Activities

Activities, Family Travel, New York City Kids, Things to do
7 Reasons We Love Long Island Children’s Museum
- 8:17 pm
- 11 Comments
- by Adanna Dill
The Long Island Children’s Museum may be one of the New York metro area’s best kept secrets. I mean, no one really talks about it but it’s a really fantastic museum for families. The Princess Fairy and I made our first visit 3 years ago when she was as little as The Super Knight. So last month, we made another trip as I was excited to see how much more she would enjoy the museum now that she’s bigger. Mr. Rattles and I had just as much fun as the kids and with spring break around the corner I wanted you to add Long Island Children’s Museum to your must visit list. So here are 7 reasons you should visit Long Island Children’s Museum:

1. The Theater

The Long Island Children’s Museum theater have regular shows for children and their famiies. I think this is one of the coolest things about this museum. Our family checked out The Yellow Sneaker which was a puppet show with that emphasized the importance of eating healthy. for kids.

The Super Knight had to warm up. He didn’t even want to see the puppets when the show started so he covered his face with his hands.

A few scenes into the show he warmed up and got all into it!

The Princess Fairy loved every minute of the show and still treasures her photo with Joey, the puppet.

There are new shows all the time at this museum which makes it very attractive for purchasing membership so you know that it’s a different show each visit. The shows are only $5 in addition to admission and I think it’s completely worth it

3. Tot Spot

TotSpot is awesome for toddlers. My son loved the tot sized town with railway, bridge, market, train station (he must of ran over the bridge at least 20 times calling out to me each time to ensure that I saw him). I can recall The Princess Fairy absolutely loving Totspot when she was his age as well. What surprised me was that she still enjoyed herself even though she’s now four. Never underestimate your kids! She really loved the motorcycle and ringing the bell at the tower.As a mom who breastfed, I can appreciate the nursing nook in Totspot which is so convenient and thoughtful especially for mothers of newborn babies.

4. Climb It!

This is perfect for adventurous kids! My daughter loves to climb, jump,crawl and she is essentially fearless. I love that characteristic about her because she doesn’t limit herself or prevent herself from having really awesome experiences. She loved Climb It so much that I had to beg her to climb down. Although, The Super Knight was super jealous he was just too young and too little since kids must be 4 years old or 42cm to climb.

5. Communication Station

Okay, let me admit that this was more of a hit for me than my children but that’s because they are still too young. At 4, The Princess Fairy is still learning to read and you have to be a good reader to really enjoy this exhibit. Kids get to role play as newscasters and news announcers in a news studio. My daughter loved seeing herself on the big screen and sharing the pretend warmer weather forecast *sigh* There is also a radio broadcasting studio. It’s perfect for your little future communications major.

6. Bubbles

Please introduce me to a kid who isn’t fascinated by bubbles. It always intrigues me how much kids love bubbles. This was one of the busiest exhibits in the museum with everyone wanting to get in on the action. Mr. Rattles jumped on line twice to get encapsuled by bubbles which made the princess fairy laugh at him. Kid are able to make all types of bubbles in this area and determine how to make really big bubbles.

7. Distance

New York City moms, have no fear visiting the Long Island Children’s Museum doesn’t mean that you’ll be driving for days on end into Long Island. We visitied while we were reviewing the Hyundai Sonata Sport and it took us about 35 minutes to get there from Queens, NY. I can appreciate the fact that this required no tolls or traffic jams. My tip would be to travel during off-peak traffic hours and you would find yourself there quicker than you imagine. There are also plenty resturants, shopping and entertainment nearby so you can make it into a day trip.

7. Parking

Yes, parking is always a huge factor for us New Yorkers and I love stress free parking. Long Island Children’s Museum offers free parking with lots of spots. With small kids, this is one less stressor and I can’t deny that this is a big drawing factor for my family.

As usual, I must share what moms really want to know, bathrooms were clean and the museum is stroller friendly. I visited during peak time, winter break and it was cleaned frequently by the staff. We also loved that coat check was free! You can find out more about admission, membership, exhibits and more on their website.

What do you think you would enjoy most at the Long Island Children’s Museum?
Activities, Motherhood
4 Fun Spring Family Activities
- 1:22 pm
- 9 Comments
- by Adanna Dill
Hello Spring! Could you believe that the END of Winter is almost here? Yay! Spring officially starts about 12 days from today and no one is happier than I am. It’s a very exciting time for me as a mom of two very young children because every time the seasons change my kids become more aware of their environment and things around them and it gives me the chance to gain a new perspective and appreciation of things. Spring is extra special because there are so many new tangible things to appreciate like flowers and greenery and the birds back from their winter migration. It’s an exciting time bursting with life, light and good happy energy. That’s why I can’t wait to get out and enjoy these 4 fun spring family activities.

1. Visit the Zoo

We haven’t been to the zoo since last spring. We went to two zoos in one week and although we planned to go back we never made it back for the rest of the warm season. The zoo requires lots of walking and with kids, I think spring is the perfect because the weather is tolerable. I took my daughter to the zoo once in the summer when she was a toddler and it was just miserable. Last spring, when we visited the zoos most of the animals seemed comfortable and we got to enjoy them without the summer crowds.

2. Botanical Gardens

What better time to enjoy and teach kids about different plants and to appreciate nature. Spring is really the perfect time with everything blooming. Most botanical gardens offer cool programs for children to get hands on to investigate and do plant-based activities.

3. Easter Egg Hunt

It’s not spring unless the bunny rabbit hops past you and your kids a few times. I love taking my kids to easter egg hunts. This will be our 5th year, we always go as a family and we end up having a blast. If there isn’t one in your area, you can always plan one with a few friends it’s such an easy spring activity and kids LOVE it.

4. Fly a Kite

When I was growing up in Grenada, Easter meant kite flying time for kids. On Easter Monday, families gather to fly locally made kites of all sizes. Last spring, while we were out on our egg hunt I noticed a family flying kites and I decided that was an element of my culture that I need to share with my children. I think this is the activity that I most excited about this year.

What are your favorite fun spring family activities?
Activities, New York City Kids
The Little Apple: Liberty Science Center
- 1:11 pm
- 14 Comments
- by Adanna Dill
We received complimentary admission to the Liberty Science Center, however as usual all opinions expressed are my own.

What do you do when the weather hits the single digits and you’ve taken your kids to every children’s museum in New York City? Head to New Jersey, of course.

The Liberty Science Center have been on my list of places to take my kids to for a very long time. The first time I visited this center was back in 2004 when I worked as a Teaching Scholar with a STEM middle school program that was based at my college. Here we are 11 years later and I am back with my own kids. Yikes! I guess I am a now a grown up.

Sesame Street Presents The Body was the exhibit that kids wanted to visit first. To say that they were excited is a major understatement. When we walked in, we tried to get pictures of them both in front of Cookie Monster but The Super Knight wasn’t having it. He pushed his sister away and when he eventually let her closer, he had a big frown on his face for the pictures.

The exhibit features three education zones Your Outsides, Your Insides and Staying Healthy. This exhibit is for children 2 to 8.

The Princess Fairy just started to learn about bones at school so this was perfect timing to get reinforcement outside of the classroom. This gave her the opportunity to share what she learned at school with us.

She wrote in her little museum journal, the number of bones in her ribs and in her hands which she then shared at school yesterday. Kids sometimes think that they know their bodies well so I am glad that this exhibit shared cool facts that they may not have known.

They also got lessons on how to wash their hands properly which was timely for The Super Knight who is becoming more independent in the bathroom everyday.

We really enjoyed walking around on Sesame Street and hanging out on famous stoop of 123 Sesame Street, look at how excited the kids were.

Post by Rattles & Heels.

The kids were able to ring the doorbell and they were really convinced that someone would come to the door because they rang it over and over again.

Eating healthy and remaining active were two reoccurring themes at the Sesame Street exhibit. My kids enjoyed pretend play grocery shopping for healthy food at Baby Bears store and running, kicking and jumping.

The Princess Fairy’s favorite display was the Oscar Sneeze Machine where kids were able to select different stimulus such as a flower or germs and see how the nose would be affected. Whenever they selected germs the nose would sneeze on them. This filled her with curiosity and disgust at the same time.

The Super Knight like most kids his age loves Elmo, so he was happy to check out Elmo’s World. He seem like he was looking for Elmo so I’m going to check the dates that Elmo will be there and try to take him back to see Elmo. He did get to meet Elmo’s goldfish Dorothy and learned how to dress for different weather to stay healthy.

Sesame Street Presents The Body will end on May 3, 2015 so if you have young kids, you have about three months to take them.

After the Sesame Street exhibit we headed over to the Beyond The Rubiks Cube exhibit which featured games, puzzles and challenges. These are all based on the famous Hungarian architecture professor Ernő Rubik, Rubiks cube. The kids worked on inventing their own 3d puzzle and building different structures like bridges and recognizing shapes.

I had to jump in and help the little guy a few times.

Okay, I may have really gotten into it a few times as well 😉 But y’all know I love to make stuff.

Another highlight was the Touch Tunnel, which is a permanent exhibit.

I must admit, I was scared (I know it’s a shame). The tunnel is 80ft of complete darkness, it’s dark y’all and I was holding on to my daughter for my dear life.

She assured me that she knew the way and good thing she did because my heart was beating fast and I was panicking. There are cameras in the touch tunnel so no need to worry about any funny business and you can have them tweet or email your pictures to you.

It’s hard to miss the Infinity Climber at the Liberty Science Center, it is a suspended play space. Yes, you read suspended right but that didn’t stop The fearless Princess Fairy, we had to beg her to climb back down. Obviously she’s not afraid of heights or dark. I’m proud of her!

While she climbed The Super Knight crawled through the giant plastic “blood vessels,” in the Infection Connection exhibit.

We really enjoyed visiting The Liberty Science Center and we are sure to become regular visitors. Since the center is so big we didn’t get to take in all the exhibits but we are sure to return in the near future.

For us New Yorkers, anywhere outside of the five boroughs can feel like a trek but the Liberty Science Center is relatively easy to get to. It’s an easy ride into New Jersey through the Holland Tunnel or the Goethals Bridge through Staten Island. We enjoyed the ride there in the Hyundai Sonata Sport that I was reviewing last week. If you don’t have a car, no worries. There are several public transportation options by train or ferry to get you there.

As usual, I can’t leave without sharing what moms really want to know. The bathrooms were very clean even though we were there during a peak period, winter break. There are family bathrooms as well which is perfect for families like ours with young children.We rented a large locker which was $4 to store our layers of winter gear. You can also rent a smaller one for $2. The entire center is stroller friendly.

Parking is available for an additional fee, it was under $10 and we were there for about 4 hours.

For more information about Liberty Science Center, check out their web site here.