It’s no secret. There’s so many great NYC Museums! But how many are truly kid-friendly museums? A very good question! Particularly for my readers who are taking grandchildren or young children to NYC. If you want to keep little tourists happy, while visiting two small museums in NYC that children, and adults will love, here’s everything you need to know!
Kid-Friendly NYC Museums
Culture, and the opportunity to see history come alive is a fundamental activity while in NYC. And, while adults can easily spend hours perusing the galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, kids often struggle to stay engaged and in-step with their parents or grandparents. If you plan to visit NYC, even during the holidays, and your plans include spending time in one of the many NYC Museums, there are two small museums in NYC I highly recommend!
New York Transit Museum
According to their web site, “Founded in 1976, the New York Transit Museum is dedicated to telling and preserving the stories of mass transportation – extraordinary engineering feats, workers who labored in the tunnels over 100 years ago, communities that were drastically transformed, and the ever-evolving technology, design, and ridership of a system that runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year.”
Be sure to check out their web site, as this is one of the coolest museums in NYC, and offers many special seasonal tours, exhibits, and even nostalgic train rides to various locations in the area, like Coney Island!
Tips for Visiting:
- Housed underground in an authentic 1936 subway station in Downtown Brooklyn, the Transit Museum’s working platform level spans a full city block, and is home to a rotating selection of twenty vintage subway and elevated cars dating back to 1907.
- Visitors can board the vintage cars, sit at the wheel of a city bus, step through a time tunnel of turnstiles, and explore changing exhibits that highlight the cultural, social and technological history – and future – of mass transit.
- Hours are 10:00-4:00 Monday-Friday and 11:00-5:00 on Saturday and Sunday. The museum is closed on Mondays.
- Admission is $10 for Adults and $5 for children under 17.
The day I visited, I was totally entertained walking in and out of subway train cars, beautifully preserved. There were several children in the museum, and they squealed with delight as they raced from car to car, sitting in the conductor’s seat, and getting a true interactive experience.
TIP: The Entrance to this Kid-Friendly Museum is underground!
Now….onto one of the best small museums in NYC!
New York City Fire Museum
The New York City Fire Museum is not strictly in the category of children’s museums, but I can’t think of a child who is not, at some point in their life, fascinated by fire engines! Small museums in NYC can be wonderful, and this museum is no exception! The historic fire engines, fire helmets, and other turn-of-the-century artifacts are truly amazing! Kids, and adults, will be amazed by the collection in this NYC Museum.
Tips for Visiting:
- The museum is located at 278 Spring St., on the western edge of SoHo, in a renovated 1904 firehouse.
- The museum is open seven days a week, 10:00-5:00. Closed on all National Holidays.
- Admission is $10 for Adults, $8 for Seniors and Firefighters, $5 for Children.
- Active and Retired FDNY/NYPD/DSNY/PANYNJ and Active and Retired US Military service members and Merchant Marine get in FREE.
- The museum shop has excellent fire-service related kid-friendly costumes, toys and souvenirs.
My husband and I visited this fabulous museum together, and agreed that is is a total gem!
Important Tips:
- Both kid-friendly museums are accessible via the Subway. You can easily reach the NY Transit Museum from Manhattan on the 4 or 5 line, and the New York City Fire Museum is a few short blocks from the Spring Street Station on the A, C, or E lines.
- While every visitor is different, I’d suggest allowing two hours in the Transit Museum, as the collection is large, and kids will have a lot of fun getting in and out of all the subway trains. Allow about an hour for the New York Fire Museum.
- If these NYC Museums leave you feeling hungry, my NYC Restaurant Guide has over 30 restaurant suggestions throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Tags: Brooklyn | Family Fun | Family Vacation | FDNY | Manhattan | New York Transit Museum | NYC | NYC History | NYC Museum | NYC Subway
There both absolutely wonderful museums and worth seeing.
Glad we could see these cool spots together!!!
I would love to go on a trip like that very soon!
I hope you can too!!!!
These sound like awesome museums! i love anything kid friendly and unique, and these both look well worth the trip!
They are for sure both!
I have always wanted to go to NYC! My husband says it is like nowhere else you will ever visit 🙂 my kids would love the transit museum and sitting in all the different cars!
I sure hope you can go someday soon! It’s really fabulous!
These look like perfect museums for kids! I don’t have any kids myself, but I can see how it would be very important to make sure they’re entertained while traveling 🙂
Not gonna lie…I had a great time…with no kids in tow at all! HA!
This is a bit different from all the tourist attractions that you usually read in a New York guide. I would love to visit the transport museum and imagine how the New York tube used to look many, many years ago.
I really like to introduce my readers to new and interesting opportunities!
These museums are so much fun for kids and even big kids like us! Thanks for sharing!
Nothing better than visiting a great child friendly musuem , we only have one local one that my daughter loves rest are not very child friendly
Those are such a great museums ! I have to share this post with my sister as she lives near by NYC with her two little boys and she always looks for fun things to do when she’s in the town!
Oh good! So glad this might help her plan a fun trip!!
My kids have been dying to go to NYC and this post just helped me plan a little part of our trip. Thank you for the great info.
Oh Carmen, I am SO glad! That is precisely why I write this Blog! Please don’t hesitate to email me if you need any more help!!!
We will be visiting New York this year. Would love to take my son to the museums!
They are both fantastic!!!! Let me know what you think!
This is the coolest! Both of my kids would love these museums! Can’t go wrong with NYC
I had never heard before of this museum, but from the photos it looks lovely. Perfect for children and younger kids.
It’s helps to know beforehand about things you can put on your travel itinerary for kids while traveling. Else, we end up with more things grownups enjoy and kids get ‘super bored’ or which the kids enjoy and we end up tired. The mass transit museum seems to be a place which both kids and grownups can enjoy alike…I know my son would.
– Nandita
It totally is! I was 100% entertained, and had no kids with me!
I’ve been planning my visit to NYc for as long as I can remember but this is the first time I hear about these two museums! they sound really awesome and I must add them to my list of places to visit!
I absolutely love New York City! I have not passed by these museums before, but how cute are they! -Tonya Tardiff