suggestions for visitors with kids

Subject: Re: suggestions for visitors with kids

OpossumQueen wrote: Some of my in-laws are coming to stay with us in a couple of weeks. Two of the five(!) (this is where you would hear the panic in my voice start, 7 people, 1 bathroom) are small kids--around 2 and 4. Oh, and the mom is pregnant with #3.

They will be here 5 days and we are trying to figure out how to entertain them. So far, all we can think of is the Prospect Park Zoo (these kids love animals and will enjoy the interactive stuff for kids). The only request from the adults has been WTC site and the Statue of Liberty.

What can we do with them that is kid friendly? Suggestions for activities, places to eat, attractions, etc. are much appreciated.

(pulls up chair and sits down)

If the're 2 and 4, you may want to adopt a play-it-by-ear approach. Toddlers don't quite strike me as getting the concept of a planned itinerary, so it may pay to be flexible...

But there's always the Bronx Zoo as well, and the Aquarium -- they all would have interactive stuff, and yay animals. I also once helped a friend babysit his co-worker's kids, one of which was only 2, and we all had a grand time at the Museum of Natural History.

There's also a children's museum in Brooklyn, and there's also the carousel by the Prospect Park zoo. And the one in Central Park. And, actually, there's another children's zoo in Central Park as well.

Depending on the kids (as in, float this by the parents to see whether they'd even get into it, or whether they'd be bored), there's also the art museums -- you can make them "kid-friendly" by playing games like "let's see how many dogs/kites/flowers/insert-random-thing-to-look-for-here we can see in the different paintings!"

There's also always "let's just go to the park and the kids can run around and yell and get tuckered out."

As for food -- Juniors' may be a fun trip, and any of the Two Boots as well (there are about 6 of them throughout the city now). If you can get in, Serendipity would be a hoot as well.

....I've been studying up on this kind of thing as I'm going to be an aunt come September, and I'm sure at SOME point there will be a visit to Auntie Callipygos with the tyke...

Subject: Re: suggestions for visitors with kids

queencallipygos wrote: There's also a children's museum in Brooklyn,

It is still closed, but it supposed to reopen Spring 2008, and should be fabulous. As far as I know, no firm reopening date has been set yet.

Many libraries do story times and other activities too, which are cool for that age.

http://www.nypl.org

P.S. Bronx Zoo has a toddler program on Tuesdays. You may want to check the websites for the other zoos, they may have special programs that would be cool too.

OpossumQueen wrote: Thanks everyone!

We just want some options to give them. They have never been to a "big city". I don't think these kids will be into museums, but they do love animals.

I am hoping to figure out some stuff the adults will enjoy (that they won't other places) where children are welcome. And I'm hoping to do stuff they can't do at home. I think it will be hard If I were them, I think I'd leave the kids with grandma and grandpa (who live nearby) so I could enjoy NYC

Just the train ride from home to the Bronx zoo might bore the kids, but we'll see what the parents think. It's definitely the best zoo for a variety of ages, but pricey.

The SI ferry is a good tip.

Serendipity?

If they've never been to a big city, the train ride will probably be exciting for them. Especially once it crosses up from underground. FAO Swartz or Toys R Us in Times Square are sure kid pleasers, plus it will give you the big city thing too. Mars 2112 is nearby. Empire State building. Rockefeller building instead.

Prospect Park Zoo is great since they have a nice little petting zoo which you can buy some food for the animals for .25 (bring a little paper cup to put the food to feed the animals in and some quarters).

Check out Puppetworks on 6th Ave to see what they will be playing. I have not been in a while but they used to have shows every Sat and Sun.

You should check
http://www.heartofbrooklyn.org/
at the times your visitors will be here to see what is going on at the Park, Zoo, Museum, etc.

If you want to take them to see a Broadway show check out New Victory Theater who caters to kids and families.

My son used to love the Transit Museum in Downtown Brooklyn when he was that age.

The South Street Seaport used to have a large ship/museum but I am not sure if it is still there or being repaired - but they do have other interesting exhibits.

You also have Coney Island (who knows how long it will be there for).

Anytime we are in the Village in Manhattan we usually take the kids to Cowgirl Hall of Fame (where you can eat and drink) on Hudson which is very kid friendly. You can head over to Chelsea piers or let them take a lesson on the trapeeze at the NY Trapeeze school on the pier.

Helpful article from yesterday's Washington Post...

It's One Big Playground

Sunday, May 4, 2008; P09

11:54 a.m. My 7-year-old in tow, I zip to the Upper East Side and the Guggenheim Museum, which is playing host to the work of Cai Guo-Qiang, a Chinese artist with a penchant for dramatic, large-scale works. Dominating the main atrium is a line of seven Chevy sedans hanging from the ceiling, each one a little more exploded than the one below it. ("An ambiguous comment on car bombings or NASCAR racing," wrote one critic.) In one of the galleries, we come across an indoor river that the museum has constructed on which a person can propel himself, via raft, past a huge variety of Cai's installations.

1:10 p.m. A few blocks east and south sits Kidfresh, perhaps the world's only grocery store for kids. There are even mini shopping carts. We glide past the four-ounce package of fresh mashed broccoli ($3.99), eventually selecting a free-range chicken sandwich in the shape of a teddy bear ($3.95), a GoGo Squeez applesauce that, as the name implies, doesn't require a spoon (95 cents) and a spill-proof jug of Wadda juice ($1.50).

3:32 p.m. The Children's Museum of the Arts, in Tribeca, is our next stop. It's two floors of fun primarily for kids 10 and younger. The upper level has a wealth of stations for such activities as watercoloring, chalk drawing, printmaking and sculpting. Downstairs are a video lab and other art stations, as well as some areas for rougher play. My son particularly liked the padded room stuffed with large bouncy balls.

5:58 p.m. Our penultimate stop on this long day of kid adventures is Mars 2112. The Times Square eatery, perpetually crowded, can be reached only by boarding a spaceship, which is really a simulator ride that bumps and jerks before depositing passengers into a Martian landscape. There is an arcade with video games and then, at the end of a corridor, the main dining room, which is meant to evoke the Red Planet, craters and all. We eat Captain Orion's mozzarella fingers ($9.95), the Canis Minor corn dogs ($9.95) and Galactic Mac and Cheese ($10.95).

8:27 p.m. Then it's off to the place we've heard so much about, Dylan's Candy Bar on East 59th Street. Once again we find two floors of fun, and the lower one is a particular treat. In addition to what looks like thousands of chocolate bars, there is a full wall of Jelly Belly beans with dozens of dispensers offering flavors from tutti-frutti to licorice. On the opposite wall are such souvenir-ready fare as M&M pillows, even candy-flavored lip balm, all of it within easy reach of the cotton candy machine, so popular it doesn't stop spinning the whole time we are there. Upstairs we find a long bar and bar stools shaped like peppermint candies, as well as delectable ice cream treats and other sweets.

10:01 a.m. The next morning we begin our day at the Museum of American Finance, ensconced in palatial digs, a former bank building on Wall Street. The museum is very upfront in its desire to teach both adults and children about fiscal responsibility, and to that end we find numerous exhibits on such issues as the 1929 stock market crash (which includes a vintage ticker-tape machine unspooling the bad news). Of more interest to children are the sofa made entirely of nickels and slide shows devoted to such outlaws as Jesse James, John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde. There is also an extensive collection of historic U.S. and foreign currency, and an interactive exhibit detailing the government's attempts at preventing counterfeiting.

11:11 a.m. Our next stop, the Children's Museum of Manhattan, on the Upper West Side, is probably a godsend to the city's younger residents, its five floors showcasing exhibits both entertaining and fun. Among the most agreeably inventive is "Gods, Myths & Mortals: Discover Ancient Greece." In addition to helping kids understand everything from architecture to Aristotle, the exhibit includes a large-scale model of a Trojan horse that's as much a play structure as a teaching tool. Upstairs there is a room devoted to "Dora the Explorer" and that show's cast of characters, and one floor up from there is a wonderful play space with a realistic bus, fire engine and corner deli, all scaled for the little ones and packed with kids while we are there.

11:54 a.m. Our 24 hours coming to a close, we decamp to Central Park and its celebrated Heckscher Playground, whose renovation has resulted in a plethora of swings, slides, tunnels and corridors. The place is probably a mob scene most days, especially on sunny Saturdays like this one.

-- Scott Vogel