Children's Museum Of Manhattan — Attraction in New York

I think 4 stars is being a little generous - but at the same time, it wasn’t bad. Pros: the area about physics with the movable tracks and balls was a great idea! The other children’s museums I have been to either have immovable tracks or only tracks specific to trains. (This area was very busy and had other pieces that had no explanation as to why they were there) there was a cool crawlspace and setup for the little slide and climb area in this same section, reminded me of when I was a kid and they did that kind of thing. There are a lot of vehicles set up with multiple buttons and steering wheels so the kids aren’t all fighting to get into ONE spot to “drive” the thing, with opportunity to climb around. The section with the boat and magnets on the first floor, the boat with food pulley (first floor), and third floor were the parts we spent the most time in. Good intentions on the 4th floor, getting kids moving and learning about food and exercise and sleep... and realistic driving on that wall vehicle. Also, the smell section on the 1st floor was cool. Cons: I hate to say it, but there were just not many things for kids to manipulate and get their hands on. There weren’t enough balls or magnet pieces for the very popular areas, there was NO FOOD to play with or pretend to pick up and grind in areas about food (see pic of showing kids diff foods from the Middle East - covered in plastic so the kids can’t touch). The second floor was dedicated entirely to Dora and Diego - I appreciate the effort on spanish and English words and integration, but, again there was like nothing to DO, he could climb on section and look through a telescope. Walk over a bridge, and just look at things. I don’t know if things were missing but, if it was it was A LOT of things missing. Third floor was decently good, this was def their best floor, but no gate or anything for the baby section which is unusual. The fourth floor was sad. The health room looked like effort was slightly made, but.. eh. The vehicle on the wall was the highlight - flip flaps for body stuff was interesting for kids who can read. There is a whole room for getting kids moving but the bikes don’t work well (I appreciate the effort), there is a weird thing to use as a pulley on this random set up you can climb stairs for... but it is not set up well and there were literally two balls to use with it. Just seemed very empty and thrown together. Other points: there is no map, but descriptions of the floors inside the elevators. Coat check was good. Doorman was nice. Gift shop is geared towards girls and younger children (younger than my 4 yr old boy). I want to be fair in my review, especially since I thought this was the same museum I went to as a kid (it was not) that had huge rooms set up for activities (grossology, green screens, claimable body parts that was actually like a body, manipulatives, a dr Seuss section...? Idk where that is, I thought this was it - I don’t live in NYC) so it was a disappointment at first for me - but my kid did have a really good time. We were there for over two hours. I just wish there was MORE to play with so the kids weren’t all trying to get the same three moveable things. Balls, magnets, or pouches for the pulley on the boat. (& I suppose, the...

This Was a great place last year, this year not only did pricing go up but there was a lack of employee's and activities. Starting with the front desk price is $14 per adult and child 2 and up. 1 and under are free. The staff handling the strollers were kind even after having to ask for the stroller back 2 times to simply grab something my toddler needed. I have 4 children ages 9 months, 2, 4 and 8.

The first floor was clean not much to do play with other then the ship/boat. First floor was clean but no employees in sight. Lots of the item were missing or not working. sound was very low and we couldn't hear because of that.

second floor was a little crazier. older kids were all over the place running, caught a few crumbs of food my baby was grabbing from the floor. There is a alligator who is suppose to speak letters and was silent, on the other corner was completely crazy so only my oldest went in and played but said there was only 2 balls so she didn't get a chance even after being there was 35 minutes. the corner to the left is a baby area, says 2 and under but no one there to enforce that and older kids were bumping into babies one child around 5 actually jumped and landed on top of my infant and still no staff came around.

Third floor was a little more distracting although outdated and an old cartoon Dora, the slide and rainbow bridge was fun lots of colors and designs. lots of room to play, opened space. The cashier area had maybe 5 pieces of items to play store with so lack of toys again and once again no employees in sight.

Fourth floor was a little more for older kids the first room had a intestinal system clearly says no jumping climbing but it didn't stop kids and looked more like a crazy jungle gym. The toilet displays different types of poop very educational. Next room was a keep body moving had 2 stay in place bikes and a table that plays something similar to duck duck goose. Also had a activity slide which was clean and kids also had fun. The hall had a very long bus fit many kids. The rest was blah!

The lower level last year was a infant room for babies, crawling and just leaving to move it was amazing. This year they made it into a dance room which would be fun for kids but isn't when all the employees are bunch around counting down 15 mins before next show. Kids cant really do nothing in 15 mins. much alone dress up and dance with no music the dance show was okay and very nice dancers smiling and very happy. Another thing i disliked was the the front door didn't offer tickets to the dance so we had to go all the way upstairs to get the free tickets to attend, I don't understand why it's free.

Don't plan on going back until serious...

I hate to be a Debby Downer, but NYC truly has some of the worst museums of any large city I've ever been to. And this place was no exception.

I took my 2.5 year old here today and he was extremely bored. Though it took us an hour to get to CMOM, there wasn't nearly enough there to keep him engaged and interested for more than 15 minutes (we ended up staying 30 minutes because he did find a model train set he liked, but aside from this - he was bored out of his mind). Though the museum spans 4 floors, much of the space is empty / unused (i.e., there's a low density of activities for the amount of space the museum has). One of my biggest complaints is that a lot of the items in the museum weren't particularly interactive (think: walking into a mock firetruck that has a bunch of switches and a steering wheel). I've been to playrooms in NYC and kids museums elsewhere that seemed to have a lot more things for kids to actually do. Also, it seems as though many of the exhibits / activities have not been updated in at least 30-40 years.

Two other things I dislike:

1. They charge parents / adults admission even though there's clearly nothing in the museum for adults to do and kids, obviously, can't go to the museum without an adult. I've been to playrooms / museums that will charge admission for the child and let one adult in for free with each child.

2. The hours are kind of annoying too - though this is a general complaint about most museums / children's venues in this city. I wish they would open before 10am or close after 5pm, because the middle of the day is naptime for most younger kids.

Also, as others have noted the museum makes a half-a$$ attempt at being educational. To be honest, and maybe because I'm a parent of a younger child, I don't care if this museum is educational as much as I do it being interesting / engaging for my child (which it most certainly was not).

TL;DR: I think this museum is really only for kids age 1-2. Kids ideally need to be able to walk to enjoy the museum (i.e., be 1+ years) but I think kids much older than 2 will be bored, as...