The Museum of the Moving Image is probably my favourite museum in New York. The main reason for that? It encourages interaction (ie. there are things you can touch and do there). And the exhibits are constantly changing, which I love. They had the tiny door from Being John Malkovich last year! And Walter White's undies!
The current Chuck Jones exhibit is even a great one to see.
Even their permanent collection's great. Some people may not consider it the classiest of museums, but its focus is on movies and television so my question to those people is, "You think you're better than getting to see Robin Williams' fat suit in Mrs. Doubtfire?"
Who wouldn't want to get a glimpse at the intricacies of The Elephant Man's head?
There's even a (classic) video game arcade area WHERE YOU CAN ACTUALLY PLAY THE GAMES. Why is this happening?! I feel like this place is a kid's version of what a museum should be.
And of course there are areas that detail the history of cameras, television, etc. but I tend to briskly walk through these rooms (partially 'cause I've already learned about all that stuff the first time I came to this museum and partially because I know where I need to go to get to the fun).
The best part of this place? This spot right here (below).
You can sit down here and make your own stop motion animation that you can email to yourself. It seems like it might be just for kids - but since there are no signs informing me of that silent assumption, I'm more than happy to plant myself here for at least twenty minutes to craft my masterpiece. It's way more fun than I'm letting on. Or wait, am I accurately emphasizing how fun it is? I feel like I might be.
There's also a sound booth station where you can go in and alter existing movies with your own voice. If that doesn't sound neat, I'm not accurately describing it - 'cause it's neat.
Anyway, I love this museum. I feel like it should be the gateway museum for when you're taking a kid to a museum for the first time. Actually, no! It'd be horrible to take a kid here for their first museum. It'll ruin them for all the others that exist in the world where you can't touch anything. Yeah, don't take them. Also, they tend to hog the animation table props whenever I'm there, so it's probably best to keep them at home.