In New York, a night at the museum again - five years in the making

It is nearly 10pm on Friday night, and a group of children shine their torches on the imposing skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex.

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Though the scene seems like something out of a movie, it is in fact a whimsical sleepover at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Once a month, parents and kids can once again spend the night at the venerable institution - a programme that had been suspended since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We live really close to this place. So, we can come anytime,” said Jake Nelson, eight. “It’s crazy to sleep (here). I don’t know who would come up with this crazy idea.”

Jake, nestled into his sleeping bag underneath the museum’s gigantic suspended model of a blue whale, said he was “so happy to be here”.

The museum first launched its Night at the Museum programmes in 2006. It was riding the success of the movie of the same name released that year starring American actor Ben Stiller as a security guard, who realises that the animals and fossils come to life overnight.