IN THE CITY…
Explore the natural and cultural delights of Queens’ Flushing Meadows Corona Park—it’s not only bigger than Central Park, but is also home to family-friendly attractions such as the New York Hall of Science (be sure to check out Rocket Park, which displays rockets from the space race era). At the Queens Museum (free for children under 12), kids can see the city in miniature at the awe-inspiring, 9,335-square-ft Panorama of the City of New York. The Queens Zoo and the Queens Botanical Garden are also conveniently located in the park.
Governors Island is a perfect summer family destination with its car-free bike paths and spots like the Hammock Grove, but Figment NYC’s summer-long interactive art installations are yet another reason to hop on the ferry. The funky experience includes a mini golf course created from re-purposed materials, and pieces like the TreeHouse—filled with an array of art installations—or the series of interactive sculptures that are also free and open to the public.
At the southern end of Prospect Park, the LeFrak Center at Lakeside offers all kinds of activities, including a 16,000-square-ft Splash Pad, an eclectic array of bicycles for rent—ranging from the low-riding quad sport for one to a double surrey (seating six adults and two small children)—a 16,000-square-ft roller skating rink with rentals for all ages, pedal boat rentals, and when the kids have worked up an appetite from all the activity, the Bluestone Lakeside Café.
If you haven’t yet visited the new Whitney Museum of American Art, head over to the Meatpacking District and explore the museum’s outdoor galleries while it’s still warm. While you’re in the neighborhood, stroll the High Line, which offers a series of weekly drop-in art and nature activities just for kids, up to Chelsea. When those little legs get tired, stop for a ride on the Pier 62 Carousel, (at 22nd Street) which is decked out in lights and sports 33 hand-carved wooden animals to ride right by the Hudson River. Hot day? The kids can splash through Chelsea Waterside Play Area’s (at 23rd Street) many water features.
Kids and adults will love the awe-inspiring 360 degree views of the city from One World Observatory, which opened to the public this spring. For an additional $15 (tickets are $32 for adults, $26 for kids 6-12), the One World Explorer iPad offers “virtual helicopter tours” of local landmarks and has a dedicated video section for kids. If you want to spend the day downtown, visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum is a great way to teach your kids about this difficult topic. The Museum website has a section with tips for talking to your children to check out before you go (consider a Tuesday evening, when admission is free after 5pm), and children 6 and under always enter free.
Spread a blanket and dine al fresco in Central Park. Dine among the pines at the Arthur Ross Pinetum Playground (West Side at 85th Street) which, in addition to boasting the largest collection of pine trees in the park, is home to a playground in addition to picnic tables and open lawns. The lawn of the charming Belvedere Castle (off the 79th Street Transverse near Turtle Pond) offers beautiful views of the park, and the castle itself hosts family events throughout the year including bird watching, storytelling, and astronomy talks. The Great Hill (on the West Side from 103-107th Streets) offers an open hilltop meadow and picnic tables surrounded by large trees that will provide welcome shade on hot summer days. If you don’t feel like packing a basket, Perfect Picnic NYC will deliver a spread to you anywhere in Manhattan. Their Family Picnic for four includes their signature bagguettini sandwiches, sea salted brownies, and even a blanket and map of some of their favorite picnic spots.
Learning plus snacks? Food tours are a perfect family outing! Beat the heat with Sugartooth Tours’ Ice Cream Summer Sundays Frozen Treats Tour, which takes you around Little Italy, SoHo and Chinatown to sample uniquely flavored ice-creams, ice-cream sandwiches, artisanal gelato, frozen yogurt, and more. Eat your way through pizza history on Scott’s Pizza Tours’ Original Crosstown Pizza Walk in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Kids will get to see how a century-old bakery oven works and learn fun facts like what makes some cheese stringy, and how dough stretching impacts the final crust. Head over to the East Village—which is said to have more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the world—and sample Polish pierogi, Rugelach, strudel, Middle Eastern falafel, cannoli, and more on Free Tours By Foot’s East Village Food Tour.
Spend a Sunday afternoon on the Brooklyn waterfront. If you’re coming from Manhattan (the kids have energy to burn), play tourist and walk across the majestic Brooklyn Bridge. Head south on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade to take in stunning views of Lower Manhattan, toward Smorgasburg on Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5—this popular artisanal food market sets up shop at the park every Sunday from 11am to 6pm. Then, head over to the wonderful playgrounds on Pier 6, which feature water jets, volleyball courts, giant slides and jungle gyms at Slide Mountain, 10 swing sets at Swing Valley, and a Sandbox Village. For a quiet moment, escape the crowds and admire the park’s scenic waterfront ecosystem at the Marsh Garden.
OUT OF THE CITY…
Flee the concrete jungle for a rustic beach getaway on Fire Island. Its lack of cars (and paved roads) and low-key vibe make it a perfect end-of-summer family trip. Fire Island National Seashore’s year-long 50th anniversary celebration will culminate this Labor Day Weekend with special hikes, sand creation contests, tours, and a maritime music concert. Check out the Sunken Forest to see a rare habitat of plants bordering a winding boardwalk, climb to the top of the Fire Island Lighthouse, and best of all, relax and play on the 32 miles of beaches. Ocean Beach, with its proximity to great restaurants and accessible public bathrooms—is a family favorite.
Head to the Hamptons and soak up the sun at Splish Splash in Calverton on Long Island, voted one of America’s best water parks by the Travel Channel. Before you go, familiarize yourself with the park map so you can properly explore the 90-plus acres of water rides, including the Alien Invasion and Cliff Diver, and the nautically themed wading pools and play areas for younger kids. Purchase an H2Go pass—the park’s virtual ride reservation system—to minimize time spent in line.
Head about an hour’s drive north to the Storm King Art Center in New Windsor, NY, to explore the incredible 500-acre sculpture garden. Every Sunday at 1pm, Storm King offers hands-on programs for children and families, which are included with admission to the Center. If you don’t have access to a car, Coach USA offers two day-trip packages leaving from Port Authority, one of which also includes a trip to the Woodbury Common Outlets.
History buffs will love spending the day at Theodore Roosevelt’s home in Sagamore Hill, NY, which has just reopened after three and a half years of renovations. Known as Roosevelt’s “Summer White House” and home for more than 30 years, the estate was preserved after his death and still contains all of his belongings, including some of the hunter’s animal skins and elk heads. Book a ranger-led tour of the home in advance, or explore the 80-plus acres of grounds on trails that will take you through beach, forest, and marshes.
Enjoy what’s left of the summer growing season with a family fruit-picking outing! Pick blueberries and blackberries at Patty’s Berries and Bunches in Mattituck on Long Island. At the end of your visit, sample farm-fresh ice cream in unique flavors like Sugar Snap Pea, Blackberry Sage, and Real Mint. Head over to Chester, NJ to pick yellow and red raspberries and blackberries at The Alstede Family Farm. Situated about an hour upstate in Hopewell Junction, NY the family-friendly Fishkill Farms has tree-ripe peaches and nectarines available for picking through the month of August. The eco-conscious farm grows all low-spray fruit, and boasts scenic views of the Hudson River Valley and the Catskills.
The city’s High Line doesn’t have enough nature for you? Head to the Adirondacks and stroll among the tree tops at the Wild Walk in Tupper Lake, NY. This quarter-mile walk, which opened in July, boasts a path that takes adventurers as high as 40 feet above the ground, and includes exciting features such as a human-sized spiderweb and a four-story twig tree house. After the Walk, head to the Wild Center where kids can check out hands-on exhibits that play music, blow snow and mimic nature, secret exhibits for kids’ eyes only, the Naturalist’s Cabinet (full of drawers and boxes for perusal so kids can “play naturalist”), and see live animals brought in by naturalists.
AND BEYOND!
Located on the southernmost tip of New Jersey, Cape May is home to pristine beaches and beautiful Victorian architecture. Kids will get a kick out of dolphin and whale-watching cruises on the Cape May Whale Watcher, and the whole family can bike to the historic Cape May Lighthouse and take in the 360 degree views. At the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum, kids can check out more than 26 planes and helicopters up close, get into the cockpits of aircrafts, play flying simulator games, and try their hands at being an aircraft controller.
Just two hours south of the city, you can really maximize a weekend trip to Philadelphia, and it’s full of educational family-friendly attractions, from the historical—the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall are free to visit—to the scientific. At the Franklin Institute, kids can climb through two stories of neural networks at the “Explore Your Brain” exhibit, and check out “The Art of the Brick,” the world’s largest collection of LEGO brick art—featuring a 20-ft-long T-Rex—before it closes on September 6. The city’s Please Touch Museum is home to two floors of interactive exhibits, and the 100-year-old Woodside Park Dentzel Carousel.
Western Massachusetts’ Berkshire mountains become a summertime cultural hotspot, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer-long Tanglewood music festival in Lenox—where Idina Menzel will perform August 29—and Shakespeare and Company, one of the country’s largest Shakespeare Festivals, taking place just a few miles’ drive east on I-83. An hour’s drive east takes you to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, which celebrates children’s literature and inspires reading through exhibits on picture books and illustrations.
Take a weekend trip to the quaint and historic Gettysburg, PA, just under a four hours’ drive from the city. Visit the Gettysburg Museum of History and Visitor Center to explore decades of history through one of the most extensive private collections of artifacts from the American Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Take a tour of Gettysburg Battlefield on horseback with Hickory Hollow Horse Farm. Then diverge from the battle-themed tourism, and experience the interactive show “Lincoln’s Lost Treasures,” (recommended for ages 10-15) where you’ll get to interact with Abraham Lincoln and other historical figures in a scavenger hunt through the streets of Gettysburg.
Not only is Stonington, CT’s Mystic Seaport the largest maritime museum in the world, but it’s also a top-notch family destination. The Seaport Children’s Museum helps kids 7 and under experience the sailor’s life, and you’ll want to explore a 19th-Century sea-faring village where you can chat with historians, musicians, storytellers, and craftspeople who bring the period to life; and climb aboard the Charles W. Morgan, the last surviving vessel of a 200-year-old whaling fleet. Just a mile away at the Mystic Aquarium, you can see sea lions, visit the shark lagoon, and check out one of the largest outdoor Beluga whale exhibits in the US.
Take a trip down memory lane to Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this summer, and enjoy a day with your favorite Sesame Street characters and both wet and dry rides. Taking the 1.5-hour trip on a weekday is probably best for avoiding crowds, but either way, be sure to make Dine With Me dinner reservation with Elmo & Friends to snag some quality time with this furry red favorite. On August 29-30, the park will host its annual Back-to-School bash, a celebration of the new school year featuring singing, dancing, and a delicious meal (reservations required).
When you arrive at Kalahari Resorts and Conventions’ newest water park in Pennyslvania’s Pocono Mountains—just opened this July—it’ll be hard to believe that it only took two hours in the car to get you there. In keeping with its name, the resort is inspired by African cultures, people, and animals. As Pennsylvania’s largest indoor water park (at about 100,000 square feet), it also features a 30,000-square-ft family entertainment center—and that’s just Phase I. Phase II, expected to be completed in Spring 2017, will make the park the largest resort of its kind in the country.
