We took advantage of the last days of summer and had an excursion to the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn. We drove from Hoboken, but it’s easy to get there on the subway from Manhattan.  The aquarium is in several separate buildings and is best enjoyed – especially with very young children – in warmer weather.

There is a large saltwater display just inside the entrance where we waited to meet our friends and my two kids – ages 2 and 4 – were so content to watch the fish in this large display that when our friends arrived it was difficult to pry them away!

In order to enjoy a large venue like the aquarium with young children (or any children, I suppose!) you need to stay flexible and move at their pace.  When my kids wanted to linger and watch the tank with the large animals like sea turtles and sharks, my friend and I made ourselves comfortable on the surrounding benches and waited until they were ready to move on.  When my kids got impatient with the small fish that were not as interesting to them, we picked up the speed and moved on.

Unfortunately the outdoor animals – walruses, seals, otters and penguins – were not very active on the day of our visit.  We were, however, lucky enough to see the divers entering the penguin tank to do some maintenance work and my children enjoyed that immensely!

The best spot of all is the “Explore the Shore” building which includes the “Alien Stingers” exhibit.  We spent a lot of time in this building enjoying the wide variety of exhibits.  My son’s favorite exhibits were simulations of waves where the water comes crashing in and you can see the effects on the soil and the fish.

Unfortunately we were there too early for the Halloween activities which are going on now through November 1.

We ended our trip with a short walk along the boardwalk at Coney Island and enjoyed ice cream cones by the water!

Photo credit: Oktaviani Marvikasari on Stock.xchng