CITYWIDE

Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day
Sat, Sept 26, Various Times/Museums City-Wide
FREE

Visit the website’s by location search to see what museums are participating here in New York, then make your game plan. While you can visit your favorite museum, you could also use the day as an opportunity to check out a place that peaked your interest, but you were wary of the $15 fee. Remember to print out your Museum Day admission card, and that the pass is only good for one person plus one guest, and excludes IMAX and extras like that. Insiders tip: Check individual museums’ websites to see if they are doing any special events for the day as well. And see what other museums are doing to compete, if they aren’t participating. The Police Museum, for example, is having a family day complete with live performances, police uniforms, food from local restaurants and members of the NYPD—all for free.


MANHATTAN

Housing Works Open Air Street Fair
Sat, Sept 26, 10AM-6PM
Crosby St b/w Houston and Prince Sts
FREE

Shop thousands of books, DVDs and CDs for $1, dig through mountains of clothing, jewelry and artwork, stuff bags filled with clothes for only $20, enjoy live music, beer, BBQ and a bunch more. And on Fri, 9/25 also at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, family-friendly favorite, Dan Zanes is performing for free.

The Kitchen Block Party
Sat, Sept 26, Noon-5PM
512 W 19th St and Surrounding Area
FREE

This is a pretty elaborate block party filled with live performances and artist-led activities and crafts, including face-painting, puppet and mask-making, temporary tattoos, cookie decorating, collaborative sculpture projects, unusual photo booths, and hula-hoop and drumming workshops. It sounds really quirky/cool.

Museum of Chinese in America Family Festival
Saturday, September 26th, 10am--5pm
Museum of Chinese in Americas, 215 Centre Street
FREE

Celebrate the Museum of Chinese in Americas grand opening in their new location with a family festival. Expect lots of fun and interesting activities like creating Chinese style family trees, Mandarin for kids, ice cream cake decorating, and museum tours for kids. Come back to Chinatown on Sunday for the 7th Annual Autumn Moon Cultural Festival and Children's Lantern Parade.

Common Ground Festival
Saturday, September 26, 1pm-5pm
Morningside Park at 117th St
FREE

In addition to pony rides, a puppet show and other fun activities; popular children's musician, Father Goose, headlines at this neighborhood event.

Elephant Playground Fall Fair
Sun, Sept 27 at 11AM
Riverside Park, Neufeld (Elephant) Playground (76^th & Riverside Dr)
Free admission, games for a price

The Elephant Playground Renovation Project will be hosting its third annual Fall Fair, a kid friendly fundraiser to help create awareness and raise money to help renovate the playground. There will be games and activities for kids (this will cost a small amount), like inflatables and moonbounce jumping rides, free performances by Looney Louie and Ibble Bibble and Stewso, BBQ, and carnival games, balloon animals and the like; event is rain or shine.

BROOKLYN

Art Under the Bridge Festival
September 25th-September 27th, 12-9pm
DUMBO, Brooklyn
FREE

A three day festival of emerging artists takes over every nook and cranny of DUMBO. Roam the neighborhood to find fun, imaginative and interactive works of art on the streets, in open studios and unexpected places. If you end up there on Sunday, make sure to hit Bubby's Pie Social, where you can buy homemade pies to support arts programming in local public elementary schools.

National Estuaries Day
Sat, Sept 26 at 9AM
The Cove, Brooklyn Bridge Park
FREE

Celebrate National Estuaries Day with this special morning event. Experts from the Coastal Marine Resource Center will use a 30 foot seining net to catch fish and other remarkable species. Families and kids can take a good look at the fish before they release them back to their homes, and keep a tally of the catch. At 10:30 there’s the Rove the Cove adventure, a guided tour of the cove. Rovers will get free t-shirts and copies of The Cove Guide. Space is limited, so RSVP via the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy website: www.brooklynbridgepark.org.

SummerSpace’s Great Games
Sun, Sept 27, Noon-5PM
Montague St b/w Court and Hicks Sts
FREE

The last Sunday of SummerSpace is a real kid-friendly event. There will be an all-ages parade of decorated bikes, trikes and scooters, skateboarding lessons, kids’ yoga class (2pm), hula hoops, jump rope and street croquet, a real NYPD fire truck, community sidewalk-chalk art project, sidewalk flea market, free throw basketball, face painting and an outdoor lounge. Oh—there are also free massages from 1-5pm.

Audra Rox Concert
Sat, Sept 26 at 2PM
Brooklyn Children’s Museum
$20/adults, $10/kids under 12

Rock out Saturday afternoon to Audra Rox, at a concert for the Brooklyn Brownstone School. The price includes museum admission, so get there early or stick around after the show to explore.

QUEENS

Community Vaudeville Night
Sat, Sept 26 at 7PM
Sunnyside Reformed Church
FREE

Head out for a free night of old-fashioned magic, comedy and music. It’s not just safe for kids; it’s a family-friendly show.

Little Neck Bay Festival
Sat, Sept 26 at 11AM
Alley Pond Park
FREE

Celebrate National Estuaries day in Queens by playing games, making crafts, watching kayak demos and live music, taking fishing lessons and going on canoe rides. This weekend could be one of the last warmer ones, so take advantage while you still can!

Junta Hispana Festival
Sun, Sept 27, 10AM-6PM
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
FREE

This Pan-Latino celebration has music, dance and food, and is a celebration of culture for everyone and the entire family.

STATEN ISLAND

Morning Saunter
Sat, Sept 26, 8AM-10AM
High Rock Park
FREE

It’s early autumn in the park, and the morning is a great time to stroll through and experience the season. Witness goldenrods and asters in full bloom, listen to bird calls and see the changes in leaves. You could even spot a migrating monarch butterfuly or chipmunk scurrying by. Agest 8 and up, reservations required (718) 351-3450.

Harmony Street Fair
Sun, Sept 27, Noon-5PM
Snug Harbor Cultural Center
FREE

It’s not every day that there’s a festival on Staten Island celebrating the communities diverse cultures, and this one sounds like it is going to be sweet. There will be dances, multi-cultural music and food, performances, children’s art activities and crafts for sale, and it’s in the gorgeous setting of Snug Harbor (bonus: it’s not far from the ferry, either).

THE BRONX

Ballet Among the Blooms
Sat, Sept 26, 3-5PM
NY Botanical Garden, Everett Children’s Adventure Garden
Free with Admission

New York city Ballet educators and School of American Ballet dancers lead children in exploring ballet and other movement forms, all inspired by the Garden’s diverse environments.

Check out the full events list in our events calendar. And if you're up for a day trip, check out our events listings in Long Island and New Jersey.