The Brooklyn Children's Museum in NY is One of the Oldest Museums of its Kind

Located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn in the Crown Heights neighborhood, the Brooklyn Children's Museum was the first museum designed expressly for young museum goers. Founded in 1899, it has been the model for many similar museums that have sprung up throughout the world during the last century.

Reaching a larger audience than some of the world's other 300 children's museums, the Brooklyn museum appeals to kids from pre-school all the way through to high school age, offering a unique variety of interactive, hands-on exhibits staged for various levels of learning. Displays encourage visitors, including adults, to explore different cultures, the arts, the world of science, and the environment.

The museum recently completed a large expansion project which not only added more space but also brought the museum up-to-date and allowed for the addition of more "green'' features throughout the building, making it more environmentally friendly.

Brooklyn Children's Museum boasts a permanent collection of some 30,000 natural history specimens and cultural objects, making it one of the few kid's museums with a permanent collection. The expansion has allowed for more of the collection to be displayed on a regular basis. Most of the objects have been donated, many by private citizens.

Some of the permanent exhibits at the museum include Neighborhood Nature, where kids can discover what kind of creatures live in various eco-systems; World Brooklyn, which provides an overview of the diversity of this New York neighborhood including an opportunity to participate in various ethnic traditions; and Collections Central, where the museum's permanent collection finally has the opportunity to take center stage. Objects in this display change frequently, so each time a child returns, they can expect to see something new.

The museum also welcomes several traveling exhibits during the course of a year and loans out its objects and artifacts to other museums as well.

School children are frequent visitors to the Brooklyn Children's Museum, with museum staff offering organized classes for various grade levels for those who come to visit on a field trip. Classes can accommodate visitors up to grade 6. Local camps can also bring campers to the museum during the summer for special one-hour programs. In addition, a variety of museum-sponsored special events are offered to the general public on a regular basis, including classes for the entire family.

Kids ages 2 to 12 are also welcome to celebrate their birthdays at the museum. Theme parties are organized by museum staff and include a one-hour educational experience/class, food and beverages, birthday cake, party favors, sing-alongs, and special presents for the birthday child. Children can choose from a variety of themed options including Under the Sea, Animal Mania, World Passport Scavenger Hunt, Raiders of the Lost Archaeology, and others.

Easy to reach by subway or other forms of public transportation, the reasonably-priced Brooklyn Children's Museum is open year around with extended hours during certain times of the year, early bird discounts for morning visitors on certain dates, and even a number of free admission days each year.