Staten Island Children's Museum

Great asset to the island. Great kids birthday parties

It's small, but a nice place to spend a summer afternoon.

Visited for a child's birthday party and was impressed by the staff's enthusiasm. They escort you from exhibit to exhibit and finally to the party room with a smile and efficiency. While it is geared towards children, some elements are super fun for adults, too. Inexpensive.

Great place. There is so much to do here. Thus museum is well kept, organized and quiet. It's a great place for creative play.

$6 a person
Dated, less then perfect condition. Waste of time for older than ~5 y.
BUT
if you live near or happen to be there
AND
you child is 1-5 or you have a bunch of kids - place is great!
Child proof, simple (bordering primitive), multiple sections.
Child (better children) can spend half hour easy at each: huge dominoes (pillow sized and felt at touch), over sized checkers, tick-tack-tow; padded contraptions where kid engineers falling ping-pong ball route; over sized inter-lockable wooden LEGO (-like) build-able into child size house (or else);
realistic, yet padded and simplified firetruck, gear you may try on, pole you swing down, buttons, sounds, lights, ***
Arctic zone where you travel behind dogs on a sled, wear snow boots;
forest (jangle) with sounds to identify and telescope to spot stuff;
submerging with aqualung, communicate with buddies through water wall using (provided) hand gestures, discovering hidden in depth darkness creatures with a spot light (broken: bring flashlight);
bugs zone big and creepy (good way), be a bug, wear bug exoskeleton, watch live roaches (huge too), beehive (currently perished, should be easy to re-establish), crawl as an ant, check out prehistoric insects, read books (quite a few there).
Along the way you can just lay down or sit and read while your little one jumps around.
There is a theatrical section with actual stage, some light and sound effects, costumes, changeable decorations, audience (got to fill out with viewers though). You may spend a day just there, but have to have some imagination and creativity. Although they have some kind of story-telling in their schedule: I assume to create a theatrical kind of story.
There are two outdoors sections also (dolphins and boats)
All that from the prospective of a 5 y.o.
We wondered in with 10 y/o an were bored, yet bowled a round, played checkers, built some Grommet-inspired monstrosity, fooled around at the "theater"

Bonus: outside is a big park you can walk all over, several museums (all tiny), botanical garden, maritime exhibition (open Th-Sn), nearby Staten Island ferry (commute and a view), tug boats sneaking around huge tankers, Manhattan view, we run into movie shutting: gangster times, Ford D parked around - surrounding houses and few buildings are mostly old and sometimes interesting; multiple rough looking new yorkers of the same time period (they need not to dress specially: they walk around like that..)

We did not like it, but when/if I have a few children 2-5 y.o. and another adult to tender the heard, I will make a day of it. Bring sandwiches and Sherlock Holmes (the book)