NYC with Kids – a (kinda) short list

So one of my favorite friends was planning a weekend trip to NYC recently and asked if I had any kid-friendly suggestions for exploring “the City” with the fam since I get there (somewhat?) often.  I had a few to share, but frankly, I am still a relative newbie when it comes to NYC.  I still rely on my handy dandy guide book – New York City with Kids by Frommer’s (and still secretly carry around a laminated subway map in my bag when I’m there!  Total tourist no-no, I know.).

After I shot off an email with a list of ideas to my bueno amigo, I couldn’t help but think, “I wanna go do some of these things, too!”  So I’m sitting down tonight re-working my initial list and turning it into a ‘To Do with Kids in NYC’ list.  I’ve sorta thought about doing this before, so thank you Pablo for the final push I needed to get it done!

Oh, and anybody who really knows NYC knows that this list could go on and on.  For me, I picked out a lot of the big, famous things to do in NYC but also tried to sprinkle a lot of other tidbits I’ve picked up from friends, kidHaven fans and the ‘ole guide book.  It was hard to keep this list under control because there is just SO much to do in the Big Apple!  As it is, it’ll take us years before we get through everything I’ve included. Oh well, it’s good to have goals, right?

Kids Events Resources:

• New York Times  ‘Family Fare’ in the ‘Weekend’ section has a corner with current listings of kiddo activities
• New York magazine –nymag.com/family/kids/- has a full calendar of kiddo events
• Time Out Kids –newyorkkids.timeout.com/- has a kids events section
• gocitykids.com
• Theatre Development Fund –www.tdf.org- lists current theatre shows
• Lincoln Center –lincolncenter.org- for event listings
• Broadway –www.playbill.com- for broadway and off-broadway shows
• City Park Events –www.nycgovparks.org- often free events
• www.citypass.com

Super Famous Spots:

• Times Square
• Statue of Liberty
• Empire State Building
• Top of the Rock
• Grand Central Station
• Central Park – Children’s Zoo, Carousel, Conservatory Garden, Story Hour next to Hans Christian Andersen sculpture Sat @ 11
• United Nations (offers hour-long tours)
• Bronx Zoo

Museums:

• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• The Cloisters
• MoMA (+ story hour in sculpture garden)
• American Folk Art Museum
• American Museum of Natural History
• Children’s Museum of the Arts
• Children’s Museum of Manhattan
• New York City Fire Museum

Theatre & Broadway:

• The New Victory Theatre
• Symphony Space Just Kidding series
• Stomp
• Mary Poppins on Broadway
• The Lion King on Broadway
• Galli’s Fairytale Theatre
• Puppetworks weekend shows

Holidays & Festivals:

• Chinese New Year in February
• Children’s International Film Festival in March
• Street Fairs May – October (look under ‘Events’ in the ‘Spare Times’ section of Friday New York Times)
• Museum Mile Festival in June
• Arthur Ashe Kid’s Day at the U.S. Open in August
• Broadway on Broadway in September
• Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in November
• The Nutcracker, Rockefeller Tree, Holiday Train Show at NY Botanical Garden in December

Misc:

• Indoor Playspaces in NYC
• Circle Line boat tour –or- Staten Island Ferry (free) for good views of Statue of Liberty
• Explore food carts, food carts and more food carts
• Farmer’s Market, people watching, and playground at Union Square
• Ice Skating at Wollman Rink in Central Park
• Imagination Playground near South Street Seaport
• Washington Square, Rockefeller Park and Teardrop Park
• Do American Museum of Natural History’s sleepover, ‘A Night at the Museum’
• See a professional sporting event (anything, I’m not picky)
• American Girl, FAO Schwartz, Toys R Us
• Books of Wonder shop
• Cupcakes from Crumbs or better yet, Magnolia Bakery
• Dylan’s Candy Bar
• Counting taxi cabs and screaming lunatics (idea courtesy of Stephanie!)
• Brooklyn: Bridge, Promenade, Children’s Museum, Botanic Garden, Prospect Park,