Discovery Room

Alvaro Keding/© AMNH
The Discovery Room is open on Saturdays and Sundays, 10:30 am–1:30 pm and 2:15–5:15 pm.

Wonders await in the Discovery Room, an engaging, hands-on space for children that offers an introduction to the Museum's science and a gateway to its exhibition galleries. From anthropology to zoology, every major field of Museum science and research is represented.

  • The Discovery Room is designed for children ages 4-12, but children of all ages are welcome when accompanied by an adult.
  • Activities for older children (ages 8 and up) are located on the upper level.
Discover Room educator explains a fossil skeleton mount to a visiting adult and child. Take apart a life-sized cast skeleton of Prestosuchus.
Alvaro Keding/© AMNH
Discover Room educator holds a live animal in her hand and squats down so that a visiting child view it more closely. Spot a variety of species, including live animals.
Alvaro Keding/© AMNH

What You Can Do in the Discovery Room

  • Spot animals in a majestic two-story replica of an African baobab tree filled with specimens of birds, insects, reptiles, and small mammals.
  • Explore a cabinet of fascinating specimens to create your own collection of minerals or arthropods.
  • See a Kwakwaka’wakw carving made at the Museum in 1992.
  • Learn about cultures in locations from Manhattan to Mumbai by examining traditional and contemporary objects from around the world.
  • Assemble a life-sized cast skeleton of Prestosuchus, a 14-foot-long reptile from the late Triassic Period, handle real fossils, and unearth an Oviraptor nest in a re-creation of a paleontology field site.
  • On the upper level, track real-time earthquakes anywhere in the world on our digital seismographic display, explore the natural world with sophisticated microscopes, and more.

Plan Your Visit

  • The Discovery Room is located on Floor 1, between the Ellen V. Futter Gallery and the Felix M. Warburg Hall of New York State Environment.
  • Admission is included with any admission to the Museum.
  • Free 40-minute timed passes are available at the Discovery Room entrance.
  • Capacity is limited, and passes are first-come, first served.

Learn More

To stay up to date on new programs in the Discovery Room, sign up for our Family Programs Newsletter.

  Family Programs Newsletter »

The Discovery Room was made possible by a grant from
the Edward John Noble Foundation. 

Proudly sponsored by
the Eileen P. Bernard Exhibition Fund.

Additional support has been provided by
the Jane and Frances Stein Foundation.