Today we headed out to Flushing Meadows for a massive scavenger hunt! I gave the kids this double-sided map: one side showing the site today, with the things we had to find, and one side showing the site as reprinted from a map of the 1964 World's Fair...
We took the 7 train up to Willets Point (where we could spy a bunch of the sights on our scavenger hunt list from the train window) and I let the kids lead the way to find the things on our list. First stop: the Unisphere!
On the way the kids found this abandoned pedestal and posed as their own statues.
Next stop SHOULD have been the Queens Museum of Art to see the New York Panorama, but oops, that's closed on Mondays. My bad! We made a quick move over to the New York Hall of Science instead. It was outside there we found the two rockets!
Explaining Zephyr's pained face: he was preparing to jump up into the air for a "blast off" photo that never came out.
Just a little hug.
We found the Great Hall, which was surprisingly open and had an amazing exhibit inside where you could effect a virtual ecosystem by moving within it. It was supercool and the kids loved it.
Plus, as a bonus, you get to experience one of the most striking architectural spaces in NYC.
But then we hit the science playground to find Archimedes' Screw, and the kids had a blast there. Admission to the playground is extra, but I say it's worth it.
Watching Archimedes' Screw work justifies the price of admission IMHO.
I was afraid my blunder about the Queens Museum being closed Monday would prevent us finding cool World's Fair memorabilia, but the Hall of Science had us covered.
Three pieces of World's Fair memorabilia, check!
We hit lunch at a Mexican restaurant nearby and the kids DUG it. But first we passed by another item on our list!
Titans GO!
Then after lunch we hit the Queens Zoo, where having had some practice at the Brooklyn Zoo, the kids were ready to touch a sheep. Sort of.
It took a few attempts, admittedly.
We also got to see an adorable Andean bear cub, who was the child of Nicole and Bouba. An important mystery solved for our hunt!
My cubs with an actual cub.
It was a lot of walking (my watch said we walked over 8 miles over the course of the day!) but the kids were having so much fun they didn't even notice. I highly recommend printing out the hunt and trying it yourself!