New York Hall of Science
47-01 111th St., 718-699-0005
Like many structures in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, the New York Hall of Science was built for the 1964 World's Fair. Back then, it was part of an exhibition that explored the wonders of space travel. These days, there are 450-plus hands-on science exhibitions—you can experiment with light and shadow, walk through a hall of mirrors, scale an eight-foot climbing wall and delve into the world of molecules. Two space rockets donated by NASA are still on display, and you'll also find some classic science exhibitions, like the Möbius Band and the Probability Machine, in which balls fall freely to showcase how to find a probability curve through experimentation. Outside, there's a 60,000-square-foot science-themed playground with fog machines, seesaws and some killer slides.