Best permanent museum exhibit

Best permanent museum exhibitDinosaur Halls, American Museum of Natural History

Photo: C. Chesek/American Museum of Natural History

Winner Dinosaur Halls, American Museum of Natural History
Home to the largest and arguably most fabulous collection of dinosaur fossils in the world, the American Museum of Natural History’s fourth-floor dino halls have been blowing kids’ minds for decades. Roughly 80 percent of the bones on exhibit were actually dug out of the ground by Indiana Jones types. “While many other museums opt to show casts, we strive to put the real stuff on display,” says Dr. Mark Norell, the museum’s head paleontologist. Talk about fossil fuel for young brains.

Central Park West at 79th Street (212-769-5100, amnh.org)

Runner-up Science Playground, New York Hall of Science
Seemingly mundane science phenomena like sound, motion, gravity and energy get the ultimate hands-on-learning treatment at this gargantuan, award-winning outdoor playground. A lot of museums hypothesize that science can be fun; this one proves it.

47-01 111th St at 48th Ave, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens (718-699-0005, nyhallsci.org)

And don’t forget...Calder’s Circus, Whitney Museum of American Art
Tucked away on the Whitney’s fifth-floor mezzanine is Alexander Calder’s Circus (1926), a whimsical gem of kinetic sculpture that turns mundane materials like wire, fabric, string and cork into a spectacular one-ring show. Even better than the piece itself is the 19-minute film you can watch of Calder giving a circus performance, complete with sword swallower, high-wire act and roaring lion. “We like to show kids this and the other Calders, because they learn that sculpture isn’t just stone monuments of famous people,” says Jane Royal, the museum’s director of school and family programs. This is the Circus’s 30th year at the Whitney; in an age of Biennial novelties, it’s still enlightening.

945 Madison Ave at 75th St (800-944-8639, whitney.org)