Museums & Galleries in Kiryas Joel

Nestled in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Area Discovery Museum entices children's inquiring minds with a host of exhibits modeled after the surrounding sea and city. The Wave Workshop lets kids explore the San Francisco Bay's ecology and test their own boat designs against simulated wind and waves. In the 2.5-acre Lookout Cove which overlooks the bay itself, a 23-foot-tall Golden Gate Bridge entices children to put on hardhats and help construct a giant model.

The Discovery Center enlivens kids’ learning experiences by cleverly disguising exhibits as awesome playtime arenas. Tiny tots and even 10-year-olds are encouraged to run wild at this hands-on children’s museum and nature center, trying their hand at the many fun activities.

At the creation station, which is stocked with paint, clay, chalk, paper, and just about anything a young da Vinci or police sketch artist needs, kids are free to unleash their creative potential. Alternatively, at the fire-truck exhibit, they can put on a firefighter’s boots and hat and climb aboard the full-sized 1954 Oren fire truck to learn about a firefighter’s job in Murfreesboro. Nearby, at Tennessee Live!, they can get in touch with their natural surroundings when they come face-to-face with turtles, fish, and snakes at the living stream table, dig in the fossil pit, and learn about the customs of the native Cherokee.

Liberated from adult clutches in a no-parents land, children gaze out across Kids Discovery Museum from their sanctuary atop an authentic tree trunk. Their perch is the Pirate Tree House, a multilevel playspace whose top story—the facility's only grownup-free zone—showcases the museum guiding philosophy: independent exploration.

In this spirit, rather than lecturing youngsters, the museum sparks their imaginations with hands-on exhibits covering science, culture and art. In Science Hall, an interactive physics exhibit illustrates the concepts of velocity and acceleration through experiments first devised by Galileo and Newton to prove the Earth revolves around a fig. Visitors to Our Town’s miniature community can attempt cash withdrawals at a faux ATM or tour a waterfront park, and kids of all ages craft self-guided art projects in the studio known as Sean's Space. Learning continues even when school is out, thanks to week-long summer camps in which youths investigate topics such as photography while defending the museum from a siege of vacationing teachers.

Marvel in a theme park-esque world dedicated to plastic blocks. See the city of Chicago made entirely out of LEGOs at Miniland. Take the factory tour and learn how LEGO bricks are made (you get one LEGO factory brick to take home). Ride on the back of a green dragon through a medieval castle full of moving characters made entirely of LEGOs, and continue the adventure through a jungle trail. Build your own LEGO cars and buildings, then test them to see if they can withstand earthquakes or set speed records on LEGO roadways. After you take in a movie at the 4-D cinema, or let your little ones spend their energy in physical play before it's time to load up the car.

The 90-minute stroll through Seattle’s micro-China starts at the Chinatown-International District. A friendly and engaging guide leads tours through authentic Asian markets, whirling with bustling merchants, brightly colored goods, and savory smells of incense or freshly roasted duck. As you learn the history and significance of historical landmarks, the diverse languages of the city's Asian community co-mingle melodiously in the air, and the spirit of a culture thousands of years old flits through the incomparable Seattle neighborhood like a flutterbug in a bag of cotton balls.

The 20,000-square-foot facility showcases hands-on exhibits and simulators devoted to the importance of forests and their role in providing habitat, water, recreation, wood, and a number of other one-word wonders. With the family-plus membership, two adults and all children 18 and younger in the family are free to explore the museum's two floors for a year. The first floor focuses on the Pacific Northwest, entertaining visitors with interactive exhibits such as the Timberjack Harvester Simulator and River Raft Adventure, where visitors can take a simulated trip through class-IV rapids. On the second floor, guests can learn about forest art, history, and culture—hitching a jeep ride in South Africa, touring the Trans-Siberian railway, or swinging through the Amazon rainforest's canopy just like Tarzan did. A number of special exhibits are also available on a rotating basis.