During the holidays, New York museums welcome the annual onslaught of visitors with a battery of crowd-pleasing exhibitions. Featured here are some of the delights that await museum-goers this holiday season — and notes about the special offerings for children.

Museum Metropolitan of Art
1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd Street
212-879-5500, metmuseum.org

The Met’s headliner this season is “The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art” (until January 6; $20 suggested contribution, $10 students and seniors). Fueled by gifts from Gilded Age benefactors who donated then-trendy works by Dutch masters, the museum has one of the largest collections of Dutch art outside of Europe. This exhibition brings together 228 of these works, including Rembrandt’s 1660 self-portrait and Vermeer’s beguiling “Study of a Young Woman.”

Families with young children can check out the Met’s new Family Orientations program — slideshow introductions to the collection aimed at youngsters — in the renovated Uris Center for Education (December 26 to 31, free with museum admission). In addition, Holiday Family Programs let children and parents spend an hour sketching and exploring the museum (December 18 to 30, free with museum admission).

Museum of Modern Art
11 W. 53rd St. at Sixth Avenue
212-708-9400, moma.org

This season, MoMA is showing Martin Puryear’s large-scale sculptures at the same time as Georges Seurat’s neo-impressionist drawings, offering a broad look at modern art. The Puryear retrospective (until January 14; $20 adults, $16 seniors, $12 students) features 45 of the famed artist’s sculptures, many of which he crafted from wood. His wall-mounted ring forms, made in the 1980s, hang alongside new works such as “CFAO,” a wheelbarrow piled with pine scaffolding and topped with a West African ceremonial mask.

“Georges Seurat: The Drawings” (until January 7) is the first exhibition in almost 25 years to focus exclusively on Seurat’s drawings, including studies for “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” and other pointillist works. For children, MoMA offers “Tours for Fours,” which are tours for 4-year-olds (free for families of two parents and up to three children; $20 additional adults, $16 seniors, $12 students, $5 member guests). Each month brings a new theme to the program.

Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th Street
212-423-3500, guggenheim.org

Artist Richard Prince’s favorite subjects — the Marlboro Man, New Yorker cartoons, muscle cars, and off-color jokes — are on display at the Guggenheim in “Richard Prince: Spiritual America” (until January 9; $18 adults, $15 students and seniors, children under 12 free). Mr. Prince became famous in the late 1970s when he thumbed his nose at the art establishment — and at popular culture — by re-photographing magazine advertisements and presenting them as art.

For children, the Guggenheim offers family-oriented, themed tours the second Sunday of each month ($15 a family, $10 for members). On Saturday, December 15, a family craft workshop helps the little ones create family photo albums ($30 for a family of two adults and four children; $20 members, $15 family museum members, $5 each additional participant).

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th Street
800-944-8639, whitney.org

Kara Walker’s “My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love” (until February 3, $15 adults, $10 seniors and students, free for members, New York City public high school students, and children under 12) at the Whitney Museum has already generated enough attention to make it the season’s must-see exhibit. Ms. Walker’s preferred medium is 18th-century-style black-and-white silhouettes, which she uses to create sexually charged explorations of race inspired by testimonial slave narratives, historical novels, and minstrel shows. The disturbing subject matter may not be appropriate for children, but instead, families can take a “Look out!” sketch tour on December 8 or 15, or a Family Fun! art workshop with stencils and stamps December 1. For the littlest museum-goers, there’s Whitney Wees for 4-and 5-year-olds on December 8 or December 12 (to register, call 212-671-5300).

American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
212-769-5100, american-mnh.org

In early November, the Natural History Museum unveiled its new exhibit, “Water: H2O = Life” (until May 26; $22 adults, $13 children 2 to 12, $16.50 seniors/students with ID). And this is your last chance to track the origins of dragons, unicorns, mermaids, and other fantastic creatures with the summer blockbuster “Mythic Creatures” (until January 26). With Imax movies, planetarium shows, and a December 1 appearance by Bigfoot-stalker Loren Coleman, one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists (free with museum admission), the museum is a wonderland for kids. Don’t miss the Origami Holiday Tree (until January 1) on the first floor, which this year is decorated with some 500 brightly colored dragons, narwhals, and peacocks in honor of the “Mythic Creatures” exhibit.

The Frick Collection
1 E. 70th St. at Fifth Avenue
212-288-0700, frick.org

The Frick adds to the mix with a selection of works by French Enlightenment painter Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (until January 27; $15 adults, $10 seniors, $5 students). The exhibition — a joint venture between the Frick and the Louvre, where the show will travel next — is the first retrospective ever to include works from both European and North American collections. Children under 10 are not permitted inside the Frick, and those under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Rubin Museum of Art
150 W. 17th St. at Seventh Avenue
212-620-5000, rmanyc.org

The majority of the weekly family workshops ($5 suggested donation) currently on offer at the Rubin Museum of Art are based on the photography exhibit “Bhutan, the Sacred Within: Photographs by Kenro Izu” (until February 18; $10 adults, $7 seniors/ students/artists, free admission for children under 12). In these Himalayan-themed workshops children can make shadow puppets, play Tibetan percussion instruments, and design Bhutanese cham hats like the ones in Mr. Izu’s photographs of indigenous people.

The museum also offers year-round programs. On Mondays, “Word Play!” teaches children ages 3 to 5 about Himalayan stories. On Thursdays, “Yak Packers” gives children ages 2 to 5 the chance to create treasure chests using collage and print patterns inspired by the museum’s collection. Both are free with museum admission.