Here is one for you art lovers out there taking your kids to the Met and the Guggenheim. Why not, we live in one of the most culturally rich cities in the world and we have these amazing museums at our fingertips. I loved taking our son from a young age to the MET and he enjoyed walking around and exploring all the paintings and sculptures.
This experience is an immersive one, so think MET's Monet artwork that you can interact with, where the kids can actually touch it and feel it and watch the paintings move and come to life.
Some of the things we loved there:
Monet's Lily Pond: You can color your own lily in a separate room with small tables and chairs for kids and adults and then place it under a projector that makes it *magically* appear on the pond! It will stay there and float, spin and look beautiful for the rest of your stay.
Monet's Bridge: His famous bridge from his own garden that Monet painted is there and you can walk, jump and dance on it. It is covered in beautiful (artificial) flowers and there is a sweet faint smell of real flowers that made us take a second look to see if they were real or not. Let your children explore and find out if they are real though touch and smell!
Moving art: Many of the room are interactive and when you stand across from them and move your body the art will move with you and turn into droplets of paint before going back to the original artwork. It's like you are making a painting!
Freedom to move: This experience has no time limit or forced flow of rooms. You can move from place to place as you wish and let your curiosity guide you. We love being able to turn around and do something we love over and over again, like the bridge and lily pond! We probably spent one hour just there.
Stoller friendly: They invited us to take our stroller with us, we did and ended up parking it at the begining of the exhibit because our daughter was so excited to run everywhere.
Location: It's on Wall Street! I don't often go there because it's far from our UES neighborhood, but when I do, I love the opportunity to hop on the ferry and take it all the way to East 90th at Carl Schurz Park! It is a 7 minute walk from the experience to the ferry! Extend their play by adding the ferry trip, it was absolutely memorable for the kids and a great transition from Monet's Garden because of course, they didn't want to leave!
Check out this view from the ferry
Want to go?
Cost: $35 and up
Kids: Under 5 are FREE
