city. The Perrys used a nearby barn to house their growing collection of antiques and artifacts. Everything they added to their collection – whether it was an old appliance, a piece of farm equipment, or a vintage motor vehicle – tied in with everyday life in Appalachia from the 19^th century to the present. The Farm, which opened to the public in 2006, has added other attractions over the years, including a petting zoo, several museums, cabins that provide overnight accommodations, and authentic period structures that reflect Appalachia’s past. My wife and I have visited Heritage Farm three times, most recently for a weekend in mid-June with our children and grandchildren.

Wall Mural in the MakerSpace Building

Heritage Farm Lodging

There are seven “inns” at the farm (one is actually a barn, another a caboose) with quaint-sounding names. On our first trip, my wife and I stayed with another couple at the Applebutter Inn. This time, we divided our extended family of 16 between the Strawberry and Blackberry Inns. Outside the latter was a small but well-maintained swimming pool with comfortable patio furniture around it. The rules for the pool were simple: no glass, food, running, or diving, and guests swim at their own risk.

Blackberry Inn and pool

The air-conditioned inns themselves are fairly spacious and have all the conveniences of modern living with the exception of television and computers. There are no landline telephones either, but in this age of cell phones, they aren’t likely to be missed. (Cell phone reception is generally good all around the Farm.)

Heritage Farm Petting Zoo

There is so much to see at Heritage Farm that it can be hard to decide what to see first. I would recommend the Petting Zoo as a good place to start, especially for families with children. Some of the zoo’s denizens, like Rainbow the Peacock, are not suitable for direct contact, but others like Moby Duck, Leonard the Turtle, Penelope Pig, Oreo the Rabbit, and Kit Kat the Goat are ready to make friends with visitors. These animals are used to being petted and are not startled when they feel the touch of human hands. Even so, there are volunteers who will bring the animals out of their pens and hold them still while children become better acquainted with them. An aluminum roof covers the petting zoo, so a rainstorm does not have to interrupt the fun.

Moby Duck

Heritage Farm Museums

Once finished with the petting zoo, visitors frequently decide to make their way through the different museums at the Farm. There are no less than seven of them, each housed in a single building and each with a different theme. Four, in particular, will provide both fun and learning opportunities to children.

The Progress Museum highlights inventions, communication devices, and consumer goods that have improved the daily lives of Appalachians since the mid-19^th Century. A series of vignettes using mannequins shows the changes that one might see in an Appalachian kitchen from one generation to the next. The Progress Museum also has a 1920s diner, a miniature carnival made out of tin scraps, and an elaborate model railroad with little locomotives chugging around hills and through tunnels.

Historic Model Kitchen in the Progress Museum

The Bowes Doll and Carriage Museum gives visitors much more than just a collection of figurines. The beautifully crafted dolls, which Don and Connie Bowes gifted to the museum, are presented in realistic household surroundings. Look through one window, and see dolls wearing period outfits, seated at a table in an ornate dining room. Look through another and see them playing with their toys in a bedroom complete with a dresser, canopied bed, and pictures on the wall. There are outdoor scenes, too, where dolls stroll down the street and push baby carriages holding dolls of their own.

What was it like to be a kid in Appalachia 100 years ago? Young visitors to Heritage Farm can find out in the Children’s Activity Museum. In this unique setting, children simulate churning butter, pumping water, collecting eggs, and even milking an artificial cow. And if the “work” wears them out, they can sit at a desk in a one-room Schoolhouse Museum and perhaps better appreciate the advantages they enjoy in a modern classroom.

The other museums, although perhaps more oriented to adults, also offer items of interest to children. The Transportation Museum, for example, has an array of old cars as well as an airplane suspended from the ceiling. For its part, the Industry Museum features a walk-through coal mine while the Heritage Museum has an old-time barbershop. We got to watch a shopkeeper sweep his floor with an early model vacuum cleaner in the Country Store Museum.

In addition to the museums, the Farm’s MakerSpace building offers young people a plethora of opportunities for hands-on learning. The MakerSpace is sponsored by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Here, kids and their parents can sit at a variety of tables and try crocheting, drawing, building with Legos, creating electrical circuits, and other self-guided activities. While they work, kids can learn American history from an enormous brightly colored mural that runs around the inside of the MakerSpace building. The mural chronicles key cultural and historical events in the U.S. from Pearl Harbor to 9/11 and presents images of key figures who, for better or worse, shaped American life over that time.

Playing with Legos in the MakerSpace building
- Heritage Farm MakerSpace Hours: MakerSpace is open on Saturdays from May through December and on Wednesdays from June through September from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Heritage Farm Historic Buildings

Paralleling the museums are the Farm’s replicas of historic buildings. These include a blacksmith shop and a log church. At most of these places – and in the museums, too – volunteers are ready to answer questions and perform demonstrations. Visitors with good timing can see the blacksmith make a knife in his forge or watch a shopkeeper.

Heritage Farm – Six Simple Machines Discovery Zone

After the museums, the petting zoo, and the historic buildings, children might enjoy some less-structured activities. If so, they can head to the Six Simple Machines Discovery Zone, easily found by the windmill located in the middle. In this discovery zone, kids can perform simple tasks that will clarify the importance of pulleys, levers, inclined planes, and other simple machines. If kids need even more independence, they can grab some nets with handles at the Visitors Center and go hunting for minnows and crayfish in the creek that runs through the farm. It’s okay for these water critters to be caught and put in buckets – as long as they are returned to their habitat when the hunt is over.

At some point during their time at Heritage Farm, visitors might want to get a view of the farm’s outlying areas. If so, they should keep an eye out for Audy Perry and his tractor. Audy, the son of the Farm’s founders, will load people up in one of several wagons and haul them around the Farm’s perimeter. Among other things, they’ll cross a covered bridge and see some larger animals like Marco the Bison who aren’t part of the petting zoo. Be advised that this ride can get pretty bumpy sometimes, especially when the wagons rumble across the bridge. Expectant mothers may want to think twice before climbing on to a wagon. Be advised, too, that Audy may bombard visitors with a series of farm-related puns. So be ready to groan.

Oreo the Rabbit

Heritage Farm Logistics
- Heritage Farm Hours: Heritage Farm hours vary by season. Consult their website when planning a visit.
- Heritage Farm Tickets: Heritage Farm admission costs $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $8 for children. Visitors two and under are free.
- Parking at Heritage Farm: Parking shouldn’t be a problem. There’s a large open-field lot just to the left of the main entrance. If that lot is full, more parking space is available at the western end of the farm.
- Dining at Heritage Farm: For dining, Heritage Farm Cafe is located in the Visitors Center. The cafe is open from 11-2, Monday through Saturday and offers an array of sandwiches, side dishes, and beverages at reasonable prices. One of their specialties is lemonade sweetened by brown sugar.
Before leaving Heritage Farm, visitors can comment on their experience in a journal that can be found near the entrance to their Inn. And as they leave, they may find Appalachia to no longer be an enigma, but rather an inviting place they will want to visit again. Heritage Farm Village and Museum is really a gateway to America’s rural past and much more.
July 19, 2019
Best Free London Museums For Kids
London may not be known as a budget city for travelers but offers seemingly infinite free attractions. In addition to iconic landmarks like Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Nelson’s Column, Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace, there are many free museums, including four that are among the world’s top ten most visited museums each year. Exhibits in these museums include the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon frieze, Apollo 10, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Darwin’s specimens, the world’s largest portrait collection and the remains of the London Wall from about 200 A.D. With so much variety, there really are free museums in London for everyone. Our family barely scratched the surface of London’s museums during our three trips there with kids but have been lucky to visit a few of London’s amazing museums as a family without paying any admissions fees. To round out our list, we asked some fellow travel bloggers for recommendations for the best free London museums for kids:

Free Museums in South Kensington

#1: London’s Natural History Museum

My kids really enjoy natural history and have visited natural history museums in Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. London’s Natural History Museum definitely did not disappoint. The cathedral-like building in South Kensington is stunning, and we were greeted by Dippy, a diplodocus skeleton featured in Hitze Hall, the main hall of the museum. This dinosaur reminded us of Sue, the T-Rex featured in the Field Museum’s main hall. We were excited to learn that the cast of Dippy was a gift from Andrew Carnegie at the request of Edward VII. Since our visit to London, we’ve seen the original skeleton on display at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Replacing iconic main hall dinosaurs seems to be a recent trend in natural history museums. Just as Sue was replaced at the Field Museum with a cast of Maximo, a titanosaur, and the world’s largest dinosaur skeleton in 2018, Dippy was replaced with Hope, a blue whale’s skeleton in 2017. While Dippy was quite a centerpiece, one of the biggest takeaways from our trip to London’s Natural History Museum was that the blue whale is the world’s largest animal. So, my boys would probably approve of the change. Admittedly, it must be easier to photograph Hope, who is suspended from the ceiling, without getting scores of other visitors in the shot as we found when trying to photograph Dilly. We can’t wait to see Hope, whose installation is shown on this time-lapse video.

The Dinosaur Gallery one-ups the other dinosaur exhibits we have visited by adding animatronics. The enormous animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex is the highlight of the exhibit. Visitors stand in a line (which is known as a queue in London) that eventually inches past the T-Rex.

The Natural History Museum was originally designed to house the British Museum’s natural history collection, particularly Charles Darwin’s samples, so there are plenty of animal specimens. My younger son got up close and personal with the lion exhibit. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and highly recommend London’s Natural History Museum for kids of all ages.
- London’s Natural History Museum Admission: There is no general admission to visit London’s Natural History Museum, but some temporary exhibits do require an admission fee.
- London’s Natural History Museum Hours: London’s Natural History Museum is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:50 p.m.
- Closest Underground Stop to London’s Natural History Museum: South Kensington
#2: London’s Science Museum

Kids who have a passing interest in space travel, experiments, technology or transport would love London’s Science Museum. It’s the best London museum for kids, and visitors can explore free exhibits including some of the most iconic objects created over the past 250 years – from Apollo 10 to the first Apple computer as well as the first submarine. While the Museum is free, visitors can also purchase tickets for the WonderLab to take part in live experiments at the Chemistry Bar or watch 3D IMAX movie features on space travel and natural phenomena. The Science Museum is a great place to visit on a cold and rainy day thanks to the play area for smaller kids on the lower level.
- London’s Science Museum Admission: There is no general admission to visit London’s Science Museum, but donations are welcome, and tickets are required for special exhibits and the IMAX cinema.
- London’s Science Museum Hours: The Science Museum is generally open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily and closed December 24-26.
- Closest Underground Stop to London’s Science Museum: South Kensington
Recommended by Katy Clarke from Untold Morsels. Find out more from Katy about 3 days in London.

#3: Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum, one of South Kensington’s Big Three free museums, is purely dedicated to art and design. It’s not as immediately child-friendly as its neighbors, the Natural History Museum and Science Museum. There are no dinosaurs or flight simulators here, but it does have daily free activities and events for children. Kids age 5 to 12 can borrow a backpack of activities to help them explore the Museum’s while paper trails and hands-on discovery areas help to bring the exhibits to life. Pop-up performances and making sessions appear on weekends and school holidays, too. But another important feature is the John Madejski Garden, an outdoor courtyard in the heart of the Museum. On sunny days, families gather around the pond to eat packed lunches and relax or purchase ice-cream and refreshments in the Garden Café. If it’s a less sunny day, the V&A’s main café is a historic work of art in its own right!

Photo Credit Mummy Travels
- Victoria and Albert Museum Admission: There is no general admission to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum, but there is a separate admission charge for some exhibitions and events, which may require advance booking.
- Victoria and Albert Museum Hours: The Victoria & Albert Museum is generally open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Fridays. The Victoria & Albert is closed December 24-26.
- Closest Underground Stop to the Victoria and Albert Museum: South Kensington
Recommended by Nancy from Map and Family. Find out more from Nancy about the things to do with teens in London.

Free Museums in Trafalgar Square

#4: London’s National Gallery

London’s National Gallery is located in Trafalgar Square and houses a relatively small collection of about 2,300 paintings, almost all are world-famous and on permanent display. The National Gallery is the fourth most visited art museum in the world with over six million visitors annually. The Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum are the only more popular art museums.

The Gallery’s entrances are located off of Trafalgar Square. We used the side entrance, which is more stroller friendly than the beautiful main entrance. Our focus was the Impressionist Gallery that holds some of the world’s most famous paintings by Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir and Vincent Van Gogh. Monet’s paintings on exhibit here include Gare St. Lazare and The Water-Lily Pond. Van Gogh’s Sunflowers is one of the most recognizable paintings on exhibit. Van Gogh only created about 800 oil paintings in his life, including several variations of these sunflowers. Similar versions are displayed in the Van Gogh Museum and Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art, which purchased Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers for about $40 million in 1987, which was a record at the time. When considering those amounts, it’s hard to believe that Van Gogh relied on his brother for financial support during his lifetime.

Our budding artist was very interested in Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

Our boys were particularly fascinated by Georges Seurat’s massive Bathers at Asnières. Seurat masterfully uses pointillism, a painting technique that uses small, distinct dots of varying colors to form an image. It’s much harder to see how the patterns of dots form an image when observing the painting up close, and the boys learned to step back to see the image more clearly. While we were not able to explore the entire National Gallery, this is definitely a museum that we could visit again and again.
- London’s National Gallery Admission: There is no general admission to visit the National Gallery, but some temporary exhibits do require an admissions fee.
- London’s National Gallery Hours: London’s National Gallery is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily and from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Fridays. The National Gallery is closed on January 1 and December 24-26.
- Closest Underground Stops to London’s National Gallery: Charing Cross and Leicester Square
#5: London’s National Portrait Gallery

When London’s National Portrait Gallery opened in 1856, it was the world’s first portrait gallery. The National Portrait Gallery now contains the world’s most extensive portrait collection with approximately 200,000 works. The collection most notably includes portraits of important, famous and royal Brits, including members of the royal family, celebrities, politicians, artists and writers. Visitors have the chance to view history through portraits, photographs and sculptures arranged chronologically from 1500s to modern-day.

King Henry VIII is one of the most infamous Brits and is featured in the center of the bottom row below. After their visit to the Tower of London, our boys were particularly excited to check out this royal portrait wall.

We loved learning about history and art at London’s National Portrait Gallery and recommend it for all family travelers.
- London’s National Portrait Gallery Admission: There is no general admission fee to visit London’s National Portrait Gallery, but some temporary exhibits do require an admissions fee.
- London’s National Portrait Gallery Hours: London’s National Portrait Gallery is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Fridays. The National Gallery is closed on December 24-26.
- Closest Underground Stops to London’s National Portrait Gallery: Charing Cross and Leicester Square
Free Museums in Bloomsbury

#6: British Museum

The British Museum allows visitors to journey through time and around the world, without leaving London. While most people visit for the Ancient Egyptian exhibit and to see the Rosetta stone, there’s much more. Visitors can use the regular audio-guide for a more formal experience or the interactive family guide to play games throughout the Museum. With either guide, everyone will love learning about the burial rituals of Egypt, seeing hundreds of natural history specimens in the library and looking up at the Maori from the mysterious Easter Island. This is a museum where visitors could spend days properly discovering it all or skim the surface in only a few hours.

Image by Tasos Lekkas from Pixabay.
- British Museum Admission: There is no admission charge for the British Museum.
- British Museum Hours: The British Museum is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. The British Museum is closed on January 1 and December 24-26.
- Closest Underground Stations to the British Museum: Barbican and St. Paul’s
Recommended by Kyla from Where Is The World.

#7: Museum of London

The Museum of London is a fascinating and beautifully presented introduction to the city itself. It is located north of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and its permanent galleries describe a timeline from prehistory to the present day, and special temporary exhibitions take angles – recent and current examples range from the story of London’s secret rivers to the impact that animals from lions to bees have had in the city’s story. We learned that London was the richest and most populous city in the world one century ago.

My kids were of course fascinated by the disgusting “Fatberg!” story of London’s sewer blockage, and my husband loves the Museum mostly because it is in the Barbican, which is either a wonderful icon of architectural history or the most repugnant set of concrete tower-blocks on the planet, depending on the viewer.
- Museum of London Admission: There is no admission charge for the Museum of London.
- Museum of London Hours: The Museum of London is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- Closest Underground Stations to the Museum of London: Barbican and St. Paul’s
Recommended by Ania from The Travelling Twins.

Free Museums in the South Bank

#8: Tate Modern

The Tate Modern is the sixth most visited art museum in the world and houses modern and contemporary art from the 20th and 21st centuries in a former power station. Unlike most art museums, which are presented chronologically, the Tate Modern is organized by themes. We last visited in 2015, and a 10-story addition opened two years later in 2017.

Displays change frequently, and many exhibits come from the Tate Collection, which includes the United Kingdom’s national collection of British Art. The expansive Turbine Hall can showcase large-scale work. London’s Tate Modern is an extremely kid-friendly art museum. The website has a special page dedicated to visiting families that explicitly states that women are welcome to nurse wherever they feel comfortable – which is exactly what I did while the boys explored the interactive building area.

Amazing interactive building exhibit

The view of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Thames and the Millennium Bridge from the balcony should not be missed. The Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian bridge that was completed in 2000 to connect the Tate Modern to St. Paul’s Cathedral, but an unexpected sway required it to close almost as soon as it was opened and undergo almost two more years of additional modifications.
- Tate Modern Admission: There is no general admission to the Tate Modern, but donations are welcome.
- Tate Modern Hours: The Tate Modern is generally open Sundays through Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily and Fridays and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
- Closest Underground Stop to the Tate Modern: Southwark and St Paul’s
Free Museum in Forest City

#9: Horniman Museum and Gardens

Opened in 1901, the Horniman Museum and Gardens in Southeast London is a brilliant free and child-friendly museum. The Horniman houses artifacts procured by Frederick John Horniman on his world travels in the 19th century. Aside from the aquarium and special exhibitions, all galleries and parks are free to enter.

Toddlers will love the music room where they can beat African drums and experiment with unusual Asian instruments. The main gallery contains hundreds of taxidermy animals from across the world. Children especially adore the famous gigantic stuffed walrus. It’s an amazing place to learn about other cultures and to inspire a love of nature.

Every day, free workshops for children are offered to those who register at the front desk. The attached Horniman Gardens are beautiful with views over London, farm animals, a music laboratory for children and a stunning conservatory. In the summer, it’s easy to spend a whole day in the museum and gardens.
- Horniman Museum and Gardens Admission: There is no admission charge for the Horniman Museum and Gardens.
- Horniman Museum and Gardens Hours: The Horniman Museum is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and closed December 24-26. The Horniman Garden closing times vary by season.
Recommended by Kirsty from World for a Girl.

Free Museums in Chelsea

#10: Saatchi Gallery

My favorite place to visit whenever we’re in London is the Saatchi Gallery on King’s Road. This area is great with its many restaurants and upscale shopping, and it’s the perfect place to house a contemporary art gallery. I find that modern art is easier to keep the kids’ attention than the more traditional galleries, it’s bigger, brighter and sometimes they can touch it! My daughter loves visiting the Saatchi as much as I do to see its ever-changing exhibits.

The Saatchi sometimes holds child friendly workshops and talks, their ethos is to make modern art accessible to all so children are very welcome. Previous exhibits have included Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, and the Saatchi in constantly showcasing, new, little known artists. Just think, it’s possible to introduce kids to the next big thing in the art world! Some exhibits are not so child friendly so I would check the website before visiting and avoid these areas. Most exhibits are not roped off so keep an eye on young children to ensure they’re not touching the artwork although some pieces are interactive such as the multimedia installations.

Because the rooms are spacious and clean, it’s easy to get around the Saatchi with a stroller. There’s also a lovely open space at the front of the Gallery for the kids to burn off some energy either before or after a visit.
- Saatchi Gallery Admission: There is no general admission to the Tate Modern, but donations are welcome.
- Saatchi Gallery Hours: Generally open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Closest Underground Stop to the Saatchi Gallery: Sloan Square
Recommended by Karen from Are We There Yet Kids.

So Many Amazing Free London Museums for Kids

When considering a family trip to London, remember that many of the most popular attractions are free to visit, including London’s museums of art, science and history. This London museums list can create the perfect family itinerary for London. Also check out our posts on Planning a Trip to London With Kids, the Best Places to Visit in England With Kids, Top Attractions in London for Families, Best London Parks With Kids and the Tower of London with Kids.
June 18, 2019
Spotlight: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with Kids (Washington, DC)

Chartered by a unanimous act of Congress in 1980 and located adjacent to the National Mall, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America’s national institution for documenting, studying, and interpreting the Holocaust. Open daily from 10am – 5:30pm (closed Yom Kippur and Christmas), I recently visited the museum (without kids) and was delighted to find that one of the exhibits, “Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story,” is an ideal way to expose young elementary age children to the horrors of the Holocaust.

Growing up in Los Angeles, I distinctly remember visiting the Museum of Tolerance shortly after its opening in February of 1993. As a child of approximately 10 years of age, I remember the weeks leading up to our visit that our curriculum focused on the Holocaust and the events leading up to and surrounding World War II. Coming from an immigrant family with busy parents, the Holocaust simply was not something that had ever been discussed as a family, and it was not something I had come across in my movies or books prior to learning about it in school.

Decades later and now a parent myself, the Holocaust is something that comes up frequently in our readings and even in popular cultural references. My son, who is not quite nine years of age, has asked questions about the Holocaust, but without any training in how to expose or introduce young children to such a sensitive topic, we’ve largely kept it to the basics. I quickly realized during my recent visit to the Holocaust Museum, that the Daniel’s Story was just the roadmap I needed to introduce my young son to the Holocaust.

Daniel’s Story allows visitors to experience the Holocaust from the perspective of Daniel, a young boy living in Germany during the Holocaust. The exhibit begins with a short film, narrated by Daniel, and then carriers visitors through Daniel’s world as it changes throughout the Holocaust. Daniel’s diary entries serve as the primary text of the exhibit and the story begins in Daniel’s home in Nazi Germany and takes visitors through their transition to the ghetto, the concentration camps, and finally, to the end of the War.

As depicted in the photos above, the exhibit allows children to actually touch and feel the environment. Here we are in located in the ghetto, and there are rules posted on the walls and objects littered throughout the room. Similarly, when in Daniel’s home or the later concentration camp rooms, visitors have the opportunity to sit at the tables or lay on the “beds.”

After touring Daniel’s Story, I quickly popped upstairs to the permanent exhibit. From March 1 to August 31, timed entry tickets to the permanent exhibit are required. Same day tickets are available online and in person, but it is also possible to request tickets in advance online. I requested an advance ticket (which cost $1), but free tickets were available in person on the day of my scheduled entry. Note that it is not possible to enter prior to your scheduled visit time.

The Museum recommends visitors allocate one to three hours to visiting the permanent exhibit and I concur. Even for my mid-day visit in early March, there was a heavy group of people and it took quite a bit of time to see everything. Moreover, the permanent exhibit is large – it winds throughout the building and presents a chronological narrative of the Holocaust using artifacts, film footage, and photographs. It is easily an exhibit that I could have devoted an entire day to exploring, and I was sad that I did not have as much time as I would have liked to have spent there. That said, I am glad that my first visit to the Holocaust Museum was unaccompanied by third grader as I believe the permanent exhibit would have been too much in terms of his first visual exposure to the Holocaust. I have already planned a return visit for Daniel’s Story, with my son soon, but will wait another year or so before visiting the permanent exhibit with my eight year old.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is located at 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW in Washington, DC.

Be sure to check out our entire category of posts on things to do and places to visit in Washington, DC with kids! We are so lucky to call this place home and hope that our tips and tricks come in handy as you plan your own adventure in Washington, DC with kids!

Every so often, we encounter a place that is so fabulous for those traveling with kids that it is worthy of being featured on its own. For more fabulous locations, please check out our other Spotlight features!

May 23, 2018
Scottsdale With Kids: Desert and Baseball

I recently visited Scottsdale, Arizona while attending a conference at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa located near Scottsdale, is a city in suburban Phoenix. Scottsdale has been ranked as the best city to retire in America and is also an international art and resort center in the Sonoran Desert with so much to offer visiting families with kids.

JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort – A Wonderful Scottsdale Family Resort

The JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa opened in November 2002 as Marriott’s 2,500th hotel worldwide and as Arizona’s largest resort with over 950 rooms. The guest room was well-appointed and very comfortable, and the bathroom featured elegant stone work and a standing shower.

My favorite feature of my room was the view of the McDowell Mountains from the patio – palm trees and mountains are a pretty amazing way to start the day.

A room with a view

The Desert Ridge Resort includes over 3.5 acres of pools, 36 holes of championship golf, eight tennis courts and Revive Spa. Four of the Resort’s five pools are always heated at 82 degrees. Even though we enjoyed the heated geothermal pools in Iceland, it felt too chilly during the February cold snap to try out the pools. The Lazy River would have been an amazing place to spend an afternoon floating in one of the brightly colored inner tubes – if it was only 10 degrees warmer. I can only imagine how wonderful the aquatic center must be during the super hot summer months.

Lazy River

The Resort also offers several great dining options. Stonegrill serves American fare with a Southwestern twist in a casual atmosphere with comfortable seating. Roy’s Pacific Rim is an Asian-Fusion restaurant with Hawaiian and Asian-inspired cuisine. During our stay, we watched Olympic coverage at the hotel bar Twenty6.

Stonegrill

Roy’s Pacific Rim

The Resort really capitalizes on the gorgeous surrounding views with lots of windows and comfy chairs in the common areas. It was not so surprising that neither windows nor comfy chairs were featured in the Resort’s conference center. With tax and securities on the agenda, it would definitely be nearly impossible to hold the attention of attendees if competing with the beautiful view.

Great place to sit and rest

While the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa was a fantastic resort, it would be a shame to travel 2,000 miles and not get the chance to explore beyond the resort. Luckily, I also had a chance to visit the Phoenix Art Museum on my way from the airport and Old Town Scottsdale before my departing flight.

There are many more accommodations options for visitors to Scottsdale with kids. Families who want to stay close to Old Town should check out my cousin’s guest house, Casita Saguaro. It is a lovely, newly constructed two bedroom private guesthouse available at an amazing nightly rate.

Old Town Scottsdale With Kids

After my conference concluded, my cousin picked me up, and we headed to Old Town Scottsdale. There was a lot of excitement in Old Town because it was the first day of MLB Spring Training, and Scottsdale’s Spring training home team, the San Francisco Giants, were playing the Milwaukee Brewers in the Scottsdale Stadium. Although baseball was not on our agenda, it was fun to hear the crowds cheering as we made our way to our first stop at The Mission for lunch.

The Mission features modern delicious Latin cuisine. The tacos were divine, but the real highlight was the made to order tableside guacamole, which we shared.

After lunch, we walked around Old Town Scottsdale to explore its floral displays and Native American arts shops. Of course, I couldn’t resist visiting the Scottsdale Historical Museum, a free museum with seasonal hours (closed June – August when it is really hot). This charming brick structure was built in 1909 and originally used as the town’s school city hall, courthouse and library. The Scottsdale Historical Museum offers exhibits related to the historical and cultural heritage of Scottsdale and the Southwest.

Scottsdale Historical Museum

My favorite was the One Room Schoolhouse depicting a typical 19th century classroom that appeared to be right out of Little House and the Prairie, and the 1872 rules for teachers w

One Room Schoolhouse

I was thrilled to unexpectedly find one of Robert Indiana’s pop art Love sculptures in front of the Scottsdale Civic Center as we walked around Old Town. Indiana’s Love sculptures are now located all over the world and my favorite example of public art.

The gardens in Old Town were absolutely beautiful.

I wished that there was enough time to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. Frank Lloyd Wright invested his earnings from Fallingwater to purchase property in Scottsdale where he built Talliesin West was his own winter home. Like Fallingwater, this tour is not intended for children under age six. If my architecture loving middle child was with me, Talliesin West would have definitely been a can’t miss activity.

Why We Love Scottsdale With Kids

Scottsdale’s mild winters makes it an ideal location for a winter trip, especially for baseball fans during Spring Training. We loved the art and architecture and look forward to a chance to explore Scottsdale with kids more!

When planning a trip to Scottsdale with kids, make sure to check out our other favorite Arizona and Nevada destinations.

May 13, 2018
New York City With Kids: Five More Fun Family Activities
Thank you to One World Trade Center Observatory and the 9/11 Memorial Museum for hosting our visits to those attractions. All opinions are my own.

New York City is one of our favorite cities to visit. The “City That Never Sleeps” is the largest metropolitan area in the US and boasts Broadway and Wall Street, along with world-famous landmarks and museums. Nancy previously covered Five Fun Family Activities, but because this is one city that has a seemingly never-ending list of great tourist attractions, I have a few more to add. With so much to see and do, traveling to New York City with kids is a great family vacation.

Visiting New York City With Kids

I’ve enjoyed New York City as a tourist and while visiting friends. My mom and I had a whirlwind weekend in 2005 where we made it to most of the stops on her mile-long must-see list. My husband and I used to travel to the Big Apple each summer before kids, but we generally spent most of our time with friends and relaxing at the Long Island Beach. We have visited New York City several times with our kids, most recently in October 2016 as part of a trip to Princeton, New Haven, Amherst and Chautauqua and look forward to future visits to Manhattan as a family.

Checking out the view of Midtown from Bloomberg’s employee snack bar

For families who need a break, there are some amazing playgrounds in New York City for kids to explore. It’s hard to pass up the opportunity to see a Broadway show, and there are options to score cheap Broadway tickets at the last minute.

Accommodations in New York City With Kids

While in NYC, I have stayed several times at the Millennium Hilton New York Downtown in the Financial District. The guest rooms are very comfortable, and the hotel also offers an indoor pool. But, the highlight for me is the view of One World Trade Center and the Oculus, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub that opened in 2016 with retail and restaurants. The Millennium Hilton is conveniently located for both business and pleasure.

Millennium Hilton guest room with view of Oculus

View of One World Trade Center and Oculus from my room

Restaurants in New York City With Kids

New York is also known for amazing restaurants. Eataly is one of my favorites. This Italian marketplace includes several restaurants, food and beverage counters and retail stores. The food counters offer very reasonable but delicious meals, and the retail sections are beautifully curated.

Eataly’s higher end restaurant, Osteria della Pace is also a great option for lunch or dinner.

Osteria della Pace

I also enjoy Casa Lever, an Italian Restaurant that features original Andy Warhol paintings to complement its ultramodern décor. Casa Lever does not offer a kids’ menu and is not particularly child-friendly in the evening, but the food is superb, and the original Warhol paintings alone are a reason to make me want to go back.

Original Warhol paintings at Casa Lever

For breakfast, Stage Door Deli offers overstuffed sandwiches and a classic New York deli experience. We stopped for coffee and bagels after an early morning flight, and our wrapped bagels were thrown from the back of the store to the register for added flair. Stage Door is one of only two businesses to reopen on Vesey Street after September 11.

Here are my five fun family activities in New York City:

#1: The Metropolitan Museum of Art With Kids

The Metropolitan Museum of Art boasts a permanent collection of over two million works and is the largest art museum in the US and the fourth largest in the world. The Met’s main location is on Fifth Avenue, and we were a few of the Met’s over 7 million visitors in 2016. Admission to the permanent collection was previously by suggested contribution only, but the Met announced in January 2018 that it would begin charging a fixed admission of $25 for visitors who do not live in New York State. General admission gives visitors free entry at The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer and The Met Cloisters for three consecutive days.   It would probably take that long to get through all the exhibits, but we did an abbreviated visit with our three kids, aged 2, 6 and 8.

The Met has one of the most impressive impressionist collections that we have seen. Our boys loved Bathers at Asnières at National Gallery, London and were especially excited to find Seurat’s final study for his similar A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

We are also fans of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings and were thrilled to see Irises.  I’ve seen his similar Irises still life paintings on display at the Van Gogh Museum, and my kids have seen Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at National Gallery, London and Irises at the Getty Center.We also love Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, so the Met’s Water Lilies, a smaller version than many others we have seen in this series, was a real treat. We are fortunate to frequently visit Water Lilies (Agapanthus) at the Cleveland Museum of Art and have also seen paintings in this series on display as part of the Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse special exhibit at the Cleveland Museum in 2015 and also at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the National Gallery, London, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Monet’s Water Lilies
- Kid Facts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art is ranked as the second most visited art museum in the world, behind the Louvre.
#2: Times Square With Kids

Times Square is the world’s most visited location with about 360,000 pedestrian visitors daily and over 130 million visitors each year. Excluding residents from the count makes Times Square the second most popular tourist attraction behind the Las Vegas Strip with almost 40 million annual tourists. The Broadway Theater District is located in Times Square, which is especially known for its billboards.

Over the years, I’ve visited Times Square a number of times, but until my recent visit, my last photographs were from 2005. Even before the rise of digital screens, it was still a sensory overload experience.

Times Square – Summer 2005

I was absolutely blown away with the transformation of the Square since the development of digital screens on my recent evening visit. The largest billboard in Times Square was completed in 2014, spans an entire block and features almost 24 million LED pixels. A pedestrian plaza completed in 2016 offers tiered viewing of the Square, including the humongous new billboard pictured on the right below. Find out more about things to do in Times Square.

Times Square – 2018
- Kid Facts: The New Year’s Eve ball drop at Times Square has been an annual tradition since December 31, 1907. However, it was placed on hiatus in 1942 and 1943 because of World War II lighting restrictions. Over a million visitors celebrate each New Year in Times Square. The new energy-efficient LED ball installed for the centennial celebration is now a permanent fixture in the Square.
#3: National September 11 Memorial & Museum With Kids

While I am familiar with tragic events like the World Wars, the Pearl Harbor attacks and the Vietnam War from history books, September 11 is one day that is burned in my memory. I had visited NYC for the first time only a few months earlier and spent an entire day exploring the Financial District in the shadows of the famous towers. On the morning of the terrorist attacks, I was numb as I sat glued to my television and watched the World Trade Center crash to the ground.

The 9/11 Memorial Museum is a very somber museum that chronicles the World Trade Center’s 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks. The Museum honors both the victims of these attacks and also the first responders. The Museum’s collection includes more than 40,000 images, 14,000 artifacts, 3,500 oral recordings and 500 hours of video. It may not seem like a family friendly attraction due to its content, and I noticed on my recent Monday morning visit that there were not any young visitors. I happened to be in the Financial District on business without my children when I visited, but I would not hesitate to take them to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

My boys learned about the September 11 terrorist attacks by reading Lauren Tarshis‘ I Survived the Attacks September 11th, 2001. Tarshis’ series of historical fiction books is brilliant because they tell stories of some of the world’s worst disasters through the eyes of a pre-teen boy (except one book featuring a female main character) experiencing the situation first-hand. In I Survived the Attacks of September 11th, 2001, the narrator is Lucas, the son of a New York City fire fighter who happens to visit his dad at work on the morning of the attacks. My boys are familiar with the events of September 11 because of Tarshis’ book, and a visit to the 9/11 Memorial Museum with them would definitely be meaningful, but might be a quicker overview than the lingering visit I had with my colleague. The Museum offers a seasonal Youth & Family Tour with an interactive activity and the Art Memorial Cart, which offers age-appropriate self-guided explorations and art activities.

The Historical Exhibition chronicles the events of September 11, the events leading up to September 11 and the immediate aftermath. This exhibit includes first-hand accounts, television footage and a variety of items on display. Photography is not permitted in this exhibit, but is allowed in other areas of the Museum that feature items damaged on September 11, such as a fire engine from Ladder 3. All 11 firefighters who traveled from in this engine died in the World Trade Center. Also displayed is a segment of the radio and television antenna on top of the North Tower and the Last Column, which was the last piece of steel to be removed from Ground Zero and is now considered as a symbol of resilience.

Fire engine destroyed on September 11

Piece of the radio antenna from the North Tower

The Last Column

The National September 11 Memorial located outside the Museum includes two large, recessed pools with cascading waterfalls that are set within the footprints of the original North and South Towers of the World Trade Center. The bronze parapets that surround the pools are inscribed with the names of those who lost their lives in the attacks.

September 11 Museum and Memorial
- Kid Facts: The Memorial opened to the public on September 12, 2011, and the Museum, which is largely underground, opened on May 15, 2014. Roses are placed by victims’ names to commemorate their birthdays.
#4: One World Trade Center Observatory With Kids

New York City has no shortage of skyscrapers, but One World Trade Center towers over all of them as the tallest in the Western Hemisphere and sixth tallest in the world at 1,776 feet (a reference to the year the Declaration of Independence was signed). This new structure has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center and is located on the site of Six World Trade Center, an eight-story office building that was destroyed when the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. The building opened in November 2014, and the Observatory, located on floors 100-102, opened in May 2015 and offers visitors a view of NYC from 1,250 feet in the air.

The experience begins at the Global Welcome Center where visitors are greeted in their native language. A live counter shows stats related to number of visitors and country of origin. The next stop is a walk-through montage, which includes personal stories of all the people who helped build One World Trade Center. The elevator ride to the 102nd floor is a special treat. Visitors travel 1,250 feet in less than a minute while watching a high-definition time-lapse video on the elevator walls. After a quick 3D film on NYC, visitors have the chance to check out the real highlight of the Observatory, the 360 degree views.

View of Midtown from One World Trade Center

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

We did not have time to eat at ONE Restaurant (which requires admission to the Observatory). Our visit to the Observatory concluded with the high-tech and super-fast elevator ride down, which is as exciting as the ride up.
- Kid Facts: The top floor of One World Trade Center is the 104th floor, but the tower actually has only 93 stories, and 103 and 104 are mechanical floors.
#5: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island With Kids

Liberty Enlightening the World (aka the Statue of Liberty) was a gift from France to the US and is an icon representing opportunity and freedom. The Statue of Liberty is a 151 foot copper statue located on Liberty Island. It was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. It has been maintained by the National Park Service since 1933.

The statue’s pedestal and base were closed for major renovations in October 2011 and reopened on October 28, 2012, one day before Hurricane Sandy. The statue did not sustain direct damage due to Hurricane Sandy, but the storm did destroy the ferry dock. As a result, Liberty Island remained closed until July 4, 2013 for repairs.

The Statue of Liberty

Nearby Ellis Island was the busiest immigrant inspection station in the US from 1892 to 1954 and was the gateway to over 12 million immigrants. The descendants those immigrants now make up almost half of the US population. After sustaining major damage during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Ellis Island was closed for one year for extensive renovation. The Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration is located in the main building on Ellis Island. About 5,000 immigrants filed into the Registry Room each day for medical and legal examinations.

Registry Room

The view of lower Manhattan from Ellis Island is pretty spectacular.

View of Manhattan from Ellis Island
- Kid Facts: While Ellis Island had been considered part of New York, a 1998 Supreme Court case determined that about 90% of the Island is in New Jersey. While the land originally given to New York by an 1834 interstate compact remains under the control of New York, land later reclaimed is now under control of New Jersey.
Find Out More About New York City With Kids

New York City is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the US but is not just for adults. This traveler’s mecca offers many wonderful opportunities for families. Make sure to check out all of our posts on NYC before your next trip.
April 4, 2018