The Central Park Zoo is a small 5-acre zoo, located within the 83-acre Central Park. The zoo is home to three major exhibit regions, with polar bears, tamarin monkeys, red pandas, snow leopards and California sea lions. Children can watch harbor seal and penguin feedings and watch sea lions perform tricks at feeding times throughout the day. Visiting families can also visit the zoo`s Tisch Children's Zoo with small nature trails, barnyard animals, such as sheep and alpacas, a petting zoo, a duck pond and interactive climbing and play activities. Children's admission at the Central Park Zoo is only $7.00, as of 2010.
The Children's Museum of Manhattan offers educational and interactive activities throughout five floors of permanent and changing exhibits. For children from birth to four years of age, the PlayWorks floor of the museum offers age-appropriate activities where parents and children can participate in Art Labs, explore a fire truck, play with a giant lite brite and more while learning about science, problem-solving and literacy. Children can send boats along miniature streams, play in puddles at the City Splash exhibit, and learn about the temples, weaving and historically valued skills at the Discover Ancient Greece exhibit. Children's admission to the Children's Museum of Manhattan is $10, as of 2010, and the museum offers free admission between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on the first Friday of every month.
Animals at the New York Aquarium include the Pacific walrus, sea otter, black-toothed penguin, giant pacific octopus, sand tiger shark and the loggerhead sea turtle. Attractions and exhibits at the aquarium include a jellyfish exhibit where children can learn about these creatures through observation and interactive computer games, while children can see electric eels and touch sea stars and horseshoe crabs at the Explore the Shore exhibit. Families can see shark feedings at the Shark exhibit, with reef sharks, nurse sharks and sand tiger sharks. The Planet Earth: Shallow Seas 4-D Experience uses special effects to allow children to see bottlenose dolphins, sea lions and humpback whales up close. The 2010 admission price to the New York Aquarium for children, as of 2010, is $10.00, or $13.00 for those interested in attending a presentation at the Planet Earth 4-D Theater.
