Long Island museums: Kids summer exhibits take the fun inside and out
Find a "Thomas the Tank Engine" exhibit at the Long Island Children’s Museum in Uniondale this summer. Credit: Minnesota Children's Museum
Long Island museums offer equally exciting outdoor and indoor exhibits come summer. It’s as if you get two museums in one. Outdoors, you can try everything from a scavenger hunt through a sculpture garden to a smartphone photo walk on a wildlife trail. Indoors, find everything from galleries filled with street art to a Thomas the Tank Engine train extravaganza.
Here are highlights at three museums with meaningful exhibits from the inside out.
THE SOUTH FORK NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM (SOFO)
INDOORS: Reptiles and amphibians are here all year while fish, crabs and sea animals change with the seasons. Finny Dianora-Brondal, 15, of Sag Harbor, attends events at SOFO regularly along with his brother, Ollie. Finny says, “There’s a pretty big table tank in the museum — a big pool of water with animals inside it. You get to hold marine life like sea stars.”
OUTDOORS: The grounds include butterfly and wildflower gardens, ponds, nesting sites, nature walks, and trails interconnecting with woods, wetlands and wildlife.
The Black Racer Snake Search and Salamander Seining are a few favorite events. Melanie Meade, education director, says programs rotate and coordinate with the seasons.
Kayaking and boat trips to observe shore birds and salt marsh wildlife are other favorites, plus bird walks; smartphone nature photography events; and Dragon Fly Day.
MORE INFO: 377 Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Tpke., Bridgehampton; 631-531-9375, sofo.org; $10, $7 ages 3-12
Ella Hadden (top left), 2 and Duncan Ball (top right), 2, play with bubbles. A "Find a Thomas the Tank Engine" exhibit (top middle and bottom left.) A traveling "Very Eric Carle: A Very Hungry, Quiet, Lonely, Clumsy, Busy Exhibit," (bottom right) at the Long Island Children's Museum in Garden City, November 2023. Credit: Danielle Silverman, Minnesota Children's Museum and Larry Rippel
LONG ISLAND CHILDREN’S MUSEUM
INDOORS: Maureen Mangan, director of communications and marketing, says, “In 2020, we had a Thomas the Tank Engine exhibit ready to open. But when COVID hit, we had to close our doors and send the exhibit on its way.” Since then, people have been asking, “When will it come back?” Mangan exclaims with excitement: “Now it’s here!” (May 25-Sept. 8).
Kids can walk inside a life-size Thomas the Tank Engine car. There’s also a ticket booth, and costumes for kids to wear and pretend they’re ticket sellers. Kids can design their own train track trails and line up Thomas’ train car buddies (Percy, etc.) for a railroad adventure. “It’s a great storytelling opportunity,” Mangan says. “Kids will interact naturally.”
OUTDOORS: The museum’s seasonal backyard exhibit features a water play area that will be ready for fun on June 1. The outdoor exhibits feature fun opportunities for kids to explore nature and science. Every week there’s a different theme with a hands-on activity. Mangan says, “Kids can help gather data about monarch butterflies in the milkweed garden.” Kids can also learn about the wind as they make pinwheels. On Aug. 16 and 17, it’s Honey Hoopla Day. A beekeeper will show visitors a hive enclosed in glass and demonstrate the way honey is collected.
MORE INFO: 11 Davis Ave., Uniondale; 516-224-5800, licm.org; $17 ages 2 and older
NASSAU COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART
INDOORS: The New Urban Art Evolution Exhibit (through July 7) is filled with the works of artists who were on the cutting edge of urban-inspired street art in NYC in the early ’80s. Laura Lynch, museum director of education, says, “Think about nontraditional ways of making art.” That includes a refrigerator painted with graffiti placed in the center of a gallery. “This can be a large 3D sculpture covered with painted art,” Lynch adds.
A new exhibit, known as “RED,” will run from July 20 through Nov. 10. It’s all about the color red and how we might see the world through its many shades. Depending on your perspective or culture, red might signify authority, love, energy, mourning, beauty, political movements and more.
OUTDOORS: There are 43 sculptures scattered around the museum’s 45-acre property. Some are on a path leading to the museum, while others can be found along trails or even in a pond. At the entrance, families can pick up a self-guided Outdoor Adventures Sculpture Search to identify each one.
MORE INFO: One Museum Dr., Roslyn; 516-484-9338, nassaumusem.org; arboretum, trails and sculpture garden: free; indoor exhibition entry $15, $5 ages 11-4