Things to Do in Huntington Station

High-school social studies teacher Anthony Pennino Sr. played his first round of paintball in 1985. By the following year Tony had gathered 20–30 friends and kin for paintball bouts on his family's private land. As demand for paintball guns and safety gear grew among his brigade of marksmen, he converted his basement into a makeshift store, supplying paintball accouterments from home until moving into a storefront in 1990. Within two decades Tony and his clan formed the lauded paintball team the New York Dogs, opened their own indoor arena, and eventually combined that arena with their largest store yet.

That facility forms the backbone of Island Paintball, where two sports turf fields host Model 98–brandishing players. In between games, players can watch other contests from behind the staging area's plexiglass viewing windows or browse Island Paintball Supplies' gun wall and 12 massive showcases of paintball gear. An in-house gunsmith repairs any malfunctioning guns, which patrons can wield at open-play sessions private parties.

For the tiniest tots, there are foam towers to topple in the Tot Spot and instruments with which to make rhythms in the mUSic area. Toddlers and preschoolers sift and shovel on the Sandy Island, and older children can use a penny to watch a 100-year-old Mutoscope silent movie or use the Bricks & Sticks wire spinner to design their own 3D shapes. Click here to see the museum’s activity gallery and plan out a day trip. Or, simply show up with plenty of energy and your favorite child to discover the museum together, and help him or her build vital skills in social interaction, education, and colored-block identification. Schoolchildren can bolster their studies without realizing they're learning by organizing games in the ClimbIt@LICM structure, or by comparing barometric readings in the Our Backyard outdoor area. Get today's Groupon to treat a special proto-adult to a day of horizon expansion, enjoyment, and giant bubbles.