85 Things to Do with Kids in New York During Swine Flu School Closings

With 16 schools now officially closed due to the swine flu epidemic and some more parents starting to keep their kids home in a preventative measure, over 10,000 children are at home this week, and probably more to come.We always wonder what we can do to help when New York CIty families are in crisis. So, we decided to try to help by doing what we do best: providing interesting and educational activity ideas for kids to do while out of school.

One of the themes of this site is that New York CIty is a classroom in and of itself, with wonderful enriching opportunities all around us that can teach children even more than they might learn in a school. If you have the ability, take advantage of these days off to get the most out of this amazing city.

Of course, the point of closing the schools is to stop the spread of the flu, so stay home and make sure your child isn't sick or incubating the flu before venturing out. If your child has signs of flu, is sneezing or coughing, they should stay home (we have lots of activities to do at home too). And everyone should be covering their coughs and sneezes and washing hands frequently.

85 things to do with kids in New York City during the swine flu school closings:

Reading

Enjoy free programs at the New York Public Library as well as the Queens and Brooklyn Libraries.

Borrow books and even video games at the new Children's Center at 42nd St Library

Read Your Way to a Classic New York City Kid

Social Studies

Learn about cultures through the way they garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Explore the diversity of New York City at the Brooklyn Children's Museum

Learn about American Indians, Skyscrapers, Colonial History and NYPD at 5 Museums You've Never Heard of

Imagine life at sea on the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum

Be a hero in Ancient Greece at the Children's Museum of Manhattan

Explore New York in miniature at the Queens Museum of Art

Travel to the Himalayas at The Rubin Museum of Art

Discover Mythical NYC

Read Your Way Around the Lower East Side

Science

Stay home an learn with these 5 Best Science Sites for Kids

Make your own lab with Chemistry and Electronics Sets

Who needs school with these 15 Best Places to Get Scientific with Kids in NYC

Yes, you're in the city, but Discover the Nature All Around You (free)

Learn from the animal instructors at the Bronx Zoo

Explore the science of horticulture at the NY Botanical Garden

Walk the gardens at Wave Hill

Get extremely smart about mammals at AMNH's new Extreme Mammals Exhibit

Borrow a free Discovery Kit to study nature from Central Park's Belvedere Castle (free)

Visit the Chinese Scholar's Garden, a children's museum and more at Staten Island's Snug Harbor Cultural Center

Explore the universe at The Hayden Planetarium

History

Visit America's first Hall of Fame at the Hall of Great Americans

See where America's great poet penned Annabel Lee at the Poe Cottage

Imagine the Bronx's past as farmland at Valentine Varian House

Relive Early American life at Lefferts Historic House

Art

Stay at home and craft with these Top Craft and Indoor Activity Sites

Learn about the world's greatest artists through Free Family Programs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Get modern at  MoMA's free programs

Check out the new installation at the Park Avenue Armory by Ernesto Neto

Learn about the incredibly flexible history and uses of felt at the Cooper Hewitt

Learn what goes into the movies and games you love at the Museum of the Moving Image

Make animations or just draw at the Children's Museum of the Arts

Check out 9 More Free Museum Programs in All 5 Boroughs

Recess

Learn and play at home with Educational Computer Games Sites

Play in the The Secret Glass Garden (free)

Find these 5 Free Indoor Fun Spots

Run it off at Drop-In Indoor Play Spaces for Toddlers and Kids

Monkey around at New York City Stores to Play Indoors for Free

Indulge your sweet tooth at the Best Candy Stores in NYC

Borrow a free field day kit from Central Park's North Meadow Recreation Center

More at home activity ideas:

Have a Dress-Up Fashion Show

Recycled Packing Peanuts Animals Craft

Green Building: Toy castle recycled craft project

Make a Beanbag Chair Reusing Packing Peanuts

Make a Fairy or Dragon Garden

Make Play Forts

Plant Some Garbage

More, More:

50 Indoor Activities for a Rainy Day

99 Sensory Activities for any Child

100 things to do with your kids in New York CIty Before they grow up

The DOE site also has learn at home activities for every grade level