A child rests her hands on a table and her chin on top of her hands. The table is turquoise and flanked by boxes that look as if they may include or be speakers.

Superpowered Metropolis: Early Learning City™

Lower Level

Birth – 6 years

Superpowered Metropolis: Early Learning City™ is a hands-on, interactive, and colorfully, immersive exhibition where you are the heroes! Step into a playful, comic book version of New York City where a lively team of pigeons, Zip, Zap, and Zoom, serve as your guides to superpowered fun and learning.

The 1,500 square-foot exhibit invites children from birth to 6 and their grown-ups to feel like heroes, building their superpowered early learning brain skills together. These skills, known as executive functions, include self-control, working memory, and mental flexibility. Children practice these learning “superpowers” with Zip, Zap, and Zoom, who guide families on a series of NYC adventures exploring the subways, parks, music, travel, treehouses, and more.

Climb to the top of a magical two-story Treehouse Headquarters equipped with a map, telescope, periscope, and slide to plan your adventures

Navigate colorful tunnels, tracks, and waterways at a multi-level Supercharged NYC Train Table
Create original city sounds with one-of-a-kind instruments in the Musical Subway Car
Chase the floating scarves at the Whimsical Wind Blowing Fountain
Get a call from Zip, Zap, and Zoom at the Superpowered Phone Booth and head out on a Metropolis mission
Enter Baby Central Station, a mini learning hub inspired by Grand Central Station and specially designed for birth to 2 year-olds with climb-on trains, a starry sky, and sensory stations
Explore the sounds and smells of NYC while driving in the Pigeon Mobile

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An adult and child sit in a rounded, circular inset seat at Children's Museum of Manhattan. The seat is labeled "Cuddle Chair" at the top. The adult and child are reading a book together and both look at the book.

About The Exhibit

The exhibit is designed to help children develop, enhance, and practice their executive function skills, which are critical for the early development of both cognitive and social capacities. Executive functions are essential for social-emotional well-being and academic success. Every child is born with the ability to strengthen these skills, and it is the daily interactions with adults that help the skills develop. The exhibit shares tips, games, and activities for the adults and children to play together at the Museum, at home, and around the city.

Stepping into the comic-book-inspired NYC world, families meet the team of Superpowered Pigeons™ that embody the learning superpowers:

ZIP, Self-Control Champion®–A calm coach who encourages ‘power pauses’ before acting, thinking things through, resisting distractions, following directions, and taking turns.
ZAP, Working Memory Master®–A witty thinker who juggles information in mind and is always at the ready, remembering instructions and skillfully organizing and sorting information.
ZOOM, Mental Flexibility Guru®–A curious inventor who sees things from multiple perspectives, switches gears easily, and solves problems creatively.

Support for Superpowered Metropolis: Early Learning City™ is provided by the Bezos Family Foundation and its early learning program Vroom which provides science-based tips and tools to inspire families to turn everyday moments into Brain Building Moments

Superpowered Metropolis™: Brain Building Resources

Unlock your child’s superpowers through brain-building play! Early childhood is a critical time for developing executive function skills—the cognitive abilities that help children focus, follow directions, problem-solve, and regulate emotions. CMOM’s Superpowered Metropolis™: Brain Building Hub provides research-based resources, curriculum, and activities designed to support caregivers and educators in fostering these essential skills in children from birth to five.

An illustration of three pigeons with text above it that reads: "Baby Brain Building. A parent/caregiver and child curriculum for advancing executive function and literacy skills in children ages 0–3 years."

Baby Brain Building Curriculum

A structured program for parents and caregivers to strengthen executive function and literacy skills in children ages 0-3.

Check It Out

An illustration of a pigeon in a subway car, with another subway on the platform. The two pigeons are looking at each other through the subway car's window and waving to each other.

Baby Brain Building Family Activities

Engaging, play-based exercises that help children build focus, memory, and self-control—key foundations for learning success.

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Early Learning Family Activities

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