Weekend Planner: Fun Family Activities in NYC (September 5-7)

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Award-winning documentary filmmaker and father-of-four Ken Burns shares his favorite New York historical sites. Travel in time!

Beat the back-to-school blues with our top event picks for this month—from the Central Park Horse Show to the Chile Pepper Festival, and everything in between. Fun in the city!

WEEKEND PLANNER

FRIDAY

Time travel (for free!) on the City Island Trolley to the historic Bartow Pell Mansion! Explore the estate while enjoying live music and snacks. All aboard! (Friday)

Acrobatics at the West Side County Fair, via nycparks.org

Kick off the 2014 New York Clown Theatre Festival with an opening day parade in Union Square, continue with a pie fight at The Brick Theater and finish off with an opening night cabaret featuring festival founders! Clown around! (Friday)

Let the Mettawee River Theatre Company take you on a magical journey in their production “The Dancing Fox: Wisdom Tales of the Middle East.” Encounter memorable animal and human characters as Arab and Jewish folk traditions are reinterpreted with masks, puppets, and giant figures! Enjoy the show! (Friday)

SATURDAY

Commemorate Madison Square’s 200th anniversary of its naming in style—18th and 19th century style, that is! The Historic Daytime Fair will celebrate the games, art, and food of the period, and in the evening, the event will transition into an open contemporary art party. Have a blast in the past! (Saturday)

Bring the family to the Museum of Chinese in America’s Mid-Autumn Moon Festival for a scavenger hunt, moon-cake tasting, storytelling sessions about this harvest festival’s traditions, and more! Note: RSVP required. Happy harvest! (Saturday)

Practice the art of graffiti while learning about the famous 5Pointz building in Long Island City. If inspiration strikes, the kids can try their hands at graffiti on a large model of the 5Pointz building! Express yourself! (Saturday)

Bring your little ones to the Lefferts Historic House and learn how to transform fresh ingredients into delicious treats! Pop popcorn with fresh herb butter, bake apple pie on an open hearth, and enjoy games and crafts with the Prospect Park Alliance. Get cookin’! (Saturday & Sunday)

Join the Children’s Museum of Manhattan at the Back to School Festival! This two-day event will cover all the back to school basics, from cooking demonstrations by The Creative Kitchen to kindergarten readiness workshops and Beyond the Backpack tool kits from Nickelodeon! Study up! (Saturday & Sunday)

SUNDAY

Visitors to Governors Island will be transported to Africa for the African Film Festival Family Day Celebration, featuring short films, dance classes, storytelling, quilting workshops, African food, and more! Time to celebrate! (Sunday)

Come out to Arthur Avenue for all things Italiano! The Ferragosto 2014 street fair, in celebration of the fall harvest, will offer traditional street performances, live music, face painting, and, of course, food! That’s amore! (Sunday)

Animal lovers of all ages are invited to the Queens Zoo for Family Day! Visitors will walk among the of the South American rainforest, participate in live animal demos, and make a craft to take home. Get wild! (Sunday)

Join the Upper West Side community at Riverside Park for an afternoon at the fair! Programming includes games, live performances, aerialists, carnival rides, reptile shows, and a greenmarket. Party on the West Side! (Sunday)

Looking for a new furry friend? Join the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals at Adoptapalooza, a pet adoption bonanza with dogs, cats and rabbits looking for new homes. There will also be free demos and activities, including training and agility demonstrations, advice on pet healthcare, pet photographers, and more! Dog-gone it! (Sunday)

Once Upon A Mattress

Bring your kids. Bring your parents. Bring your favorite pajamas! Once Upon a Mattress is back on Broadway, and it&rsquo;s &ldquo;pure let&rsquo;s-be-kids entertainment&rdquo; (New Yorker) fit for ages 7 to 107! Two-time Tony&reg; winner Sutton Foster stars as Princess Winnifred the Woebegone, alongside royalty of stage and screen Michael Urie and Queen of Comedy Ana Gasteyer. Adapted for a new generation by Amy Sherman-Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), this uproarious retelling of The Princess and the Pea introduces the unapologetically eccentric Winnifred to an uptight kingdom, where she charms, delights, and dances her way to the top&hellip; of a stack of mattresses. So give the babysitter the night off and your kids a night on the town &ndash; you'll all live happily ever laughter! Get tickets at&nbsp;<a href="https://onceuponamattressnyc.com/">https://onceuponamattressnyc.com/</a>

Explore MetroWest Boston

<h1>Turn Whining into Winning in MetroWest Boston</h1> From beer gardens to corn mazes, state parks to beautiful art, MetroWest Boston is a great destination for a weekend trip! Enjoy <a href="https://www.metrowestvisitors.org/get-outside/?imgoing-place=hopkinton-state-park-61a91acef30b531a665ab64d">Hopkinton State Park</a>&rsquo;s gorgeous foliage while kayaking on the lake or hiking, mountain biking, or snowshoeing on the amazing trails. In the evening, catch a play, musical, concert, art exhibition, dance performance, or immersive theatrical event at <a href="https://www.metrowestvisitors.org/culture/?imgoing-place=hopkinton-center-for-the-arts-63c03d7e0d792d753263b4d1">Hopkinton Center for the Arts</a>. Get a great night&rsquo;s sleep at one of the region&rsquo;s hotels, such as <a href="https://www.metrowestvisitors.org/where-to-stay/?imgoing-place=the-verve-hotel-boston-natick-tapestry-collection-by-hilton-61aa4790f30b531a666119e4">The VERVE</a>, with its fun and funky pop art d&eacute;cor, or <a href="https://www.metrowestvisitors.org/where-to-stay/?imgoing-place=aloft-framingham-6216279ccc891d1d0862c8c2">Aloft</a> with their pool tables and lobby games. In the morning, visit the <a href="https://www.metrowestvisitors.org/culture/?imgoing-place=danforth-art-school-61a8e11cf30b531a66592d90">Danforth Art Museum</a>, a jewel box housing 3,500+ artworks from three centuries, including groundbreaking sculptures depicting the African and African American experience by Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller. Cross the street to the <a href="https://www.metrowestvisitors.org/culture/?imgoing-place=framingham-history-center-61a8e11cf30b531a66592d92">Framingham History Center</a> to explore their new multilingual exhibit that traces the city&rsquo;s immigration story, from those fleeing the 1690s Salem Witch trials, to the Irish and Italian influx in the 1800-1900s, to the current migration of Brazilians. &ldquo;Framingham&rsquo;s Collective Journeys&rdquo; includes oral histories, interactives, and artifacts. No visit to Framingham is complete without stopping at legendary <a href="https://www.metrowestvisitors.org/eat/?imgoing-place=jacks-abby-craft-lagers-61a8e11cf30b531a66592da0">Jack&rsquo;s Abby Craft Lagers</a>, one of 17 breweries in MetroWest, where you can enjoy a flight with a schnitzel sandwich or their famous Framinghamburger. Afterwards, spend a few hours at <a href="https://www.metrowestvisitors.org/activities/?imgoing-place=level99-64a8389c51f92a351a6a3f06">Level99</a> testing each other with 50+ mental and physical escape rooms and challenges. The next day, tour the <a href="https://www.metrowestvisitors.org/where-to-stay/?imgoing-place=longfellows-wayside-inn-61aa7aa3f30b531a66621f57">Wayside Inn</a>. The oldest inn in America&rsquo;s 100-acre property includes the Old Barn, now a farm stand with displays of antique farming tools, the historic Grist Mill, and beautiful grounds containing the Longfellow Memorial Garden, the Redstone Schoolhouse from the poem &ldquo;Mary Had a Little Lamb&rdquo;, the Martha-Mary Chapel, and Josephine's Pond for fishing. Stay for a delicious gourmet meal in their historic dining room. Spend the afternoon at the <a href="https://www.metrowestvisitors.org/culture/?imgoing-place=american-heritage-museum-61a92852f30b531a665b17bf">American Heritage Museum</a>. Start your tour in the depths of a WWI trench listening to a nurse&rsquo;s first-hand account from the Western Front while bombs explode above you and the floor begins to shake. This extraordinary museum features one-of-a-kind historic aircraft, tanks, cars and rare relics from the Revolutionary War to today, in immersive exhibits and living history events. Afterwards, wander the charming shops and boutiques of downtown Hudson. <h3>MetroWest Boston offers these and many other attractions, activities and events for the whole family!</h3>

New York Society of Play Summer Camp and Classes

Summer Game Camp 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 &ndash; - Role-Playing games familiar and new, led by our master storytellers! - Enriching electives such as Chess, World Building, Character Acting, Crafts, Drawing, and more! - Discussion and media screening rooms during lunch! - A digital campus! - Moderated chat hours! &nbsp; Join us for a summer of games, friends, and more! Mon - Fri 10am - 2:30pm &nbsp; Roleplay Expeditions: Dungeons &amp; Dragons No experience is required to join one of our Dungeons &amp; 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 &amp; 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 &amp; Dragons workshop!&nbsp; &nbsp; 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! &nbsp; Dungeons &amp; Dragons Junior No experience is required to join one of our drop-in Dungeons &amp; Dragons games. Our Dungeons &amp; Dragons Jr. game provides a D&amp;D storytelling experience without character sheets. Battle in dungeons, search for relics, and make new friends in our one-of-a-kind Dungeons &amp; Dragons workshop! A great way to introduce young children to D&amp;D so they can eventually move onto the main game.