Best Family Weekend Activities in NYC

For even more weekend events, plus local family-friendly events and activities all week long, check out our full calendar!

HOT OFF THE BLOG!

Lois Lowry, the author of the bestselling The Giver quartet and Number the Stars, will be a special guest along with actor and director Sean Astin at Symphony Space’s Thalia Kids’ Book Club on Sunday, October 19. Check out our exclusive interview with Lowry here. Page-turner!

Best-selling author and artist Hervé Tullet is coming to New York this weekend for events at the Guggenheim (Saturday) and at Brooklyn Public Library (Sunday). Check out our interview with Tullet, in which he discusses his whimsical sensibility, his creative process, and creating a dialogue between children and adult readers. Mix it up!

FRIDAY

celebrations-2.jpg_ — Enjoy live music at the Wave Hill Enchanted Weekend celebration! Photo via wavehill.org

Be amazed by Big Apple Circus’s all-new show, METAMORPHOSIS, featuring wonders from the Flying Trapeze to Quick-Change conjurors to contortionists! Even better, no one sits more than 50 feet from ringside at this two-hour-long show. (Through November 20) Clown around!

SATURDAY

Join Madison Square Park for its Fall Kids Fest, sponsored in part by New York Family. Enjoy face painting, storytelling, arts & crafts workshops, lawn games, live music from Songs for Seeds, and more. Little ones can also claim a pumpkin in the park’s pumpkin patch and dress in costume for the Halloween parade. (Saturday) Madison Square madness!

Massive pumpkins–some weighing more than 1,800 pounds–will arrive at the New York Botanic Garden this weekend to be transformed by master carver Ray Villafane and his team. Enjoy daily Q&A sessions with the carvers, and tasty snacks provided by Whole Foods during Giant Pumpkin Carving Weekend. (Saturday-Sunday) Super squash!

Enjoy the magic of autumn during this special Enchanted Weekend at Wave Hill. Create fairy houses and tiny wands with your little ones, and catch a special concert by the Metropolitan Four or hear some fairy tales at this enchanted seasonal celebration. (Saturday-Sunday) Frolic with fairies!

The Museum of the Moving Image will honor master illustrator Chuck Jones at Chuck Jones Family Day. Visitors can participate in a scavenger hunt, animation activities and hands-on workshops led by teaching artists and screenings of Chuck Jones cartoons in the Redstone Theater throughout the day. Free cookies provided by Whimsy & Spice and Amy’s Bread. (Saturday) Get animated!

Join a dad and his young daughter as he tells the story of “The Snail and The Whale,” an action-packed, musical tale of a tiny snail with wanderlust, opening at the New Victory Theater this weekend. To see the world, the itchy-footed invertebrate hitches a ride on the tail of a giant humpback whale and forges an unlikely friendship. (Saturday-Sunday) It’s showtime!

El Museo del Barrio’s free Super Sabato event celebrates the 3,000 year-old tradition of Dia de los Muertos. Get your face painted, enjoy the musical procession and concert from Pistolera, make some spooky crafts or visit the storytelling section! (Saturday) Time to party!

Hungry for some new flavors? Head over to South Street Seaport for the 5th annual Taste of the Seaport. More than 25 restaurants will be participating in this year’s fest including Ambrose Hall, Barbalu, The Capital Grille, Pita Press, and others. There will also be a Kid’s Zone featuring games, arts & crafts, face painting, and tennis and soccer clinics. Proceeds will benefit the Spruce Street School (P.S. 397) and the Peck Slip School (P.S. 343) (Saturday) Take a bite!

SUNDAY

Have no fear pickle lovers! The Lower East Side’s annual Pickle Day is back this Sunday! All ages can show up for food, shopping, a home pickling contest, DJ lessons, pumpkin face painting, animal adoptions, and much more. Plus, of course, sampling the city’s best pickles. (Sunday) They’re dill-icious!

Legendary children’s singer and songwriter Raffi will perform live in concert this Sunday at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College! Fans of all ages will be treated to favorites such as “Baby Beluga,” Down By The Bay,” and “Corner Grocery Store.” Recommended for families with children ages 2 and up. (Sunday) Clap along!

The music of South Africa can be heard at Carnegie Hall when Ladysmith Black Mambazo performs on Sunday in a special family show. The Grammy Award-winning group will be singing their hits including “Music Knows No Boundaries” and the Nelson Mandela-inspired “Long Walk to Freedom.” (Sunday) Magical melodies!

Join the Union Square Partnership and Fox5 NY for Modern Family’s Fall Day for all! This free, family-friendly Halloween event will include an interactive corn maze–over 60 feet long and 8 feet tall–and a pumpkin patch! As visitors work their way through the maze, they’ll be tested with “Modern Family” trivia and an augmented reality experience. Plus, there will be face painting and candy giveaways from Hershey! (Sunday) Family festivity!

Come to “Kid Row” on the Upper East Side for the second annual Octoberfest celebration! This afternoon of fall fun will feature face painting, glitter tattoos, mini-manis, a DJ for dancing and karaoke, refreshments, multi-sport activities for children, free art projects, raffles, and more! (Plus some discounts at local businesses!) (Sunday) Rockin’ on Kid Row!

Chickenshed NYC

Chickenshed is an inclusive theatre company that began in the UK in 1974. Chickenshed NYC is a young organization bringing that same ethos and unique methodology to the USA. Chickenshed&rsquo;s mission is to create entertaining and outstanding theatre that celebrates diversity and inspires positive change. Chickenshed's model of Inclusive Theatre is based in the belief that everyone can flourish when everyone is included. At Chickenshed everyone is welcome, everyone is valued, and together we produce remarkable theatre. We want to break down barriers between people to create a world without labels and where differences no longer divide. At Chickenshed, support is given to those who need it, and given by those who can . We believe that creative activities, self-expression and performance should be available to anyone who has the desire, no matter their background or circumstances. We know that when everyone has the opportunity to shine, amazing things happen. Chickenshed NYC provides programming for little ones, children and youth through semester-long activities and performances.

A-Game Sports

<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;"> A-Game Sports is a premier provider of sports camps, programming and instruction for kids of all ages ranging from toddlers to teens. As an instructional and recreational youth sports facility, our goal is to make athletics a rewarding experience for all kids. A-Game Sports is located in New Rochelle, NY, and offers camps, lessons, customized programs for more than 10 sports and rental space for private events. A-Game Sports was founded in 2013 by two guys who decided that it was time to do what they truly love in life. Since then, we've made the ideology of fusing hard work and fun into a reality. Our dedicated staff of professional coaches share their enthusiasm with kids of all ages and skill levels that take part in our programs. </div> <div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;"> &nbsp; </div> <div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;"> With turfed fields for soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and flag football, batting cages and tunnels for baseball and softball, and various basketball programs, A-Game Sports is one of the premiere sports facilities for kids and adults of any age. Aspiring athletes and fitness enthusiasts will benefit from our many strength and conditioning programs, while children new to sports will learn skills and techniques within their chosen sport, all while having a great time and keeping the game fun. </div>

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;