(re: my previous post) By the way, we didn't do all those museums in one trip. We did the Met and the MoMA on our trip in the Fall, and the AMNH day before yesterday. The planetarium is really cool.

Hi Missypie! We will be in NYC in a few weeks as well. We were there about 18 months ago and along with the others would highly recommend the Tenement Museum. You did need to get tickets in advance, so check out their website (www.tenement.org/). By the way, we were really disappointed by the gelato store right near there someone else mentioned (il laboratorio del gelato), save your calories for your next trip to Italy!!

We will be seeing the special Poiret:King of Fashion exhibit at the MET (Costume Institute), I know your girls enjoy fashion - thanks again for the Fashion Museum tip in Barcelona.

I also found the Ground Zero Museum Workshop. (www.groundzeromuseumworkshop.com/home.html). You are required to have advance tickets so again, check out their website. We went to Ground Zero on our last trip but had not heard about this museum then. Will be going this time around.

Also, not sure if this will interest your family, but we are also planning on doing the Madison Square Garden All Access Tour (http://www.thegarden.com/inandaround...allaccess.html). My son is a basketball fanatic so this will be a priority for him. However, I have heard other people mention that it is quite interesting to see how things run as they also have concerts, etc. there. The tour is only an hour.

Definitely take the kids to Ellis Island.

Have a great trip!

I flew from the NYC gtg this week and met a nice couple and their 6 year old boy. They said the Museum of Natural History was by far the best.

If you look on the cover of fodors.com, there is a listing of several different kinds of museums. Interesting and eduational (finance/skyscraper).

I usually wind up walking around NYC, so I'll be interested to hear what you do, that way, I can plan to go there, if its great. Please let us know what you decide!

MOMA is the best modern art museum in the world. If you liked the Miro and the Picasso, you will be overwhelmed by the exemplars of the various genres.

Every child who grew up in NYC remembers the first time he or she went to the Museum of Natural History.

The Met has an extraordinary general collection. If you go there is an entrance just to the left of the steps, that is used much less used than the main entrance. The costume collection is a boy/girl choice.

The Tenement Museum is well done and evocative.

LOL! I asked for help narrowing down the choices, and you well traveled Fodorites gave me even MORE choices! I think I'll plan around the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ellis Island and the Tenement Museum and see if there is time for anything else.

My experience is museums of natural history is similar to yours.

I like smaller museums, such as the Frick, which I think will be very interesting to you and your children. It is a small but fabulous collection and (of special interest) it is housed in a mansion complete with inner court yard, auditorium, and pipe organ.

The Whitney, not far away, usually has displays of modern art that appeals to the flexible minds of younger folk.

A nice day would be The Whitney, lunch, the Frick, Central Park, and the peek into the Guggenheim suggested elsewhere.

Other interesting smaller museums of interest include the Cooper-Hewitt, International Museum of Photography, and the Museum of the City of New York.

The National Museum of the American Indian is located in a beautiful old building in the Wall Street area (Bowling Green).

Oh yeah - as htty mentioned, if you're at all interested, the Museum of the American Indian is worth going into while you're down at Bowling Green for the ferry to Ellis Island. It's housed in the old Customs house that is right above the 4/5 Bowling Green subway entrance, it's not very large, and it's free. They have very well-curated shows, and often show contemporary native arts - it might solve some of your folk art fix!
:)

Another vote for the Museum of Natural History here.

It has a lot of very good exhibits on dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, a butterfly atrium and much more. I've never heard of any kid of any age not liking this place (except my sister when she was a teenager).

I made the mistake of going to the Museum of the American Indian at Bowling Green several months ago. I thought it was a complete waste of time and the most disappointing museum in New York.

Perhaps the exhibits have changed? If not, skip it.

And don't miss the American Museum of Natural History!

I think Ellis Isl followed by perhaps the Confino LIving History Tour would be a good match -
the Tenement Museum also has a nice book shop/restrooms/and short film on immigration for either before or after your one hour tour.

I say let the kids play with the websites of both the MET and the AMNH - b/c I do not know their interests - if I had to choose one for them, I"d choose the MET (as much as I am a fan of the AMNH,, if you are narowing to two museums I'd put the MET prior to the AMNH)

I think your children will be bored with the Folk Art Museum, but perhaps you can fit it in for yourself, b/c it sounds like you would love it -
even if you get an hour in there while they shop or something.

You could spend a month just doing museums in NY - butas you said, you need time for shows, broeadway and balancing your time and choices !
What a great trip you have planned for the kids -have fun.

just a word of caution. if you are coming in the dead of summer, the tenement museum is exactly that--a tenement. There is NO air conditioning. You MUST go early in the morning, and even then it might be brutally hot in the apartments.

Why don't you give the guide books to the kids and let them each pick out something that they would like to see. You may be surprised that they each pick one exhibit in 3 different museums. What appeals to the 11 year old may be vastly different than what the 16 year old would find interesting. Also, be sure to visit the museum websites to see what special exhibits are going on. That may completely steer you in a different direction.

And if you do the LES /Tenement Museum, think about watching Crossing Delancey before you come!

No one has mentioned the <u>Forbes Galleries</u> (www.forbesgalleries.com) with displays of more than 500 toy boats and 12,000 toy solidiers as well as historic Monopoly boards.

I was recently in the <u>Museum of Art and Design</u> (across the street from MOMA) to see their &quot;Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting&quot;. Sounds weird, but it was amazing. Lace made from the most unusual items. Only takes an hour or so to see the whole thing.

http://www.madmuseum.org/site/c.drKL...e_Knitting.htm

TC - Agree, the Forbes is great. Interesting background on the toy soldiers. Malcolm Forbes had about 20 set ups of different battle scenes--I think it was a total of 1200 soldiers. Most of them were set up at the American Ligation in Morocco, but, when we went there, there were only 2 set ups left. Apparently, his son Steve went and sold the lot of them to the Louvre, leaving behind only what the Louvre did not have room for. It was a huge loss to tourism at the Ligation.

How sad...I had no idea. I knew his family had sold the Fabrege eggs, which was my favorite part of the museum.

Just received an email from the Museum of Natural History on their current exhibits: <b>Mythical Creatures</b>. Looks like something the kids might enjoy.

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythiccreatures/

topping for 2boys

missypie, I just wanted to say: Have a GREAT trip!! I depart Wed a.m. for a month in China, and I have no idea whether I'll have access to Fodor's or not. I know you've put so much planning into your trip. I hope you and your family enjoy NYC, MA and ME as much as I do!

Bon voyage!
:) ggreen

No one has mentioned the Museum of Jewish Heritage, which is in Battery Park, near the Ellis Island ferry. I like this museum, and it's a real experience.

Also, there's an age cut-off for the Frick, but I'm not sure what it is. This is not a good museum for kids, though it is my very favorite small museum in NYC.

And the art in the Guggenheim is a big snore unless there's a special exhibit that really interests you. Look at hte interior, but by no means pay the huge admission.

Another vote for the AMNH. If I had to choose one museum for kids 16,14 &amp; 11 AMNH would be it. My kids loved it, and so did I. The exhibits were excellent, kids liked the room with totem poles and native american masks, the sea life, large mammals, the Rose Center, pretty much everything. The cafeteria in the basement has quite a good salad bar, in addition to typical cafeteria fare. Food cost was reasonable for NYC and quality good. I think kids/teens might enjoy AMNH more than the Met.

The Frick
small, intimate, incredible artwork, but easy to see when you are short on time and/or have folks with you who are not big museum buffs