Family Fun and Learning in New Jersey

8) Garden State Discovery Museum – Children from about two to ten love the wide variety of hands-on fun at this interactive museum in Cherry Hill. There are turtles and other critters in the Wildlife Area, gravity experiments in the Science Shop, a kid-sized news studio and a big “play kitchen” in the fun Silver Diner.   

9) Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge – The 43,000 acre Refuge is a major stop on Atlantic Flyway for bird migration. There is an 8-mile self-guided auto tour, morning and evening guided walks plus a Mammal Stranding Center to help sick or injured marine mammals and then release them. Peak northbound migration is mid-March to mid-April, especially for shorebirds and warblers, and the best time to see thousands of southbound ducks and geese is mid-October to mid-December.

10) Historic/Living History Villages – New Jersey has an excellent group of restored villages (most with costumed interpreters and demonstrations) that bring to life different eras and state industries. Cold Spring Village in Cape May is a South Jersey village in the 1790-1840 “age of homespun.” The Historic Village at Allaire shows life in a restored 1800s bog iron production company town, with trades shops and apprentices. Batsto Village in the Wharton State Forest preserves 33 buildings (including a gristmill and sawmill) of an iron works/glassmaking company town.

11) Gateway National Recreation Area – A large preserve covering part of northern New Jersey and three New York City boroughs, the Jersey part of Gateway features the Sandy Hook Unit. It has the oldest operating U.S. lighthouse and the only one left of the 11 lighthouses built in the original 13 colonies; visitors can tour the keeper’s quarters and lifesaving station. Sandy Hook also houses Fort Hancock, which protected New York Harbor starting in 1895.

12) Edison National Historic Site – This is the West Orange research facility where inventor Thomas Alva Edison lived his own philosophy that it’s “1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.” Decades of creative work (and a team of around 200 other researchers working for him) resulted in 1, 093 patents credited to Edison. (The inventor’s Glenmont home is open but the laboratory is under renovation and will reopen in 2008.)

13) Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park – The Canal was built in the 1800s to move goods between Philadelphia and New York, and many miles of the D&R remain preserved today, with historic waterside structures open for visiting. A variety of special (free) programs, many geared to families, teach about area wildlife and incorporate the canal towpaths and buildings.

14) Adventure Aquarium – Located in Camden, the Aquarium has hands-on exhibits like Touch-a-Shark, the Interactive Inlet and a touchable inter-tidal marine ecosystem from the Pacific Northwest. Visitors can also buy a Waterfront ticket package that includes admission to the nearby Battleship New Jersey.

15) Plays-in-the-Park– Every summer since 1963, the Middlesex County/Edison NJ community and government co-host 3 full-scale Broadway-style popular musical theater productions in the Roosevelt Park amphitheater, complete with live orchestra. The Kids-in-the-Park summer theater workshops fill up fast, and in October there is always a special indoor children’s musical held in a heated and covered extension to the amphitheater backstage.

16) The Newark Museum – Whether it’s the arts or natural science, this museum has you covered. The mummy case of Henet-Mer, the period rooms of the Ballantine House or the decorative beadwork in the Native American art gallery tempt creatives, and the natural science side of the museum has a planetarium, the Dynamic Earth gallery and a small zoo. There are drop-in learning and craft programs for children and families on the weekends.

17) Monmouth Battlefield State Park – Molly Pitcher entered into legend here when she assisted her husband loading and firing cannon during the 1778 Colonial battle against the British. Every year in June, there is a major reenactment event with costumed soldiers and cannon fire (it was the largest artillery engagement of the Revolutionary War.) A local family maintains pick-your-own orchards within the park, and the grounds and Visitor Center have lots of period buildings and exhibits.

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