Events: Top Kid-Friendly Activities For The Week

The Children's Museum of the Arts' Japanese Culture Festival will take place this Sunday! Photo via cmany.org.
The Children’s Museum of the Arts’ Japanese Culture Festival will take place this Sunday! Photo via cmany.org.

As we enter the last stretch of summer, this week we chose the best of the best for you and your family–including an Olympic-themed fest, a three-day homage to pachyderms, a celebration of indie children’s theater, and two stunning Asian fests that will blow you away. Enjoy!

Through Thursday, August 11

Citi Celebrates Team USA: Rio on the Hudson
Pier 26 in Hudson River Park
12pm
Cheer on Team USA this week during Citi’s Rio Olympics celebration at Pier 26 in Hudson River Park. Festivities include face painting, children’s games, music, and arts and crafts, virtual golf swing bays and sprint races. And if those choices aren’t enough, there will also be samba dance performances, photo ops, and visits from former Olympians including Mia Hamm and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. See event website for daily schedules. This event is free.

Friday, August 12-Sunday, August 14

World Elephant Day Weekend
The Bronx Zoo
11am-4pm
Join the Bronx Zoo this weekend for World Elephant Day! To honor the elephants lost each year for their ivory, help the zoo create 35,000 origami elephants for a Guinness World Record. Zoo visitors can also listen to original music created by DJ Ecotone using wild elephant calls and participate in one of three yoga sessions at Astor Court. Free with zoo admission.

Beginning Saturday, August 13

FringeJR Festival
14th Street Y
Various times
Celebrate the New York International Fringe Festival’s 20th anniversary in a kid-friendly way at FringeJR! All FringeJR productions are recommended for families and groups with children ages 5-12. This year’s lineup includes a show that explores Amelia Earhart’s legacy through music, puppetry, and circus arts; a production that transports audiences to a pirate’s magical world, and much more! Be sure to stop by Fort FringeJR, where kids can enjoy free arts and crafts and hang with their favorite characters from the shows! Tickets are $13. Runs through Saturday, August 27.

Saturday, August 13

Dragon Boat Family Festival
Museum of Chinese in America
12pm-4pm
Check out the Museum of Chinese in America this Saturday for a Dragon Boat Family Festival! All ages can enjoy calligraphy workshops, storytelling, arts and crafts, a bug gallery hunt, and zongi (pyramid-shaped rice balls) wrapping and tasting. Tickets are $10; free for children under the age of 2.

Sunday, August 14

Japanese Culture Festival
Children’s Museum of the Arts
12pm-4pm
Head to the Children’s Museum of the Arts on Sunday for its Japanese Culture festival. The Japanese Folk Dance Institute will perform a traditional folk dance and teach fest-goers how to make their own flower hats for the Flower Hat Dance parade. There will also be origami making, Japanese garden designing, and much more! Free with museum admission.

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New York Society of Play Summer Camp and Classes

<p dir="ltr"><strong>Summer Game Camp</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">There are many who do not feel safe sending their children back out into the world with summer camp, this year. To serve those parents and keep the children connected and stimulated during this challenging time, we are offering NYSP Digital Summer Camp. The name of the game with NYSP Summer Camp is community. We have made a large effort to make our camp feel like a living space, with features including –</p> <p dir="ltr">- Role-Playing games familiar and new, led by our master storytellers!</p> <p dir="ltr">- Enriching electives such as Chess, World Building, Character Acting, Crafts, Drawing, and more!</p> <p dir="ltr">- Discussion and media screening rooms during lunch!</p> <p dir="ltr">- A digital campus!</p> <p dir="ltr">- Moderated chat hours!</p> <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p dir="ltr">Join us for a summer of games, friends, and more!</p> <p dir="ltr">Mon - Fri 10am - 2:30pm</p> <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Roleplay Expeditions: Dungeons & Dragons</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">No experience is required to join one of our Dungeons & Dragons games. Our game masters have pre-made character sheets, so you'll be able to start playing the game right away! We adapt the rules of traditional Dungeons & Dragons to make them more approachable to children of various ages. Battle in dungeons, search for relics, and make new friends in our one-of-a-kind Dungeons & Dragons workshop! </p> <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p dir="ltr">Public games meet once per week, with different groups every time. Private games meet 1 to 2 times per week with the same group of kids. Since the players and the storyteller in the group are consistent, this enables us to tell epic tales of adventure together!</p> <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Dungeons & Dragons Junior</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">No experience is required to join one of our drop-in Dungeons & Dragons games. Our Dungeons & Dragons Jr. game provides a D&D storytelling experience without character sheets. Battle in dungeons, search for relics, and make new friends in our one-of-a-kind Dungeons & Dragons workshop! A great way to introduce young children to D&D so they can eventually move onto the main game.</p>

Music Together

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" data-sheets-value="{" data-sheets-userformat="{">Music Together® is for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their parents/caregiver. The classes include songs, rhythmic rhymes and movement, and instrument play activities that are developmentally appropriate for the children and easy for parents and caregivers, regardless of their own musical ability.</span></p>

Brooklyn Robot Foundry - Virtual Classes

<p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;">Brooklyn Robot Foundry offers super fun online robot-building classes for children 2-13 years old!</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;">  </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;">Each week, students are introduced to new engineering concepts and components while building that day’s robot in their own “workshop”.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;">  </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;">All classes maintain a very low student-to-teacher ratio, allowing for plenty of individualized instruction and socializing. The supplies are shipped in advance and classes are led by amazing instructors, taking all the pressure off parents.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;">  </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;">The Foundry’s main focus however, is that kids have fun, get creative, and enjoy being part of this STEAM-loving community!</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>