The LICM, Long Island Children's Museum, Hands on...Hands on...Hands On, Fun and educational too!!
Written: Jan 15 '04 (Updated Jun 04 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It has many hands on stations that are fun and educational.
Cons: Could get crowded with kids on field trips
The Bottom Line: This museum explores many facets of our every day experiences and makes them come alive through interaction.
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| popsrocks's Full Review: Long Island Children's Museum |
The Long Island Children's Museum has been around about ten years. I've been there. They moved to a new location about three years ago and this was my first visit to its new home.
I'll also mention a bit more about this location becoming a hub of museums. Read more at the end of this piece.
The museum is now housed in an old airplane hanger that has been gutted and had new construction of rooms, and multi-levels within. It is very attractive and easy to navigate. A map of the place is given upon payment for admission tickets.
SOME BASIC FACTS Direct from them.
11 Davis Avenue
Garden City, NY 11530
It's easy to find us.
The entrance to the museum and parking
is on Charles Lindbergh Boulevard.
Hours and days of operation.
Wednesday - Sunday
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
July and August
Tuesday - Sunday
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Due to limited capacity, timed tickets may be issued.
Last tickets are sold at 4:00 p.m.
I went on a weekday and though there were some bus loads of children on field trips, there was no problem of crowding or having to wait to enter or use any of the hands on materials.
Admission: The following is directly from their web page.
General admission: $8.00
Group rates by reservation only: $7-call (516) 224-5800
Members and children under 1 year are free.
Visitors over 65: $7
Membership does not guarantee admission when the museum is filled to capacity.
Children must be present at the time of ticket purchase. LICM reserves the right to refuse admission to adults unaccompanied by children.
Thank you for helping to keep our children safe.
The museum accepts MasterCard and Visa, and personal checks with a valid photo ID.
After experiencing the Museum and spending three very active hours there with my grand daughter, I felt the price reasonable. At the same time I feel a family rate, if even saving a couple of dollars, would be helpful to parents like me who have more that one or two children. My wife and I had five. This could have been an expensive outing.
Rest rooms are on the two main levels. They were clean and well stocked. Water fountains are also available.
There is a cafeteria where you can eat. They do not offer much. There is a vending machine with some liquid refreshments and snacks. The function of the cafeteria seems to be for field trip children who have brought their own lunch. Birthday parties can be arranged too.
On nearby Hempstead Turnpike are some restaurants and a McDonalds. Better yet, just a couple of hundred feet north of the museum is a Subway eatery. This is in part of a complex that houses military people. All are invited. It's in the same building as the commissary.
Except for one level in between the two main levels the museum is wheelchair and stroller accessible.
There is a 140 seat theatre that has special programs most weekends. I checked out a schedule for January and February. It seems they have multi-media shows. Clowning, Astronomy, Mime, Black History Month programs, Music writing and competition and more.
For more info:
LICM Theater Performances
Contact: James A Packard (516) 224-5845 jpackard@licm.org
The museum has a large gift store with toys, games, books, puzzles, kites, models and more. They have inexpensive to expensive items.
A DAY WITH MY GRAND DAUGHTER
Upon paying admission we checked our coats in an unmanned check area. Small lockers are available for a fee.
We gave our tickets and retained the stubs. Hands are stamped for re-admission. I had a nifty snake stamped on my hand.
We went directly upstairs via a ramp that is also the entrance to a climbing experience for children only. It looked a bit to complex and "scary" for my just four year old grand daughter. I asked and she said no, we moved on.
The museum is set into different investigative sections. The first we went into was about building. Blocks, balls, sticks and plastic tubing were all available for the kids to build two and three dimensional structures. We checked out the balls and she mad a pyramid with them, however she was drawn to the building blocks. A class of about forty kids came in while we were there. This did interrupt our quiet playtime but it's good to know that the field trip kids are escorted through the different sections fairly quickly. One moment it may seem like pandemonium and the next you are alone.
Though we had a few times where we shared rooms and exhibits with large groups, we never found that we could not get our hands on something.
Pattern Studio
And "Hands ON" is what this museum is about. We went into the Pattern Studio next. It started with multi-mirrored walls. My grand daughter enjoyed all the different mirrors. Within this section we were taught how patterns can repeat themselves and we can use them for our own pleasure as in decorating. Tiles, gears, hub caps, brick pattern and more were used to enhance the learning experience. Besides being able to pick up tiles, table top and full floor, and many other items, there were computers where one could select wallpaper patterns and colours and decorate a room.
Most sections had computers that re-enforced the message of the areas topic. I believe I can safely say all the areas had computers. The other thing to mention is that every computer we used worked!!
It's Alive
Here we were immersed into a Pine Barrens area like that found here on Long Island. Many three dimensional, "please touch", fish, mammals and other "living" items were available for kids to learn from. Some live fish in a tank along with a turtle and frog were also there. I have to say I enjoyed the room that presented information on humans. A skeleton, actual xrays of body parts and such were all there to touch feel and look at.
I liked some small hands on "puzzles" that taught the senses. One would smell something and try and match it with the correct item like pine trees, flowers, and cherries. The same was done with the touch. A child would feel the bottom of an item and place it in the corresponding home for it. Items like cork, sponge, rattan, and sand paper were used.
My grand daughter enjoyed using an oversized tooth brush to brush the teeth in an over sized jaw.
Changes and Challenges
This area was dedicated to how our bodies, due to birth problems, accidents, or aging may be needing help to navigate the everyday world challenges. How does a deaf person "hear" a fire alarm? How can a person who is blind communicate with a computer? What can you do if your hands are troubled with arthritis? What about transportation when one may be challenged in some way? Once again through examples and experience, these questions are answered.
One example they had was a bed that vibrated when it was time, for a person who could not hear, to wake up.
This section had to be explained by an adult to a child. There were puzzles with pictures depicting children with different handicaps playing. My grand daughter played with all of these.
Music
We went into a series of rooms where many musical instruments, mostly percussion, were available for the kids to play on.
Besides many rooms to hear the instruments, one room was dedicated to "feeling" the music through light. This slightly dimmed room had lights that could be worked with the music. Hit a drum and a strobe light flashes. Certain buttons displayed light patterns on the walls. The kids could work a spot light. There was even a listening room with CD's and a rocker to hear lullaby's from around the world.
Communication
This was broken up into many sections. There were a few highlights for my grand daughter. She loved the sound effects room at the radio station. She liked making thunder with the huge piece of sheet metal while I turned a wheel that worked against a yard of material to make wind sounds. Another tumbler made the sound of dripping rain. She kept wanting to go back and make more sound effects
I was taken back by my little grand daughter in the way she wanted to use the microphone for making radio announcements. She started talking without any prompting from me. This was fun with intro music and topical subjects that she did some "make believe" announcements of.
When we walked into the TV studio she became even more animated. She went directly behind the "News 12 Desk" and started talking into the microphone announcing the winners of a race. That all came from here mind. There is a prompter system that also helps the kids to work a weather map that they are superimposed on.
I was very surprised in that, except for one other grandpa and grand daughter, nobody else was in the room.
We also spent a lot of time with the telephones. If a particular phone was picked up you would then hear another phone ringing in the distance. Pick up that phone and you are connected to the first. She enjoyed calling on different phones. This worked with Morse code stations and even a simple PVC tubing system to talk to each other through.
There is a lot of detail of the place you will have to discover yourself. I'm skimming over what they have.
Downstairs
After going through all the upstairs area we went down to the bottom level. There is an elevator, stairs and a ramp system for getting up and down.
Bubbles
This was another popular place for my grandchild. They have large waist high tubs with a couple of inches of bubble mix with about ten 18"-20" wands to make huge bubbles. She loved doing this over and over.
She stepped into a huge circle where she could pull down on a rope and a ring would bring up a bubble around her full body. This was another winner that she enjoyed.
and more
tools
We went into the tool section where simple machines like levers, wheel and axle, incline plane, and more are explained and given hands on experience. There was even a tool shop where the kids could use hammers, saws, screwdrivers and such on wood. She hammered her first ever nail into wood and she was proud of herself. A craft area is there too. We made a couple of small things to bring home.
Sandy Island
This room gives attention the fact that we live on an island and through more "hands on" action we see how waves are formed, rocks turn to sand, and the island is always changing. This also included some small sand islands where kids could rake the sand and make patterns.
Totspot
This is a special area for kids five and under. It's popular and free but you do have to get an assigned time ticket for it. The sessions are one half hour and an adult must be in the room. There is a sitting area for adults who are not interacting with the kids.
The room was divided into play areas. There was a lighthouse to climb up to, a railroad station to work the ticket booth or just take a make believe ride. A small shopping area was there too. No, not Bloomingdales, it was a supermarket. Also available for the kids is a construction site with wheelbarrows and backhoe.
My grand daughter spent much of her time filling up the gas tank of a motorcycle. This room holds 40 kids at a time. There was plenty of space for all and the kids naturally started playing "make believe" with each other. There are attendants in the room too.
Attendants
Throughout the museum are mostly young people that are there to help monitor the kids and interact with them. Some were really into enjoying themselves with the kids and teaching them in a fun way. A few, very few, stood in pairs just talking with each other and not giving any attention to the kids.
I also noticed some of these young employees giving talks to the school groups. I'm not sure how that is arranged but if I were to take kids on a field trip there I would ask what that is all about.
In closing
We spent three hours at this place and it seemed like an hour. There was much that interested me and yet not my grand daughter and there was so much that interested her. She went from station to station trying out different hands on items. These items really did a wonderful job of explaining and teaching. I really enjoyed my time watching her learn and have fun at the same time.
Each room had items that could teach at different age levels. The museum is designed for kids up to age twelve.
My wife a middle school art teacher had taken 13 and 14 year olds to the museum. She told me they loved all the hands on displays.
I strongly recommend spending time at this museum with your children and grand children. Even if the kids have been there on a field trip, let them take you.
More information about "Museum Row"
In Nassau county, on part of what is known as the Hempstead Plains, was an old airfield named after a NYC mayor that died in aircraft training during World War I. The name of the place was Mitchel Field. This is where Charles Lindbergh took off to make the first, nonstop solo flight to Europe by airplane. The field was a very busy place in Long Island History but closed years ago. Many of the old hangers were getting ready for the wrecking ball.
They were used in different ways over the years after closing, in fact, I remember on was made into a music entertainment hall. I think the name was Murry the K's World. Murry was a local top DJ. I remember going there to see a band some buddies of mine were in.
More recently the county has taken a fairly aggressive move, though it seems the funding is getting harder to get, in making part of the historic airport into a hub of museums. Just a few hangers down is the Cradle of Aviation This is a wonderful museum dedicated to flight on Long Island. I did not realize how important this area was to flight here in the United States. Everything from first flight records, World War I and II aircraft, jets, rockets and two actual LEMS used for landing on the moon are in this place. Real moon rock too!
Two other places that are to be up within the next couple of years are The Firefighters Museum and Education Center and The Science and Technology Museum.
Years ago I used to take my kids to a small amusement park in Baldwin Long Island. The name was Nunley's. It closed down years ago and the county took possession of the Merry-Go-Round that was part of the amusement center. This was built in 1912 and first resided in Coney Island. It seems that the Merry-Go-Round will find a new home as part of this area with the Cradle of Aviation, Children's Museum, and more to come on Museum Row. I look forward to my children, who we took to Nunley's, taking their children on that very same Merry-Go-Round. I will update as I learn more.
Long Island Destinations and Eats
Cradle of Aviation Museum
Nassau County Firefighters Museum and Education Center
Nunley's Carousel Now at home next door to the Children's Museum
Borrelli's Italian Restaurant Good Eats and not far from the Children's Museum
Marriot Hotel Five minutes from the Children's Museum
Adventureland A Long island Amusement Park
Old Bethpage Village Restoration
Freeport's Nautical Mile A wonderful summer destination!!
Freeport's South Street Seaport
Rachel's Waterside Grill great eats on the canal
Otto's Sea GrillSeafood in Freeport, a party too!
Montauk Point State Park and Lighthouse History, Fishing, Scenery, and quiet hikes.
Montauk Downs State Park Creature comforts and games
Camp Hero State Park A military base with secrets!
Hither Hills State Park Camping on the beach
Jones Beach State ParkOur treasure, just five minutes from home
Fire Island National Seashore and Lighthouse
Robert Moses State Park
Captree State Park Have fun fishing from party boats
The Maize Maze in Bridgehampton Family Fun!
An Excellent book about Long Island Destinations
Discover Long Island: Exploring The Great Places From Sea To Sound
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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