Noteworthy

Please touch The Metropolitan Museum of Art has long boasted some perennial kid magnets. The Tomb of Perneb sends imaginations soaring to ancient Egypt. And the court of arms and armor has youngsters yearning to don helmet and shield—if only they could handle the exhibits. But while staid rules like “no loud noises” threaten to sour the experience for tiny aesthetes in the main halls, kids will be warmly embraced, in all their unbridled glory, at the newly renovated Uris Center for Education, set to reopen Tuesday 23.

After a three-year overhaul, the bare-bones space now offers “greeters” to help you plan a family-focused tour, and a section in the expanded Nolen Library (with 6,000 art tomes!) is filled with tot-sized tables and picture books. Kids will most enjoy the new studios, where they can oil paint, watercolor or sculpt with clay. “There’s nothing like a hands-on experience to get people connected with the idea that each work of art was made by a person,” says Kent Lydecker, associate director for education.

Bonus: The renovation unmasked walls of windows that will let natural light into the venerable museum—and offer a view of that dynamic objet d’art, Fifth Avenue.—Julia Israel