Museum of Ice Cream vs. The Sloomoo Institute (Slime Museum): Which is Better For Kids?
Trying to decide between The Sloomoo Institute and Museum of Ice Cream and wondering which one is better for kids? I happen to have visited both recently, so I will share experiences from both places to help you decide which one is better for kids (young and old) and even for adults.
Both the Museum of Ice Cream and the Sloomoo Institute (aka the slime museum) are fun museums for kids (and even for adults), and they both happen to be in Soho (on Broadway)! Therefore it’s not uncommon to hear parents asking me which museum they should go considering both are quite pricey and normally people can just choose one to visit.
In this post you will see what they each offer, how much the tickets are, what are some of the fun activities (and maybe food) you can expect from both museums.
Quick Summary: The Sloomoo Institute vs. Museum of Ice Cream
If you are short on time and just want a quick answer, then here is how I would compare them.
I think the Sloomoo Institute is better for younger kids (between the age of 3 to 7) as it is more hands on. Obviously if your kids LOVE slime then you have to go to the Sloomoo Institute.
The Museum of Ice Cream is better for photos and videos for older kids and adults. I didn’t think there were as many hands on activities as most were photo props but you do get a lot of ice cream during the visit.
If you are curious to know all the details of the two museums then continue reading!
Slime Museum vs. Ice Cream Museum: Ticket Cost
Both Sloomoo and Museum of Ice Cream require tickets and they are not cheap.
Sloomoo Institute (NYC)
Sloomoo institute’s tickets cost between $30.99 to $50.99 for general admission and between $63 to $80.99 for “Enhanced Experience”. You can book tickets from its official website and pick a date and time.
The Enhanced Experience at Sloomoo is when you are dressed from head to toe in a poncho and they pour liquid slime down on you from above. I saw some people doing that when I visited, but personally I would not pay $30 more just for that experience.
The tickets at Sloomoo cost a lot more on the weekends and in the morning than on a weekday and later during the day.
Kids 24 months or old will require a ticket.
Museum of Ice Cream (NYC)
If you think Sloomoo is expensive, then Museum of Ice Cream is equally as expensive, if not more.
General Admission tickets cost between $46 to $57 per person and VIP tickets cost $73 per person.
The difference between General Admissions and VIP tickets include:
- VIP tickets allow you to arrive any time; whereas general admission requires you to book a time slot
- You have priority entry with VIP tickets
- You also get a complimentary beverage with the VIP ticket
Again, I’m not sure if I would pay $20-30 more just to get a drink and have that flexibility to arrive whenever.
Both museums do not sell tickets at the door, so you HAVE to book tickets online. I’ve seen Sloomoo tickets selling out so you should book a couple of days in advance if you can.
Lastly, Sloomoo Institute requires you to fill out a waiver firm on your phone for every individual that’s visiting. They literally will stop you at the door if you don’t have the waiver filled out.
Based on my experience, you need to wait in line outside for both museums even with a timed ticket.
Kids 24 months or old will require a ticket.
Slime Museum vs. Ice Cream Museum: Goodies You Get
Both Museum of Ice Cream and Slime Museum give you some goodies with your general admissions tickets.
The Sloomoo Institute gives each ticket holder a 8oz slime and allows you to pick from over 25 textures, 60+ scents, 40+ colors, and over 100 charms. So if you have 4 people going, you will get 4 different slime jars to take home, each can be customized differently.
The Museum of Ice Cream on the other hand will give you….ice cream! There are different stations set up for ice cream throughout the museum, so you can have unlimited ice cream. I personally didn’t eat any since it was winter when I visited and I’m forever on a diet.
Museum of Ice Cream vs. Sloomoo Institute: Size of the Space
Sloomoo Institute only occupies one level whereas the Museum of Ice Cream has two floors. I don’t know how big they are by square feet but based on my experience, I do feel that the Museum of Ice Cream has more space and more “rooms” for different exhibits and photo opportunities.
Sloomoo Institute has different sections on the same floor, but mostly it’s all different kinds of slimes, with a few additional things you can do.
Sloomoo Institute vs. Museum of Ice Cream: Photo Opportunities
When it comes to photos, the Museum of Ice Cream definitely wins. I think in fact every room at the Museum of Ice Cream is set up for photos, from the pink and colorful lobby to the celebration room to the pink subway car to banana jungle and the famous sprinkle pool, you can get good photos at every corner you turn.
The Slime Museum is not really known for photos, although there are a couple of photo spots like the slime wall when you first enter, and the slime throne where you can email yourself a photo, as well as the Sloomoo Falls if you pay for the Enhanced experience.
Museum of Ice Cream vs. Slime Museum: Hands on Activities
Both museums have great hands-on activities, so it really depends on what you like.
At Sloomoo Institute, the most obvious hands on activity is to play with slimes. There are 25 different kinds of slimes at the museum, so you can touch, smell, and play with each of them to see the difference.
Aside from the obvious DIY slime bar, there is a slime slingshot that let you hit your target, a “Slime Mirror” room that can turn you into a slime on the screen, screens that shows you who your “slime buddy” is based on your answers, and a sound area that let you hear different sounds.
At the Museum of Ice Cream, most of the things are meant for photos, but there are a few hands on activities you can do, such as play with drink magnets, slide down a giant slide, play carnival games, on on a swing at the play area, and jump or slide into the sprinkle pool.
How Long to Spend at Slime Museum & Museum of Ice Cream
I would budget at least 1-2 hours at each museum. If your kids love slime or they love the carnival games and the play areas, then they can probably spend more than 2 hours at the museums.
Personally I spent about 2 hours at the Slime Museum and a little bit over an hour at the Museum of Ice Cream, but I went to the Museum of Ice Cream with another friend just for the photos.
Play Areas For Kids at Museum of Ice Cream & Sloomoo
Both museums have a play area that the kids can play at.
The Sloomoo Institute has a very small play area and when we visited on a weekend, there was a time limit of 5 minutes per group.
The play area consisted of a small “pool” of slime that kids can jump into, as well as a crawl tunnel. It’s pretty small but kids do seem to have a lot of fun in it.
The play area at the Museum of Ice Cream is bigger, as there are both the actual play area and the carnival game area. The actual play area has some small monkey bars, a few swings, a “shoot the cone” thing where you can throw small balls into ice cream cones, etc. Even though the area is bigger, it is not limited to only kids, so if there are a lot of people, I can see it being difficult for younger kids to play.
My Experience at the Museum of Ice Cream
I visited the Museum of Ice Cream on a weekday during the day, so it was not as crowded as it would be on a weekend.
There was a line when we got there and good thing we bought tickets online ahead of time since there was no way to get tickets in person. When we first got in there were a lot of people, mostly tourists. However as we walked around throughout the museum, we were able to get a few minutes of being alone as there were so many different rooms at the museum.
My first impression of the museum is that it was really pink and cute! Even the lobby was pink and the chairs were made of “macarons”. Immediately after the lobby we went up the stairs and went into the “Celebration Room“, a room full of fake cakes and candies, as if you were going to a party. There were ice creams in the lobby and outside of the celebration room.
After the Celebration Room, we went to a series of other rooms like the pink subway car and the hanging bananas to take photos. Everything was really cute and perfect for those IG shots and surprisingly there weren’t many people despite it being crowded when we first came in.
There were also cute and pink decorations like the giant ice cream scoops and the pink magnetic letters for kids to play with. Soon we came to a cafeteria type of pink room with chairs and tables and also ice cream scoop decorations on the wall. You can get more ice cream here if you want to, but we mostly just walked around and took a break.
Soon we came to the rainbow hallway with the giant slide to go downstairs. Both adults and kids can take the pink tube slide to go down. What’s at the other end of the pink slide was a dark pink room with chairs that eventually leads to the carnival room.
The carnival room was probably one of my favorite rooms since they had pink cotton candy that you can eat, and there were a bunch of arcade games like hammer game and “scoop stack” game. To be honest there are only like 4 machines there, so if it’s crowded I don’t know how long you will need to wait to access them.
After that we came to the play area, where again, there were a ton of photo opportunities and the swings. Lastly we came to the famous sprinkle pool, where you can jump in and just lie in a sea of fake sprinkles. I can see kids really liking this room!
Overall I liked the photo opportunities at the Museum of Ice Cream but my friend was not too impressed. She didn’t think it was really worth the ticket price since we just went from room to room and there wasn’t too much else to do.
My Experience at Sloomoo Institute
I went to Sloomoo Institute recently on a weekend with our family and it was REALLY crowded. There was a long line outside and based on your timed entry, you will need to wait outside in line for 10-20 minutes.
When you purchase tickets, they will send you a link to fill out your waiver. You need to do the waiver for everyone that’s attending, including the minors. I saw a few families that had to stand under the sun to finish up their waiver for 5 people while we zoomed past them since I did the waiver while waiting in line.
When we finally got in, we were asked to write down our slime name (use the letter oo instead of the vow) and we were each given a super sticky slime to put on the slime wall. Tons of facilities take photos in front of the slime wall.
Next to the slime wall was the slime slingshot, where one person stands behind a tempered glass and the other launches a slime ball at them. After that it was a series of slimes that you can play with, each with a sign showing you the different characters like how sticky or stretchy they are.
In the slime area there were also a couple of screens that ask you a series of questions to figure out who your “slime buddy” is. As we moved forward, we witnessed the people with the enhanced ticket doing the Sloomoo Falls and we went to the “Mirror Room” but it wasn’t actually working, so nothing to say there.
There were more slimes to touch so you can decide which slime you want to choose for your DIY bar! I thought this part was pretty fun for kids since they can choose from so many different textures, smells, colors and charms.
I never knew there were so many different types of slimes! We ended up getting Butter, Icee, and Cloud.
The scents included things like chocolate brownie, Lavender, Love Spell, Cookie, etc. There is actually a wall with different scents that you can smell (although many of them smelled like nothing).
We got these small boxes of slime with the scent and colored powders and were told to mix them in before getting the “toppings”, which are over 100 kinds of small charms. There were some pretty cute charms but unfortunately No.1 Bubble Tea was out of stock!
Personally I did not like all the paint powders getting all over my hand and everything just smelled really chemical, but kids love it! After that there is a small area for sounds. The area is cute and fuzzy and we went into each rooms to hear the different sounds.
The last part of the museum is the small play area. While we were waiting, there were more slimes kids could play with. Each group of kids get 5 minutes in the play area with their shoes off. It’s a really small area but kids seem to love it!
That was the end of our visit to the Slime Museum. Verdict? I honestly hated the chaos and chemical smells of the slime, but I think it’s still fun for kids. The Slime Museum also offers specific hours for kids with sensory sensitivities, so they will let fewer kids in and provide headphones for those who are sensitive to noises. I thought that was a really nice perk.
Other Museums of Consider For Kids
Looking for other fun museums for children in New York City? Since we go around the city often to find the best entertainment for kids, here are a few of my recommendations.
- Children’s Museum of Manhattan: Located in the Upper West, this multi-story museum is a fun place for all ages. There are dedicated areas for smaller kids to play in, but there are also things that would attract older kids (like 5-7). Visit later in the afternoon or on a week day to avoid the crowds!
- Brooklyn Children’s Museum: Located in the Crown Heights, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum is a much larger children’s museum that has even more to offer. I personally loved the different themes in the museum so kids can learn more about different cultures. There is also a synthetic ice rink outdoors and when we visited in February we saw the lion dance in celebration of Lunar New Years.
- American Museum of Natural History: This is probably my favorite museum since it appeals to both adults and kids. There is an entire floor dedicated to dinosaurs, so if your kids are into dinosaurs, this is the place to take them. In the new wing there are also a number of paid exhibits, such as the butterfly vivarium and the Invisible World digital art exhibit.
- New York Hall of Science: Located in Queens, the Hall of Science is the perfect place for both young and old kids to get closer to science. There is a toddler designated area and the rest of the two floors are perfect for preschoolers and older kids. There are hands-on activities and there is even a mini golf course outside.