Fluttering amongst the AMNH Stuffed Animals?
Living Butterflies.

City-Kid Review:

Yay! Can we go again? I like the blue ones the best.

I’ll be honest.

I wasn’t keen. I know, I’ve said this a lot recently, but I just wasn’t.

I let an entire year went by before I was ‘persuaded’ to flutter onto this butterfly train. Only City Kid’s incessant desire and- yes – nagging, got me to finally overcome my doubts and go. And do you know what? It’s great.

The volunteers are enthusiastic and well-informed. No question is to silly or simple, and it was answered as if it were the first time it had been asked and that we were just shy of genii to have come up with such a profoundly curious question.
That is quite a skill.
You just know they have been bombarded with a thousand versions of the very same question.
I mean, we gotta know, right?
And we gotta know NOW!!
It’s New York! I’m fluttering here!

It is poetically magical to step from the crowded subway or shimmy past the sitting, standing, riding, walking, chatting, texting and other forms of humanity on the front steps of the museum and, minutes later, to be in the quiet and beautiful presence of these majestic butterflies.

And, you never know, one might land on you. Several landed on me. And on City Kid. And were just…standing there!

The butterflies exhibit at AMNH is great and worth every penny.

Need to Knows:

Location: The best entrance for the butterflies is on Central Park West at 79th street. The butterflies are in the hall of birds, off to the right. Closest subway station is 81st street on the B or C line. You can enter from the platform level, but sometimes this is crowded or closed. Play it by ear for what is best for your City Kid.

Cost: Entry to AMNH is suggested donation only. However, the suggestions are quite steep – $23 for general admission and $28 for admission plus one, to get into the butterflies. However, as entry is suggested, you can therefore, suggest the entry fee you would like to pay and then pay for the exhibit on top of that.

Entry to the museum is free with your NYCID card but you do have to pay the additional $5 for the exhibit.

Food: There is a food hall on the basement level. It is buffet style but there is a wide variety of food. There are cafes offering sandwiches and snacks located on different floors throughout the museum. The basement food hall has the widest variety and most space.

The exhibition runs annually from October-May. You can find out more about it, here.

Top-Tip

Check out the Discovery Room, while you are there. See if you can dig up a dinosaur or bear to hold a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.

Do you have a favorite butterfly experience? Please tell us about it in the comments section.

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