Brooklyn Children's Museum
Brooklyn Children's Museum
4
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
About
A wonderful place to spend the day with the family, this museum houses a remarkable, kid-friendly collection of 20,000 cultural artifacts and natural history specimens, plus live plants and animals, and award-winning exhibitions.
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The area
Address
Neighborhood: Crown Heights
How to get there
- Kingston Ave • 8 min walk
- Kingston–Throop Aves • 9 min walk
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.0
205 reviews
Excellent
85
Very good
69
Average
30
Poor
12
Terrible
9
MARIA G
1 contribution
Dec 2022
The wild life exhibits are dusty and tired looking. Very small museum with limited exhibits But there is potential for improvement on what they have. Compared with Philadelphia please touch museum, it was not worth the entrance fee.
Written December 27, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Steve L
1 contribution
Aug 2022
Extremely hot inside. Air conditioning is essentially broken. Temps in the 80's inside. No fun at all for my kids. Nothing else interesting in that area. It cost us $56 to enter and $80 to get a Lyft out of the area. AVOID this place!
Written August 14, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Autumn M
Stamford, CT3,551 contributions
Jan 2023 • Family
My four year old liked the museum. He did get bored fairly quickly. After one pretend market all the others seemed redundant. The ice skating ring at the top was cheap plastic and an additional charge. I paid for both and was told there was an extra $10 pp on top. The museum had fun parts, but definitely needs updating. It will be too young for my son by next year.
Written January 15, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Linda D
Niangua, MO26 contributions
Jun 2023 • Family
Nice children’s museum. Clean and inviting. There are a variety of areas to explore. Our 6 year old had a great time! There is a separate area just for toddlers, but the area for the older kids is also appropriate for toddlers. Everyone we encounter was pleasant and polite. I don’t recall hearing any crying children so they must have all been enjoying themselves! 😊
Restrooms were clean.
There is a cafeteria style eating area with kid friendly options. We did not eat there though because we weren’t there during a meal time so I can’t speak to the quality of the food or the cost.
This was a wonderful stop on our vacation. It allowed our kiddo to have a fun break from the site seeing and we got to see Brooklyn in the process. Win, win.
Restrooms were clean.
There is a cafeteria style eating area with kid friendly options. We did not eat there though because we weren’t there during a meal time so I can’t speak to the quality of the food or the cost.
This was a wonderful stop on our vacation. It allowed our kiddo to have a fun break from the site seeing and we got to see Brooklyn in the process. Win, win.
Written July 10, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
ktbelle2012
New York39 contributions
Nov 2019
I took my daughter there in November 2019 for their Dia de los Muertos celebration. I was very disappointed. In one of the activities, the staff were not attentive to those participating. One of the activities they had planned, and one we were looking forward to doing, was in a small sensory room where you needed a reservation (which was not mentioned on their website). For such an activity, it should have been in a bigger room. We loved getting our faces painted for the "calavera", but that was the only highlight of our trip. If you're looking for a rainy day activity, get creative with home games.
Written August 17, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
MarcAnthony
New York City, NY19 contributions
Sep 2017 • Family
My nephew went to the Brooklyn Children's Museum as he does twice per month. There is a new exhibit called Markeryard that the website describes "invites children to test their motor skills and imaginations as they construct, build, and invent structures and other creations using everyday materials such as cardboard, tape, fabric, string..."
My nephew is 3 years of age and spent 45 minutes using glue, tape and paper making a robot that he named "Sarah". He was so proud and couldn't wait to show his mom when he got home! We took pictures, video, the works. Upon leaving, a very "rough" female security guard said Cooper was not permitted to take home his robot of paper, cardboard, and string. They said its the museums policy and that the kids robot needed to stay behind. When it was questioned, the response was that the art would be dismantled and the materials reused. Little Cooper when told he couldn't take "Sarah" home started to cry. Talking to the security guard, she refused to listen. "What if we just took it anyway?" was the question... She replied, we will confiscate it from you. "You would take a cardboard and paper art work from a 3 year old toddler?" "Yes" was the answer.
This is a big miss with the Brooklyn Children's Museum. There is nothing posted online or in the room that children would not be allowed to take home their art. There is no other option to make a donation for the materials or to purchase it for an additional fee. The ridiculousness that they are going to rip off paper, cardboard and string and reuse it is laughable.
Needless to say we will never be back again. There are dozens of other options where museums are not in the business of making 3 year olds cry.
My nephew is 3 years of age and spent 45 minutes using glue, tape and paper making a robot that he named "Sarah". He was so proud and couldn't wait to show his mom when he got home! We took pictures, video, the works. Upon leaving, a very "rough" female security guard said Cooper was not permitted to take home his robot of paper, cardboard, and string. They said its the museums policy and that the kids robot needed to stay behind. When it was questioned, the response was that the art would be dismantled and the materials reused. Little Cooper when told he couldn't take "Sarah" home started to cry. Talking to the security guard, she refused to listen. "What if we just took it anyway?" was the question... She replied, we will confiscate it from you. "You would take a cardboard and paper art work from a 3 year old toddler?" "Yes" was the answer.
This is a big miss with the Brooklyn Children's Museum. There is nothing posted online or in the room that children would not be allowed to take home their art. There is no other option to make a donation for the materials or to purchase it for an additional fee. The ridiculousness that they are going to rip off paper, cardboard and string and reuse it is laughable.
Needless to say we will never be back again. There are dozens of other options where museums are not in the business of making 3 year olds cry.
Written September 24, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
megan h
Hunter Valley, Australia163 contributions
Dec 2014 • Family
We are from Australia and had higher expectations of this place and we were definitely disappointed by it. The children (3 and 7) both enjoyed most the activities however some of the activities had children not wanting to share and parents not caring to step in and explain that we all pay the same price and that sharing is what we must all do. The activities need a little updating.
Written January 29, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
martinev123
Dorking, UK61 contributions
Nov 2019 • Family
Very disappointed at the fact there is little space and enrichment fir these poor things.
People know better now and it is not a good example to show creatures in these conditions.
They need to re think as it will put people off( and it should).
Boycott until it gets up to date
People know better now and it is not a good example to show creatures in these conditions.
They need to re think as it will put people off( and it should).
Boycott until it gets up to date
Written November 8, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
NadiaR777
Ottawa, Canada35 contributions
Jan 2017 • Family
Given that we stayed in Brooklyn during our latest trip to NYC, we decided to try something closer for the kids. This place has such good reviews that honestly, I expected way more. The museum is really out-of-date, many interactive things that the kids could play with are broken, everything just looked and felt old. It's also a very small and limited museum.
The food sold at the cafeteria upstairs... was inedible, but was overpriced all the same. I'm guessing that this museum would be the right fit for someone that goes there often to kill time and let their kids burn off some energy, but we visited as tourists and didn't haul our own food, so it was a big downer for us.
I can't comment on the toddler room - it looks interesting, but we didn't go in (one of the kids was overage).
We've visited other children's museums, and this one was by far below our expectation. I'm giving it 2 stars only because the kids seemed to like some things; otherwise, it wasn't worth it for us.
The food sold at the cafeteria upstairs... was inedible, but was overpriced all the same. I'm guessing that this museum would be the right fit for someone that goes there often to kill time and let their kids burn off some energy, but we visited as tourists and didn't haul our own food, so it was a big downer for us.
I can't comment on the toddler room - it looks interesting, but we didn't go in (one of the kids was overage).
We've visited other children's museums, and this one was by far below our expectation. I'm giving it 2 stars only because the kids seemed to like some things; otherwise, it wasn't worth it for us.
Written January 25, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
NoSleepFromBrooklyn
New York City, NY826 contributions
Mar 2016 • Family
his unique indoor play space brings to life an enjoyable balance of educational yet playful experiences. I didn't expect such a huge range of subject matter. I also didn't expect my daughter to take such interest in the parts she did. Brooklyn Children's Museum is a NYC's educational treasure.
The museum is large at over 100,000 square feet. It's well designed into three different levels and the layout allows you to easily experience each section without accidentally missing anything. As you enter you walk into a visual playground. We were immediately drawn to the tunnel made of corrugated metal with neon rainbow lighting and water flowing through a structure in the center. There's not much to actually do in the tunnel, but it set the tone for our day. From there we wandered from section to section, allowing our daughter to take the lead on where she wanted to explore.
Totally Tots
This is a gated space dedicated for little ones ages 0-5. This area features several sensory sections as creative as their names like: Baby Patch, Kids' Quarry, Sand Spot, Peek-A-Boutique, Play Pond, Reading Nook, and Parent Junction. Our daughter has outgrown this section so we didn't spend any time here. Although I did step in to see what it was like and found it precious. Full of little kids splashing, making a big mess and proud parents standing around smiling and snapping photos.
Neighborhood Nature
This area allows kids of all ages to learn about ecosystems through hands on play.
My daughter played with a magnifying glass to investigate flowers, experimented with dam building and got a peek at what it's like to be a duck by poking her head up through a dome in the middle of a pond. This area was my favorite. The displays are unusual, interactive but most of all they are fun. There's also a chance to see turtles, lizards, birds and a touch tank with star fish and other sea creatures.
World Brooklyn
This is a really charming mini strip of kid-sized stores. Each model looks like a real business in an actual NYC neighborhood. With all the families walking in and out you really get the sense you're in a legit shopping district. The pretend store concept is a classic in most children's museums I've visited, but this one is done better. The stores are a little bigger, the features are a little nicer and overall they are much better designed. As with all other museums, items were misplaced, damaged or other kids were already using them. My daughter was disappointed she didn't get to play with the conveyor belt the minute she wanted to...but I call that a life lesson. Her frustration was easily distracted when she saw a real life Vespa-like scooter she could try.
Greenhouse and Garden
Alongside the Neighborhood Nature section is a greenhouse and garden area filled with lush local vegetation and some wildlife. I saw clipboards where you could check off what you saw including specific types of birds, trees and insects all located within this area. I was eager to do this with my daughter. However the day we visited there was a special project hosted in this area which won her attention. An instructor set up little work stations where kids learned how to conduct electricity using circuits and play dough. If they built it correctly a light would turn on, or a buzzer would sound. To my surprise my little 4 year old daughter thrived playing with this experiment. She loved it so we spent a bit of time in this area.
Collections Central
This area is located upstairs. It's a large wide open space filled with different sections to explore plus a great view of their gorgeous roof space. We played with colorful tiles on a light box, pieced together some artifacts and created art using strips of fabric on a fence. My favorite part was when my daughter took a seat on a sketching bench and asked her dad to pose so she could draw him. We took her seriously, he stuck a pose and she sketched away. I stood in the background trying not to laugh too loud and snapped my favorite picture of them to date.
Cafe
We also took a break at the cafe where our daughter ate the lunch we brought for her from home and we ate from their restaurant EAT. The food was reasonable but slightly pricey for what we had.
Tips:
The Museum is designed for kids between the ages of 2 and 10.
Admission is $11 per person, under one year old is free.
Every Thursday 2-6 is free!
There's a great playground and park located behind the museum.
Bring your own lunch to make a full day outing.
We drove and easily found street parking.
The museum is accessible via public transportation.
Coat check and stroller check are free.
I saw a few strollers being used throughout the museum but you're encouraged to check them.
This is a great rainy day activity with kids.
The museum is large at over 100,000 square feet. It's well designed into three different levels and the layout allows you to easily experience each section without accidentally missing anything. As you enter you walk into a visual playground. We were immediately drawn to the tunnel made of corrugated metal with neon rainbow lighting and water flowing through a structure in the center. There's not much to actually do in the tunnel, but it set the tone for our day. From there we wandered from section to section, allowing our daughter to take the lead on where she wanted to explore.
Totally Tots
This is a gated space dedicated for little ones ages 0-5. This area features several sensory sections as creative as their names like: Baby Patch, Kids' Quarry, Sand Spot, Peek-A-Boutique, Play Pond, Reading Nook, and Parent Junction. Our daughter has outgrown this section so we didn't spend any time here. Although I did step in to see what it was like and found it precious. Full of little kids splashing, making a big mess and proud parents standing around smiling and snapping photos.
Neighborhood Nature
This area allows kids of all ages to learn about ecosystems through hands on play.
My daughter played with a magnifying glass to investigate flowers, experimented with dam building and got a peek at what it's like to be a duck by poking her head up through a dome in the middle of a pond. This area was my favorite. The displays are unusual, interactive but most of all they are fun. There's also a chance to see turtles, lizards, birds and a touch tank with star fish and other sea creatures.
World Brooklyn
This is a really charming mini strip of kid-sized stores. Each model looks like a real business in an actual NYC neighborhood. With all the families walking in and out you really get the sense you're in a legit shopping district. The pretend store concept is a classic in most children's museums I've visited, but this one is done better. The stores are a little bigger, the features are a little nicer and overall they are much better designed. As with all other museums, items were misplaced, damaged or other kids were already using them. My daughter was disappointed she didn't get to play with the conveyor belt the minute she wanted to...but I call that a life lesson. Her frustration was easily distracted when she saw a real life Vespa-like scooter she could try.
Greenhouse and Garden
Alongside the Neighborhood Nature section is a greenhouse and garden area filled with lush local vegetation and some wildlife. I saw clipboards where you could check off what you saw including specific types of birds, trees and insects all located within this area. I was eager to do this with my daughter. However the day we visited there was a special project hosted in this area which won her attention. An instructor set up little work stations where kids learned how to conduct electricity using circuits and play dough. If they built it correctly a light would turn on, or a buzzer would sound. To my surprise my little 4 year old daughter thrived playing with this experiment. She loved it so we spent a bit of time in this area.
Collections Central
This area is located upstairs. It's a large wide open space filled with different sections to explore plus a great view of their gorgeous roof space. We played with colorful tiles on a light box, pieced together some artifacts and created art using strips of fabric on a fence. My favorite part was when my daughter took a seat on a sketching bench and asked her dad to pose so she could draw him. We took her seriously, he stuck a pose and she sketched away. I stood in the background trying not to laugh too loud and snapped my favorite picture of them to date.
Cafe
We also took a break at the cafe where our daughter ate the lunch we brought for her from home and we ate from their restaurant EAT. The food was reasonable but slightly pricey for what we had.
Tips:
The Museum is designed for kids between the ages of 2 and 10.
Admission is $11 per person, under one year old is free.
Every Thursday 2-6 is free!
There's a great playground and park located behind the museum.
Bring your own lunch to make a full day outing.
We drove and easily found street parking.
The museum is accessible via public transportation.
Coat check and stroller check are free.
I saw a few strollers being used throughout the museum but you're encouraged to check them.
This is a great rainy day activity with kids.
Written April 4, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
what was there for your one year old?
Ava B
High Point, NC12 contributions
My friend has been here before but I haven't.
She did facetime me and showed me a bit and i think i saw my baby things on the first or second floor to the left.
ksalioto
New York City, NY
Children 13 months?
shopaholic1979
Amsterdam, The Netherlands41 contributions
Hello! I don't think there is much to do for a 13 months old kid :(
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