Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs – Upper West Side
American Museum of Natural History, 79th Street at Central Park West
Saturday, April 5-Sunday, January 4, 2015
Free with General Admission Plus One: $27 for adults, $16 for children ages 2-12
My dino-obsessed nine-year-old is counting down the days until this exhibit flies into the AMNH. Technically, though, pterosaurs weren't dinosaurs or even birds or bats. They were their flying reptilian cousins, and in their heyday there were more than 150 different species of pterosaurs, ranging from tiny sparrow-size flyers to enormous animals with 25-foot wingspans that could rival the size of a jet! In this interactive installation, kids can inspect rare fossils, see aerodynamics in action in a wind tunnel, and "soar" like the pterosaurs in a full-body virtual reality station with motion sensors that let you fly the creatures over a prehistoric landscape complete with a volcano. I bet that will always have a line!

Brooklyn Block Laboratory – Crown Heights
Brooklyn Children's Museum, 145 Brooklyn Avenue at St. Marks Avenue
Saturday, April 5-Sunday, August 31
Free with admission: $9, free for children under 1
Attention all budding Bob the Builders: The Brooklyn Children's Museum's new hands-on activity area is for you. Don't expect just your run-of-the-mill blocks here. In addition to those, you'll find a huge selection of foam, wood and magnetic blocks to build up and, inevitably, knock down.

The Roof Garden Commission: Dan Graham with Günther Vogt – Upper East Side
Tuesday, April 29-Sunday, November 2
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
Free with suggested admission: $25, free for children under age 12
The Met's annual roof garden exhibit is always a spring favorite. This year, well known artist Dan Graham will create a sculptural glass and steel pavilion that incorporates landscaping by Swiss architect Günther Vogt. The finished product will be an eye-popping environment of two-way mirrored and transparent glass, steel and hedgerows. We can't wait to see this one—the view of Central Park and NYC from atop the Met is pretty awesome, too.

Jazzed! The Changing Beat of 125th Street – Upper West Side
Children's Museum of Manhattan, 212 West 83rd Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue
Friday, May 23-Wednesday, December 31
Free with admission: $11, free for children under 1
Created in partnership with the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, this interactive exhibit invites kids to learn about the history of the genre and the important part it played in NYC's famous Harlem Renaissance. Kids can explore an old-fashioned jazz club, croon in front of a vintage microphone, hear celebrated vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, watch footage of dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson's famous stair dance and then give it a go on a mini-set of steps, and other hands-on fun. In conjunction with the exhibit, CMOM will host live piano concerts, and special music and dance performances, like live concerts by the NJMH’s All-Stars on opening weekend, along with themed art workshops.

Gauguin: Metamorphoses – Midtown West
Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues
Through Sunday, June 8
Free with admission: $25 for adults, free for children under 17
While this exhibit isn't aimed at kids per se, it's never too early to introduce them to the masters. This retrospective of 19th-century French artist Paul Gauguin focuses on his lesser-known prints and sketches. The display includes 130 of his original drawings along with 30 of his famous paintings and sculptures inspired by that early work.

Art Inspires Art: How Does a Bird Imagine? What Does a Tree Know? – Crown Heights
Brooklyn Children's Museum, 145 Brooklyn Avenue at St. Marks Avenue
Through Sunday, August 31
Free with admission: $9, free for children under age 1
Head to the Brooklyn Children's Museum's Everett's Children's Library to explore the relationship between poetry and visual arts. Two interactive sculptures are on display: "A Tree Lives" and "The Bird of Imagining," both created by educational nonprofit Touchstone Center for Children and inspired by its work with NYC public school kids. The original writings of Touchstone's students can be seen on banners hung throughout the library.

The Art of the Brick – Midtown West
Discovery Times Square, 226 West 44th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues
Through Sunday, September 14
$19.50 for adults, $16.50 for children ages 3-11
My Lego-fanatic son and I loved The Art of the Brick when we saw it last year. Due to popular demand, it's back! The largest retrospective of Nathan Sawaya's jaw-dropping Lego sculptures to date, the display features more than 100 pieces including replicas of famous art like Michelangelo's "David," the "Venus de Milo" and the "Mona Lisa." Other gawk-worthy highlights include an enormous Moai Easter Island Head, a 20-foot long T.rex skeleton (made of 80,000 bricks!), a miniature Parthenon and "Yellow," a bust of a man with Legos bursting from his chest.

Bonus: Many of our exhibit picks from winter are still on view, like the awesome graffiti display City as Canvas at the Museum of the City of New York, the interactive Power of Poison at the American Museum of Natural History and Cabinets of Wonder: The Art of Collecting at the Children's Museum of the Arts.

Looking to save money? Check out our list of free museum hours to find out when you can visit some of these institutions at no cost.

Find out about other cool exhibits for kids in our Museum Guide.