128 museums for kids across all five boroughs of New York City, 27 of them free. Exhibits and family programs. Includes American Museum of Natural History and Intrepid Museum.
The city's famous natural history museum, home to dinosaur skeletons, a life-size blue whale, gem halls and planetarium shows. Kids can explore dioramas, the Gilder Center's insectarium and butterfly vivarium, and hands-on discovery rooms.
A museum aboard a retired aircraft carrier docked on the Hudson, where kids can see fighter jets on the flight deck, go inside the submarine Growler and view the Space Shuttle Enterprise. Interactive exhibits cover flight, naval life and space exploration.
A Harlem museum celebrating jazz history with listening stations, instruments and exhibits about the neighborhood's musical legends. It also runs workshops and tours for school groups and families.
An interactive museum where kids play with math: riding square-wheeled trikes, designing patterns, and solving puzzles through dozens of hands-on exhibits. It makes geometry, logic and numbers feel like a playground.
Set in a restored 1904 firehouse, this museum shows antique fire engines, helmets and equipment tracing the history of firefighting in New York. Kids love the horse-drawn rigs and learning about fire safety.
A Gilded Age mansion museum filled with old master paintings, sculpture and decorative arts, reopened in 2025 after a major renovation. It suits tweens and teens, who can explore the historic rooms free of charge.
New York's giant encyclopedic art museum, where kids can wander past Egyptian tombs, knights in armor, musical instruments and period rooms. Family guides, drop-in art-making and family programs help younger visitors engage with the collection.
J.P. Morgan's former library, with soaring bookshelves, rare manuscripts, drawings and early printed books. Families can visit the historic rooms and check the calendar for occasional family days and programs.
A small Battery Park City museum about tall buildings, with models, photos and exhibits on how skyscrapers are designed and built. Great for kids fascinated by the city skyline and construction.
A museum of modern and contemporary American art at the foot of the High Line, with outdoor terraces overlooking the Hudson. Families can take part in family art-making programs and explore rotating exhibitions of painting, sculpture and video.
A Fifth Avenue museum of art and Jewish culture in a historic mansion, with a family-friendly permanent collection and rotating exhibitions. Family programs and art-making events are offered on select dates.
A 100-acre village with more than two dozen historic buildings where costumed interpreters demonstrate trades like tinsmithing and open-hearth cooking in warmer months. Kids can visit an old schoolhouse, general store and farm.
A hands-on science center in Flushing Meadows where kids experiment with light, sound, motion and biology across hundreds of interactive exhibits. Outdoors there's a huge Science Playground and a rocket-themed mini golf course.
A free hands-on space inside The Met where kids 3-11 explore wood, metal, clay and light, build drums, try digital woodblock printing and play instruments. Families can also borrow picture books and grab a field guide for exploring the galleries.
An outdoor memorial and indoor visitor center honoring the free and enslaved Africans buried in colonial New York. Exhibits and ranger talks give older kids a powerful look at a hidden chapter of city history.
A Midtown museum of dog art and history with digital displays that match your face to a dog breed and a kids' corner stocked with dog toys and puzzles. Scavenger hunts keep young visitors engaged.
The Victorian cottage and waterfront lawn of pioneering photographer Alice Austen, with sweeping views of the Narrows. Exhibits of her photos show kids what New York looked like over a century ago, and the lawn is perfect for a picnic.
An Upper East Side museum of traditional and contemporary Asian art with free docent tours and cultural celebrations such as Lunar New Year family days. Kids 16 and under are free, and Fridays are free for all.
An 1836 Greek Revival mansion with formal gardens inside Pelham Bay Park. Guided tours show kids how a wealthy 19th-century family lived, and the grounds are great for a picnic.
A 1661 Flushing home famous for its role in America's early fight for religious freedom and later ties to the Underground Railroad. Tours and education programs help kids connect local history to big ideas about rights and freedom.
The borough's first children's museum, with hands-on galleries where kids explore Bronx nature, culture and communities through building, pretend play and art-making. Sessions are timed, so families book a morning or afternoon block.
A community arts center and gallery on the Bronx River offering after-school and Saturday art classes for kids and teens in pottery, printmaking, comics and more. Exhibitions spotlight local and emerging artists.
The world's first children's museum, with three floors of hands-on exhibits on nature, science and Brooklyn's cultures. Little ones can play in a pretend neighborhood, explore a sensory space and meet live animals.
A round 1811 sandstone fort in Battery Park that once defended the harbor and later served as an immigration station and aquarium. Today kids can explore its walls and small exhibits, and it's where Statue of Liberty ferry tickets are sold.
LittleGotham lists 128 museums for kids in New York City.
Yes. 27 of 128 are free to attend, including The Skyscraper Museum, MoMA PS1, 81st Street Studio at The Met.
112 listings are indoors, such as American Museum of Natural History, Intrepid Museum, National Jazz Museum in Harlem.
Manhattan (75), Brooklyn (18), Queens (15).