Entertainment

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM

YOU don’t have to be Ben Stiller to spend a night at the museum – or the zoo or the toy store, for that matter. The city’s favorite family spots are staying open after hours for sleepovers – and you’re invited!

These slumber parties are no snooze: Not only do you unroll your sleeping bag in cool places, such as underneath a 94-foot-long blue whale, but you have hours of exclusive (crowd-free!) access to exhibits – and a chance to see what really happens when the halls empty and the lights go out.

Not surprisingly, tickets sell out fast, so get your dibs in now … and pack a toothbrush.

DREAM WITH THE DINOS

You’ll be glad T. rex is still stationary when you take a flashlight tour through the darkened halls of the American Museum of Natural History. The evening starts with a brief orientation at 5:45 p.m., after which you and about 300 others are let loose to explore everything from the North American Mammals to the Hayden Sphere in a different light. (OK, less light – and you thought Cro-Magnon man was creepy before!)

Guides will be on hand to answer questions, run the hands-on activity carts and serve late-night snacks. Once possibilities and participants have been exhausted, there’s an 11 p.m. screening of the adventure film “Dolphins” in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, then it’s dream time under the great blue whale (cots are provided; bring your own sleeping bag, pillow and flashlight). Breakfast is served at 6:30 a.m., and you’re out of there by 8.

Next available date: March 10. $79 per person (for kids ages 8 and up with parent); (212) 769-5200.

SLEEP WITH THE FISHES

If it’s an aquatic-themed all-nighter you’re looking for, catch your 40 winks with the fish at the New York Aquarium. In the past, nights have focused on a single species (one night walruses, another sharks), but every 7 p.m.-to-10 a.m. sleepover promises plenty of behind-the-scenes perks, such as feeding a tank of tropical fish and touching live sea stars.

The best part for 9-year-old Megan Maher of Brooklyn was an up-close encounter with Fonzie the sea lion. “He was really cute, but he had fish breath,” she tells The Post. Her mom, Julie, was more impressed by something a little less stinky: “We helped the counselors blow up a life-size whale shark balloon that could have been in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”

The shark balloon stayed put, alas, but kids make fish-printed T-shirts or buttons before sitting down to a snack. A seafaring film is shown before bedtime, when kids and parents camp out alongside the tanks in the Explore the Shore building (bring your own bag). “I tried to stay up later than the fish, but I fell asleep right beside them,” laments Megan. Continental breakfast is included.

Next available dates: Feb. 9 and March 3; $145 for one child (ages 6-12) with accompanying adult; (718) 265-3448.

SNOOZE AT THE ZOO

The next best thing to a tropical vacation, Central Park Zoo’s program gives you a late-night look at its Rain Forest (the rest of the zoo is off-limits). Check in at 7 p.m., and you’ll be given flashlights and binoculars before heading off to investigate.

Sloths, monkeys and birds roam free there, and you can even touch the snakes and Madagascar hissing cockroaches, if you dare. Squeamish types will appreciate a tamer presentation by the zoo’s Wildlife Theater troupe.

Rounding out the evening are activities like a bird-matching game and arts and crafts. After a snack, unroll your sleeping bag in the carpeted gallery, which has (lucky you) an adjoining bathroom. But the best part is yet to come – in the morning, before you check out at 9 a.m., you’ll help the zookeepers feed the animals.

Next available dates: Feb. 10 and March 10. $165 for one child (ages 6 to 10) and accompanying adult, additional children $35 each, limited to 32 participants; (212) 439-6583.

SNOREATTHE STORE

Ready to blow that college fund? For a measly $25,000, you and 14 guests (OK, you can have a few more, but it’ll be extra) can have the run of FAO Schwarz for the night. We’re talking about rides on a 3-D Motion Simulator, scavenger hunt, candy raid, midnight pizza party and dessert in the store’s quaint ice-cream parlor.

Say it’s your birthday? They’ll throw in a cake. And this is one place, at least, where a sleeping bag is provided for you.

Saturday evenings only, date of your choice; (212) 644-9400.