Category: new york

Visiting the New York Hall of Science with Kids (A Sensory-Friendly, Low-Stress Family Outing in Queens)

On By justmymomsenseIn new york, TravelLeave a comment

My husband and I recently took our 11- and 9-year-old to the New York Hall of Science, in Queen, NY and I’m already looking forward to going back.

If you’re searching for any of the following, then I’m happy to share our family’s experience:

  • Things to do in Queens with kids
  • Sensory-friendly museums in NYC
  • Indoor activities for kids in New York
  • STEM activities for tweens

Why We Chose the Hall of Science

The Hall of Science has been on our “we should go there someday” list for a while. But recently, my kids have been on a serious science kick. We recently got the book ‘The Mysteries of the Universe’ during a trip to Barnes & Noble, we’ve been watching Mark Rober’s CrunchLabs on Netflix and my 9 year old used her money to buy a microscope.

Needless to say, it felt like the right time.

Library Passes

We got free passes through our local library. This is such a huge perk of having a library card. For anyone that does, check your local library, wherever you are located, to see what passes they have available.

Of course free is always nice but it can change the way you move about the museum as well. When you don’t feel like you’ve just spent a significant amount of money, you don’t feel pressure to: stay for hours just to “get your money’s worth,” see every single exhibit or push tired kids past their limit. We could move at our own pace and when the kids were done, we left without guilt or stress.

Is the New York Hall of Science Sensory-Friendly?

I love how many museums, theme parks and even movie theaters are offering sensory-friendly aspects to their experience. The Hall of Science was no different.

The museum provides information for sensory-sensitive visitors, including a Sensory Hour on Saturdays, a Sensory Sensitive backpack with tools that can help kids get through the museum easier and more! You can read all about the Hall of Science’s Sensory Sensitive offerings by visiting their website.

The space is hands-on, interactive, and allows kids to engage at their own comfort level. My kids gravitated toward the exhibits that let them experiment.

Practical Tips for Visiting the Hall of Science in Queens

  • Parking is $15 (free with many library passes)
  • There’s a café and gift shop (we skipped the café this time)
  • It’s a great indoor activity for winter in NYC
  • Check the website for sensory and neurodiverse programming before you go

We’ll absolutely return be back and can’t wait to see the exhibits we missed and get to play some mini golf when the weather is nicer!

Suffolk County Public Libraries Summer Tour

On By justmymomsenseIn new york, writing challengeLeave a comment

If you follow me on Instagram, you have seen some of our library hauls through the years. We love our library and are there at least once a week, usually more. When Suffolk County announced plans for a library summer tour, we knew we had to check it out!

One library in particular was definitely a sensory friendly favorite!

Suffolk County is one of two counties in Long Island, NY. Long Island consists of two counties, Nassau and Suffolk. In total, there are 62 counties in all of NY state.

For this summer tour, each of my kids got their own passport book that they could personalize with their name and home library. From July 1 – August 31, every time we visited a library, they would receive a stamp in their passport. There were also three different milestones in order be entered into raffles:

5 library stamps: One entry into a raffle for a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card

15 library stamps: One entry into a raffle for a $1000 Barnes & Noble gift card

25 library stamps: One entry into a raffle for a Nook & $25 Barnes & Noble gift card

Up until this tour, we had only frequented two libraries prior, so most of these were new for us. In total we visited 16, receiving 15 stamps (we saw two libraries from the same branch) and visited our home library numerous times throughout the summer.

Let’s start with our favorite sensory friendly library:

Sachem

The thing that stood out to us most at Sachem was definitely Discovery Grove.

Discovery Grove is an outdoor classroom for children birth through 5th grade and their caregiver. Each area provides children with many learning opportunities in math, science, music, and art while promoting imaginative play, problem-solving skills, and socialization. These experiences provide occasions to hone their fine and gross motor skills, expand language and communication skills, and gain confidence to engage in new experiences and environments. – Sachem Library Website

There were areas for digging, building, climbing and more. All the senses can be activated through water play, instruments, heavy work and creativity. We spent so much time out in Discovery Grove and my kids started working together to build a house. This is definitely a spot we will be visiting again!

Here is a list (in no particular order) of the other libraries we visited and what stood out to us about each location:

  • Northport and East Northport
    • These two buildings are a part of the same branch and located a few minutes from each other. They had great kid areas, a fun scavenger hunt to locate literary characters throughout the children’s section and East Northport has a great playground right outside.
    • Fun Fact from the passport book: At Northport, we have a commemorative statue of The Little Prince and at East-Northport, the whimsical Library Bear!
  • Cold Spring Harbor
    • This is probably the prettiest library we visited. Located on a hill with water views, this library was quiet, quaint and had live streams from other countries scrolling on a monitor in the children’s section.
    • Fun Fact from the passport book: The library is located directly on the Cold Spring Harbor State Park & Green Belt Trail.
  • Huntington
    • This library is in a great location in the heart of Huntington. After your visit, you can easily walk to local restaurants and shops.
    • Fun Fact from the passport book: The main building used to be the NY Telephone Building.
  • South Huntington
    • The children’s section was big, bright and had a big offering of books and movies. There’s also a great play area!
    • Fun Fact from the passport book: We have a large terra cotta fish tank!
  • Elwood
    • This library is small, cute, friendly and the highlight for us was the chess board! My son played chess for the first time and won!
    • Fun fact from the passport book: Our building was a former Blockbuster Video.
  • Harborfields
    • Large children’s area, including a quiet cubby for movie watching. Right next door, you’ll also find a great playground!
    • Fun fact from the passport book: We opened to the public in a 10-by-50-foot trailer parked on a grass strip on January 10, 1971.
  • Commack
    • This library had a super modern feel. The children’s area was big, bright and had an awesome interactive gaming table.
    • Fun fact from the passport book: The Children’s Room has LED lighting in the ceiling which can change colors throughout the day by patron request!
  • Half Hollow Hills
    • Walking up to and into this library immediately gave us the feeling that we were in a new school! Next to the book section was a big playroom for smaller children!
    • Fun fact from the passport book: The Melville Branch was originally the Old Melville Schoolhouse.
  • Deer Park
    • Some libraries had more of an offering of specific books my kids were looking for than others. At Deer Park, there was a large selection of Easy Readers which was exciting for my 6 year old!
    • Fun fact from the passport book: We aren’t the only Deer Park Public LIbrary. There are three others in Texas, Cincinnati, and Toronto.
  • Sayville
    • Driving up to it my kids said “is this a hotel?!” This library is super convenient to the LIRR and has a big children’s section. If you’re driving, be aware that parking is located in the back.
    • Fun fact from the passport book: We have a little free pet pantry!
  • Central Islip
    • The children’s section was decked out in a space theme, complete with inflatable aliens.
    • Fun fact from the passport book: We have an art gallery!
  • Hauppauge
    • This library was all in on Barbie! There were Barbie and Ken photo frames set up and a Barbie themed door hanger craft.
    • Fun fact from the passport book: We have a summer outdoor event series called Fridays Out Front.
  • The Smithtown Library Nesconset Building
    • Crafts inside in the Children’s area and plenty to do outside with a playground, tennis courts and more!
    • Fun fact from the passport book: Between 1909 & 1912 the library’s collection was housed in a small building that still stands today on the Smithtown Historical Society’s property.

We are thankful for this summer tour because it got us to visit libraries we may never have otherwise. The libraries all had friendly staffs, great collections of books (and yes we got at least one book from each) and so much to offer their communities.