Free NYC Weekend Events for Kids April 10-12: Easter Bunnies, Hunts and Parades, Plus Earth Day, Squirrels and a Book Swap

4/10/09 - By charlotte

The bad news is it looks like rain is in the forecast for Saturday. The good news is that if you want to brave the weather and go to an Easter Egg Hunt in New York City or Long Island anyway, the crowds won't be so bad. But make sure to check the websites or call ahead and find out if the event is cancelled or not before heading out.

Either way, we've got the skinny for the best Easter activities and alternative cool, free events for this weekend:

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Check out our list of Easter Egg Hunts for free hunts in Forest Hills, Staten Island and Brooklyn Heights, but there are also free hunts in DUMBO (Saturday), Park Slope(Sunday), Brook Park, Bronx (Saturday), Crotona Park, Bronx (Saturday, rain location), Morningside Heights (Saturday), Kissena Park, Queens (Sunday), Fort Greene (Sunday), Bay Ridge (Saturday, April 11, 2-4pm at Mckinley Park at 75th street and For Hamilton Parkway). Also Scholastic is throwing its own egg hunt party at the SoHo store (Indoors!, Saturday, April 11, 11am). The Easter Bunny will even be in Stuyvesant Town Oval on Sunday at noon-2pm.

There’s also the Easter Fancy Hat Parade (Fifth Avenue from 49th to 57th Streets, 10 am-4 pm) on Easter Sunday—but don’t expect to see any floats or marching. Rather than a regular parade where people march in one direction, at the Easter Parade people more mill about searching for cool hats, performers and other spectacles. It’s a little crowded, but a wonderfully quirky NYC event.

If you’re all egg-ed out, there’s still plenty of free events to check out that have nothing to do with giant bunnies or hunting for breakfast items.

Anime Exhibit and Family Tours at the Japan Society
The Japan Society, Midtown East
Saturday, April 11, 2-3pm
Free with adult admission to the exhibit

If your child is into anime, manga and video games, they might flip over the new exhibit at the Japan Society, KRAZY! KRAZY! is an exhibit of Japanese anime, manga and video game art and the Japan Society offers free family tours of the exhibit the second Saturday of every month through June. The tours are recommended for Preschool age children and their families and engage kids in the exhibit through games, storytelling and other fun ways to discuss the art and Japanese culture of anime and manga.


Earth Day

South Street Seaport, Pier 16

April 11, Noon-4PM

Free with a paid admission


Celebrate Earth Day a little early this year. Families are invited to engage in crafts, activities, games and storytelling and meet the many sea critters who live in the Museuem’s Living Harbor Wet Lab.



Nuts About Squirrels

Fort Greene Park (Meet at Fort Greene Visitor Center)

April 12, 11am-12pm
Free

These furry creatures are a constant for NYC kids and this is an opportunity to find out more about our neighbors in nature. Have squirrels always been in New York? Learn the answer to this question and more, and get to know the lifestyles of our resident squirrels with the Urban Park Rangers. Kid-friendly craft will follow.


Kids Book Swap
The Brooklyn Lyceum
Saturday, April 11, 11am-1pm
Free

Bring your gently used kids books and cookbooks to the Brooklyn Lyceum and swap them for other used books. For each book, you will receive one swap ticket, which can be redeemed for another book at the swap. You can drop off books at the Brooklyn Lyceum in advance and leftover books are donated to charity. Swap attendees will receive a coupon for one free adult ticket (per family) to the puppet show “How the Elephant Got Its Trunk,” also scheduled for this Saturday.

Spring Jubilee
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Sunday, April 12, 1pm-3pm

Want to celebrate Spring in a more creative way? Head to the "Adhocracy of Tulips Jubilee where "in the spirit of Stravinsky, marshmallow peeps and maypoles" people will be gathering and parading through the parks of Williamsburg to make noise music. The parade stars in Cooper Park in Williamsburg at 1pm and will proceed through McCarren, McGorlick and final end at East River park at 3pm.

Photo Credit: MacRonin