10 Fun Hands-On Travel Experiences for Kids in New York City

If your kid’s interests lie in the kitchen, try one day cooking class at Taste Buds Kitchen. At the Italian Favorites class, kids learn how to cook up tasty treats like handmade pasta, lasagna "cupcakes," garlic bread and cannoli rolls.

The iconic New York toy store has no end of special experiences for kids. Dress a Barbie doll in the Barbie Styled By You boutique, make some custom putty at Crazy Aaron’s Crazy Creator and package up a delicious plushy in the Jellycat Diner. At the Adoption Agency, a specialist will work with you to choose a baby doll to go home with you and the Raceway, you can design an RC car from top to bottom, bumper to bumper.

Beyond a DIY slime bar, you can immerse in a sensory world of smell, sight, sound and touch. Frolic, stomp, stretch and breathe in 12,000 square-feet of interactive exhibits. Prepare to get messy because you can even get slimed.

Enjoy this uniquely New York experience in three parts: soar over New York in a 4D motion ride, play in the interactive museum and then enjoy an immersive film. In the museum, seven exhibits take you through New York history with displays on fashion, Broadway, Wall Street, the skyline, film and TV and music.

Celebrate everything color and get some great pics too. There a massive ball pit, over a dozen color-themed interactive art installations (including a dance part and a confetti room) and some sweet surprises along the way.

We all scream for ice cream, but kids will especially love the indoor ice cream-themed playground. Have you every jumped into a pool of giant sprinkles? There are ice cream themed rooms, unlimited treats, even a little history lesson about ice cream itself.

Your mind will be blown as you wander through these illusion rooms and installations. From the tilted room to a Beuchet chair, you can learn about the weird way the human brain perceives things and get lots of funny photos too.

This large Lego store not only has lots of cool brick scenes (like the Avengers in New York), but kids can get hands on with the Mosaic Maker – a Lego dot print of their face, the Minifigure factory and the BrickLab, an immersive experience that combines Lego building with digital play.

When you walk in, it seems like a premium toy store, but there’s so much more than shopping at CAMP. At the flagship location, you can make custom slime at the Schmutz Schtation. Then, take a trip to the world of Trolls, complete with a 3D concert and an interactive car chase. The Sparkle Spa will get you all glittered out.

If you live in NYC, this multi-sport complex has all kinds of camps and teams for kids, but as a visitor, you can also drop in on a variety of activities. Hit up the driving range over the Hudson River, zip around the ice skating rink, knock ‘em out of the park at the state-of-the-art batting cage. There’s also drop in Rock-n-Roll classes for a rock climbing and gymnastics combo.