This past weekend, my family and I had the opportunity to celebrate 20 years of educational fun at the Long Island Children's Museum located near Nassau Coliseum on Museum Row.
This was our first time visiting the museum so we were excited to be a part of the special occassion. My 4 year old and 21 month old both had a great time exploring the 14 exhibits in the two-story building that used to be an airplane hangar at historic Mitchel Field.
This was our first time visiting the museum so we were excited to be a part of the special occassion. My 4 year old and 21 month old both had a great time exploring the 14 exhibits in the two-story building that used to be an airplane hangar at historic Mitchel Field.
TOTSPOT: A PLACE FOR BABIES AND PRESCHOOLERS
The most popular exhibit for the kids was TotSpot, a room dedicated to children 4 years old and under. We could have easily spent the entire day at TotSpot: kid-sized structures like a tugboat, lighthouse with slide, bulldozer, train, and real motorcycle were just a few things that the kids were able to climb, crawl, tinker, jump on, and slide. The exhibit is monitored by an attendant so there is no need to worry about little ones running off. For nursing moms, a section of the room is blocked off so you can nurse in private while older siblings can still play.
mUSic STUDIO
The other exhibit that both kids enjoyed was the mUSic studio. The acoustics of the room was perfect for banging on bongos, playing on a giant xylophone and exploring how to make sounds with different "instruments" made from recycled materials like a rubber sole, glass bottles and a bicycle wheel.
And remember one of these????
It was a pleasant surprise to see these rotary phones exhibited as part of the Communication Station. The phones are hooked up to each other so one of them rings if the other one is picked up. The rest of the exhibits were geared more towards children ages 5 and up. The Bricks and Sticks exhibit featured A LOT of building blocks for children and adults to build fantastic cities, skyscrapers and anything else you can think of. ClimbIt was also really fun: it's a two-story floating structure where kids can pretend to be in a far away place and climb and crawl through the webby, windy path.
LICM is located on Museum Row, which also includes The Cradle of Aviation, the Nassau County Firefighter's Museum and the Long Island Museum for Science and Technology. LICM is only an hour away from here, so you can easily make a day out of it. For more information about visiting, visit www.licm.org.
PLACES TO EAT
We chose to eat lunch at Leo's Restaurant in Garden City, which was packed with locals (always a good sign). The menu had standard bar and grill-type food: I had a tasty tuna and bacon club sandwich, while the kids enjoyed chicken fingers and french fries.
There are plenty of other places to eat along Jericho Turnpike on the way to LICM including Panera, Applebee's and a McDonald's housed in a Victorian-style house. I have not had McDonald's in ages, but the building is enough for me to give in to a Big Mac next time!
Disclosure: Macaroni Kid of Northern & Pascack Valley was provided complimentary tickets in exchange for this review.
