The Children's Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) announces a full roster of exhibitions and classes now available at The Tisch Building, 212 West 83rd Street New York, NY 10024. For more information, please visit https://cmom.org/exhibitions/  and https://cmom.org/learn/.

“NYC is a magical place for children and the Children's Museum of Manhattan is one of our City's most unique and often hidden gems,” said CMOM CEO Dava Schub. “Take a break from the hustle and bustle of the city streets and treat your young travelers to hours of joyful play, art making and exploration throughout our 4-floors of exhibits and interactive experiences. Each year CMOM welcomes in 350,000 people from NYC and those who visit us from across the world and, we look forward to welcoming you and your family on your visit to NYC.”

ON-GOING EXHIBITIONS

Adventures with Dora and Diego
2nd Floor
Ages 2 – 6 years

Join Diego on a series of high stakes animal rescue missions. Learn facts about animals and their habitats by helping Diego rescue animals in trouble. Explore a cave, a beach and the rainforest, or rub animal footprints, even build a Spectacled Bear’s nest! Get ready for a fabulous fiesta at Dora’s house! Drive Tico’s car, build the walls of Rainbow Bridge or jump across the lake to arrive at Dora’s house to play drums and pretend to cook Latin American foods. By helping Dora and her friends get to the fiesta, your child will learn problem-solving skills, develop math and language abilities, and gain a greater appreciation and awareness of Latin American culture. ¡Vámonos! Let’s go!

Inside Art: Create, Climb, Collaborate
First Floor
3 – 10 years

Inside Art: Create, Climb, Collaborate is the third edition of CMOM’s acclaimed exhibition series designed to provide meaningful engagement with contemporary art and artists. The exhibition is inspired by creative placemaking, which uses the arts to shape a location and promote social change. The pieces selected for this show encourage community, collaboration, and immersive exploration of new ideas.

Inside Art: Create, Climb, Collaborate continues our tradition of providing families access to beautiful, complex, and challenging art, as well as access to working artists and opportunities for artmaking.

The exhibition features:

 - Immersive art installations and sculptures by: Aya Rodriguez-Izumi; Isidro Blasco; Damien Davis; Carlos Jesus Martinez Dominguez; Borinquen Gallo; Joiri Minaya; and Yeju & Chat.
 - A multi-story structure, originally designed by BARarchitekten architects, features art by: Ebony Bolt; Francisco Donoso; Tijay Mohammed; and Armita Raafat.
 - Daily artmaking programs with CMOM art educators and visiting artists.
 - An Artist-in-Residence Collaborative Installation program where selected artists develop works-in-progress for Museum visitors to contribute.
 
Come celebrate art as a vehicle for building healthy communities and explore ideas of home and identity at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.

Funding for Inside Art and programs is provided by the Ford Foundation and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

PlayWorks
3rd Floor
Ages birth – 4 years

We’ve designed every aspect of PlayWorks™ to help families prepare children to enter school ready to learn and grow. By combining play and learning, PlayWorks™ creates a fun and rewarding experience for children.

As children explore PlayWorks™ and participate in free, daily, drop-in Art Lab programs, they build their physical, social, math, art, science, literacy and problem-solving abilities—as well as the self-confidence, independence and awareness necessary for them to become life-long learners.

For adults, PlayWorks™ provides an opportunity to observe each child’s unique learning style and appreciate how play creates a strong foundation for later learning. This innovative 4,000 square foot environment includes Alphie—a giant talking dragon who “eats” letters, a deli, a fire truck, an MTA bus, sand area, giant 6 ft. mural painting wall, soft space for crawlers and more!

Get more resources to support your child’s language development with CMOM’s All the Way to K and Beyond!

Find fun tips and activities to support your child’s brain development at Vroom.org.

Right to Vote
A temporary inset in the Inside Art exhibition on the 1st floor
2 & up

To commemorate the centennial of women’s suffrage, and the upcoming presidential election, the installation explores what voting is and why it matters, how people effect change by working together, and the role of the president of the United States. Underlying the installation messaging is the importance of thoughtful decision-making and open-minded listening, reiterating that voting and community movements are ways we work together for the greater good.

Area 1-Your Vote Counts
Visitors “vote” for one of three options by placing a ballot in one of three voting cases. Topics change, and examples include: clean water for all, more parks and pools, free food at schools.

Area 2- If I Were President
Children pretend play in the Oval Office, taking calls, making decisions, and signing important documents.

Area 3- Moving Forward Together- Suffragists
Visitors explore a wall-mounted finger maze to see which suffragist they are most like, and learn more about the suffrage movement.

Area 4- Share your voice!
Visitors can create their own posters, sashes, ballots, and more! By exploring methods used by women to attain the right to vote over a century ago, we see that these same skills and tactics are still relevant today when we want to make our voices heard. Art materials and CMOM educators are available to engage visitors.

Superpowered Metropolis: Early Learning City

Lower Level
Ages birth – 6 years
NOW OPEN!

Superpowered Metropolis: Early Learning City™ is a hands-on, interactive, and colorfully, immersive exhibition where you are the heroes! Step into a playful, comic book version of New York City where a lively team of pigeons, Zip, Zap, and Zoom, serve as your guides to superpowered fun and learning.

The 1,500 square-foot exhibit invites children from birth to 6 and their grown-ups to feel like heroes, building their superpowered early learning brain skills together. These skills, known as executive functions, include self-control, working memory, and mental flexibility. Children practice these learning “superpowers” with Zip, Zap, and Zoom, who guide families on a series of NYC adventures exploring the subways, parks, music, travel, treehouses, and more.

 - Climb to the top of a magical two-story Treehouse Headquarters equipped with a map, telescope, periscope, and slide to plan your adventures
 - Navigate colorful tunnels, tracks, and waterways at a multi-level Supercharged NYC Train Table
 - Create original city sounds with one-of-a-kind instruments in the Musical Subway Car
 - Chase the floating scarves at the Whimsical Wind Blowing Fountain
 - Get a call from Zip, Zap, and Zoom at the Superpowered Phone Booth and head out on a Metropolis mission
 - Enter Baby Central Station, a mini learning hub inspired by Grand Central Station and specially designed for birth to 2 year-olds with climb-on trains, a starry sky, and sensory stations
 - Play three digital Brain Building Games designed by NYU’s CREATE Lab
 - Explore the sounds and smells of NYC while driving in the Pigeon Mobile
 
The exhibit is designed to help children develop, enhance, and practice their executive function skills, which are critical for the early development of both cognitive and social capacities. Executive functions are essential for social-emotional well-being and academic success. Every child is born with the ability to strengthen these skills, and it is the daily interactions with adults that help the skills develop. The exhibit shares tips, games, and activities for the adults and children to play together at the Museum, at home, and around the city.

Stepping into the comic-book-inspired NYC world, families meet the team of Superpowered Pigeons™ that embody the learning superpowers:

 - ZIP, Self-Control Champion – A calm coach who encourages ‘power pauses’ before acting, thinking things through, resisting distractions, following directions, and taking turns.
 - ZAP, Working Memory Master – A witty thinker who juggles information in mind, and is always at the ready, remembering instructions, and skillfully organizing and sorting information.
 - ZOOM, Mental Flexibility Guru – A curious inventor who sees things from multiple perspectives, switches gears easily and solves problems creatively.
 
Support for Superpowered Metropolis: Early Learning City is provided by the Bezos Family Foundation and its early learning program, Vroom, which provides science-based tips and tools to inspire families to turn everyday moments into Brain Building Moments.

CLASSES

Learning with the Museum

We combine fun and learning in everything we do! Based on research, evaluation, and testing, our exhibitions, classes, workshops and professional development opportunities are all designed to address multiple learning styles. Our Museum educators are committed to working with parents, educators and caregivers to ensure that experiences we offer, both at the Museum and through our outreach programs, enrich children’s lives and support lifelong learning.

Family Classes

Your child belongs in a museum! The Children’s Museum Early Childhood Program will introduce your child to New York City’s cultural resources through our dynamic, award-winning exhibits; guest artists; and brain-boosting experiences in art, science, math, culture and more. Our classes are engaging and developmentally appropriate for children from twelve months to 4 years. All classes align with Pre-K learning standards.

Spring classes will take place from January 2024 - June 2024.

Play Groups

Come Play at CMOM! When CMOM is closed, we open the space for private playgroups. Your children and their friends will enjoy exclusive use of one of our exhibits: Playworks™, Adventures with Dora and Diego or EatSleepPlay™: Building Health Every Day. Contact Alexandra at [email protected] or 212-721-1223 x201 for more information.

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan is a steward of early childhood, helping all children grow and develop into their best selves. Through our programs on-site, online, and around the five boroughs, CMOM nurtures the next generation of creative global citizens as they learn through exploration and play. CMOM encourages empathy across differences by elevating and providing insight into diverse perspectives and inviting visitors of all backgrounds to join our intentionally welcoming community and create and learn alongside each other. The museum’s program reflects the rich cultural diversity, energy, and resilience of New York City itself and has a special focus on ensuring that its program is available to those families who might not otherwise have access.

Founded in 1973 as a neighborhood organization, CMOM has grown over the years into a beloved destination and resource for children, families, and educators from across the five boroughs and from around the world. The museum welcomes 350,000 visitors each year to its Upper West Side location and engages hundreds of thousands more through its outreach programs in partnership with schools, libraries, shelters, and Head Start centers throughout New York City; its touring exhibitions; and its online tools and curricula.