NYC with Kids.....Need Help with What to do

[ksloane]

If you're going to Ellis Island, no need for the Staten Island Ferry, since the ferry to EI stops at the SOL first.

Yea...some of the things on my list I know I'll end up choosing one or the other, but I wanted to start with a big list and then start narrowing it down...

 

[cornflake]

I'll chime in again because someone mentioned the Cloisters. I went there with my husband and I LOVED it! It is so beautiful and peaceful. It is far enough away from the bustle of the city, it's like you left NY. The gardens are gorgeous and the views of the river are amazing. We sat in the gardens with coffee and a biscotti and just soaked up the atmosphere. We paid for the headsets so we could learn more about what we were looking at, but it ended up taking WAY too long. We had to rush through the last half of the museum. All that to say that I would not take my kids there. I am sure they would be bored to death and not appreciate the beauty and serenity of the place!
Oh, and if you pay for a ticket here, you can go to the Met the same day for free because it is an extension of that museum.

The Cloisters does indeed rock. The kid thing totally depends - last time I was there was a few months ago with three kids, 5, 8 and 10 and they had a fantastic time. They looked at everything, and had lots of questions about all sorts of stuff (from the size of a chair to a coffin to jewlery to tapestries and illuminated manuscripts and etc.). They also liked looking at the different plants in the garden and finding ones they knew (they're labelled) and seeing what smelled, heh.

Some kids may not like that kind of thing, but some really do.

The ticket thing - good tip and it works both ways!

Also remember, you don't have to pay the suggested fee to get into the MET or Cloisters. If you can afford it and wish to donate to the museum, please do! If it's too much, don't be put off going - the MET/Cloisters and the Natural History/Planetarium are donation museums (the movies at the Planetarium and the IMAX at Natural History are actual ticket prices though). They have a suggested donation for admission but will let you in for whatever you can give, with no hassle.

If you wish to pay like $5 (or $2 or what have you), just hand the person $5 and say one please (or $20 and say four admissions please) and they'll give you your button(s).

The MOMA (Modern Art) is a flat admission fee, not a donation, so the price is the price, but they have a free evening a week, I believe it's currently Fridays.