Free Family Events This Weekend! (June 16-18)

Adventures NYC will take place this Saturday in Central Park! Photo via nycgovparks.org.

Have an amazing weekend without opening your wallet! For even more activity inspiration, check out our Weekend Planner.

Through Sunday, June 25

River to River Festival
Various times
Various locations in Lower Manhattan
All Ages
Visit the 16th Annual River to River Festival for free fun-filled events from June 14-25! The summer art festival includes performances at 31 sites all over Lower Manhattan and Governors Island. Highlights include the “Black Gotham Experience,” Kamau Ware’s expansive and participatory project, “A Marvelous Order,” a multimedia opera about Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, and more! The festival is presented by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and all events are free.

Friday, June 16

Family Fridays: “Eschering Around” with Jürgen Richter-Gebert
6:30-8pm
National Museum of Mathematics
All Ages
Love origami and math? Join mathematics expert Jürgen Richter-Gebert as he combines the creativity of folding paper with the mathematical artistry of M.C. Escher to create a “kaleidocycle.” He’ll demonstrate how to design your own Escher-like pattern and create dynamic paper sculptures that go around and around. The event is free but registration is required.

Beginning Saturday, June 17

The Shopkins Macaron Pop-Up Cafe
12:30-3:30pm
35 North Moore Street
All Ages
Come to The Shopkins Macaron Pop-Up Cafe! The pop-up celebrates the collectible’s eighth season, World Vacation. This free fan experience invites everyone to enjoy tasty treats, awesome swag, Shopkins manicures, new Shopkins World Vacation products, and more. The event is free but reservations are required. Runs through Monday, June 19.

Saturday, June 17

Roosevelt Island Day 2017
9am-3pm
Roosevelt Island
All Ages
Bring the family for a day full of fun activities on Roosevelt Island! There will be bagels and coffee provided in the morning, flower planting, a petting zoo, pony rides, and much more! Dave Brown and the Versatiles will also perform a live concert. Don’t miss out on the fun!

14th Annual Hunts Point Fish Parade and Summer Festival
10am-5pm
Parade begins: Hunts Point Riverside Park; Festival: Barretto Point Park
All Ages
Come to the 14th annual Hunts Point Fish Parade and Summer Festival for a fun time with the family! The Fish Parade will start at 11:30am and march through Hunts Point, and the festival will follow at Barretto Point Park. There will be plenty of activities to entertain the family like music, food, free raffles, games, and more. Prizes will be awarded for best costumes and floats.

People Power Planet Party
11am-5pm
East 6th Street (between Avenue B and Avenue C), Brooklyn
All Ages
Celebrate going green with your friends and neighbors at the People Power Planet Party, an eco-fest and block party. Earth-friendly activities like bicycling, community gardens, and urban agriculture will be available as well as food, dancing, yoga, and music. Kids activities such as face painting and puppets will take place from 11am-3pm.

Adventures NYC
11am-4pm
Central Park
All Ages
Calling all outdoor enthusiasts! Explore the great outdoors with Adventures NYC, a day of extreme outdoor fun put on by the NYC Parks Department. Head to Central Park to participate in a variety of outdoor sports. There will be rock climbing, mountain biking, yoga obstacle races, zip lining, outdoor survival training, and more.

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The Mermaid Parade 2017
1pm
Parade begins: West 21st Street and Surf Avenue; Parade ends: Steeplechase Plaza
All Ages
A harbinger of summer, the Coney Island Mermaid Parade is the largest art parade in the country! The parade combines ocean myths and seaside kitsch into a fun-loving procession of more than 3,000 revelers from all five boroughs.

Lisa Loeb with The Knights
2pm
Prospect Park
All Ages
Jam out with the kids while listening to the musical talents of acclaimed singer-songwriter, Lisa Loeb, accompanied by the Brooklyn-based orchestra The Knights. Loeb, who first achieved success with her hit single “Stay,” has gone on to write children’s songs and books as well starting the Camp Lisa Foundation, which helps economically challenged children attend summer camp. BRIC’s annual children’s concert is sure to be a treat for the whole family.

Sunday, June 18

2017 Taste of Jewish Culture Street Festival
11am-5pm
6th Avenue (between 48th and 49th Streets)
All Ages
Grab a bite of Jewish culture this Sunday during the 2017 Taste of Jewish Culture Festival! Organized by The Workmen’s Circle, this tasty fest will feature Jewish style food from some of NYC’s finest eateries including Fletcher’s Brooklyn BBQ, Sweet Chili NYC, Destination Dumplings, Zaro’s Bakery, Bulldog Burgery, and many others. Dads can also receive a free egg cream or pickle pop in honor of Father’s Day! Plus be sure to stick around for kid’s activities and performances from Frank London’s Klezmer Brass All-Stars and Golem.

2017 Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic
11:30am-1pm
Marcus Garvey Park
All Ages
Break out your bicycle for the annual Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic. Founded in 1973 by a former New York police officer to promote safety programs for youths in Harlem, the event has since grown substantially and now hosts hundreds of professional cyclists and community residents each year. Get on your bike and enjoy the beautiful weather while helping a great cause!

Egg Rolls, Egg Creams and Empanadas Festival
12-4pm
Museum at Eldridge Street
All Ages
Honor the Jewish, Chinese, and Puerto Rican cultures of the Lower East Side at the Museum at Eldridge Street’s annual Egg Rolls, Egg Creams, and Empanadas Festival. Enjoy klezmer and bomba music, Hebrew and Chinese scribal art, Puerto Rican mask-making, Mah Jongg games, yarmulke making, and of course, kosher egg rolls, egg creams, and empanadas!

12th Annual NYC KidsFest
2-7pm
Morningside Park
All Ages
This annual festival celebrates multi-cultural arts specifically for children and families! Kiddos will enjoy fun activities like face painting and art workshops while being entertained by live musical performances! Some notable show-stoppers include Uptown Social Club, a rendition of “The Frog Prince,” and the NY Arabic Orchestra. The rain date for this event is Sunday, June 25.

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The Language Workshop For Children

After offering both group and private lessons for many years and analyzing the results over&nbsp;time, The&nbsp;Language Workshop for&nbsp;Children, founded&nbsp;in1973, has decided&nbsp;to emphasize private remote lessons at shorter intervals.&nbsp;Our skilled educators&nbsp;will&nbsp;focus their attention exclusively on the&nbsp;unique needs, learning style, and interests of your child.&nbsp;This allows a&nbsp;bond&nbsp;to develop&nbsp;between teacher and student, which&nbsp;has been&nbsp;shown to&nbsp;drastically improve retention.&nbsp; OUR METHOD&nbsp; Developed by the pioneers of language education for children, our programs bring decades of&nbsp;experience to your living room with individualized, active language classes. Each lesson is based on proven methods and materials perfected to capture your&nbsp;child&rsquo;s attention during the ages when he/she absorbs information the fastest. &nbsp;&nbsp; While other online language classes rely on videos for passive learning, we deliver interactive, and engaging lessons with native-fluent teachers. In addition, all our teachers are certified in the Thibaut&nbsp;Technique which has been featured&nbsp;in the New York&nbsp;Times, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, and many other well-respected&nbsp;publications.&nbsp;&nbsp; Our short one-on-one lessons give kids the chance to focus, hear pronunciation clearly, and practice speaking in their target language.  THE PROCESS&nbsp; First, students have a short meeting with our Director&nbsp;Francois&nbsp;Thibaut, in&nbsp;English, with&nbsp;their parent(s)&nbsp;present.&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut&nbsp;will determine&nbsp;the best course of study, including&nbsp;class length and&nbsp;frequency, the&nbsp;right&nbsp;teacher, lesson&nbsp;format and materials (or action games for younger students.) Then the learning&nbsp;begins!&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut will continually check in on your child&rsquo;s learning to assure they are getting the most&nbsp;of&nbsp;their&nbsp;classes.&nbsp; OTHER OFFERINGS&nbsp; We can also help your child prepare for: the French subject tests for SAT, AP &amp; CLEP, the European DELF/DALF, the Canadian TEF and other standardized testing, college entry exams, studying or traveling abroad,&nbsp;cultural changes when moving abroad,&nbsp;and much more!&nbsp; &nbsp;

Dance Workshop - Long Island

Nestled in the heart of Lynbrook Village, Dance Workshop is a community-focused studio committed to dance education in a loving and safe environment. Dance Workshop offers Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip-Hop, Musical Theatre and Acro for ages 2+. They also offer a Pre-Professional Company track for dancers interested in taking their technique to the next level. Trial classes may be scheduled with the studio at the start of the season. Dance with the Dance Workshop! MaryAnn Grasso founded Dance Workshop in 1979. Her daughter Nanci later joined her at the helm and in 2016 established Dance Workshop on the Upper East Side of NYC. MaryAnn and Nanci have devoted their lives to dance education, community and the development of children; raising dancers and sound human beings alike. Dance Workshop has seen thousands of dancers pass through the doors. They believe dance has the power to elevate and change lives!