Waverly here, your Patch NYC Kids' Mayor! When I got the invite to attend New York Historical Society's annual Family Benefit Party, which this year invited kids 4 to 14 and their families to take over the Museum and become history detectives, I was so excited! As we pulled up to the outside of this familiar site and saw Frederick Douglass (well, his statue...) I thought of how many times this place has blown us away with interactive activities, facts, fun crafts, events, and so much more. I didn’t think it could possibly be better this time. Boy, was I wrong! We always have fun at NYHS, but this was SUPER fun, complete with tons of activities and awesome food...like the world's tiniest tacos and ice cream cones, and delicious mini burgers.
But we weren't there to eat. We were there to become History Detectives, which is one of the awesome fun things you can do there, even when it's not their annual party. We received our case files filled with clues and a blank badge-holder and got to work, completing cool activities on every floor to collect badges to complete our mission. First Stop? 4th Floor at the Tiffany Girls' Workroom, where we saw an amazing collection of beautiful Tiffany Lamps (all donated by ONE man who had them all in his house once - OMG). That's not all we did - in order to collect our badge, we had an assignment. We created our own Tiffany shade that lit up just like the real ones! This was one very fun and creative assignment...I was really proud of myself when I made a working lamp out of paper:
Throughout the museum, there were activities everywhere in sight! And all were a blast! While on our mission, we also went on an archeological dig and discovered cool artifacts found in New York’s oldest inn! It really made me think about all the history that is right here in New York City...which is the whole point of NYHS!
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There was still so much more to do! I got a really cool picture of my silhouette and decorated my own sugar cookie...then ate it!
We explored a room full of silhouettes and learned about this really cool art form.
We decoded texts from the past and unlocked secret messages:
Helped create a beautiful skyline:
And checked out art and weighed the evidence on whether or not the Dutch bought Manhattan for $24. Did they? Well you need to be a history detective to find out!
I already can't wait for next year's Family Benefit Party - but the fun activities are year-round at NYHS! Weekend Storytimes, Family Book Clubs, literally something for everyone of every age! There is still time to check out their Holiday Express Exhibit (read all about it here. My mom can't wait for the Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution that is opening on February 14th, and I can't wait to go back because there is still so much more to explore - just like NYC itself, NYHS is a whole world of amazing-ness that is just waiting to be discovered!
