All Weekend:

“Horsin’ Around” Children’s Festival – Financial District
This year the festival is inspired by the current installation: Song for a Horse Nation and will feature pony masks and miniature ponies for kids to make, along with native dances, storytelling and arts and crafts.  FREE

One Hour Sleeping Beauty – Upper East Side
If you worry that the kiddos aren’t ready for a full length ballet then this is the perfect performance for you. A one hour performance of Sleeping Beauty created with fidgety kids in mind presented by the New York Theatre Ballet. And each performance is preceded by a 5 minute behind-the-scenes discussion with the artistic director of the company. Tickets: $35 for adults and $30 for children.

Saturday, May 15, 2010:

Poetry for children: My Life as a Blue Elephant" with Calef Brown--TriBeCa
Award winning children’s author and illustrator reads his favorite works aloud and explains how he creates his poems and pictures. FREE

A to Z Nature Hike—Staten Island
Kids can learn the alphabet while searching through nature.  Families hike the trails surrounding the Blue Heron Nature Center looking for something in the natural world that starts with each letter of the alphabet. FREE

Kite Festival—Williamsburg
Audra Rox will entertain the crowds plus there will eco crafts, face painting, kite making and repair, a green market and lots more. This special day with loads of entertainment helps to support the PTA of PS132.  FREE

Saltwater Fishing—Queens
Kids ages 8 year old plus can go fishing with the urban park rangers and hopefully catch a freshwater fish in Flushing Bay. Don’t worry if you don’t have equipment – everything is provided. Get there early though, first come first served. FREE

The Big Draw – The Bronx
The Big Draw is always an awesome event. This year it is reduced to just one location, but it's a good one, Wave Hill. Tour the gardens and then sharpen your pencil for inclusive community drawing projects.  2 sessions of drawing starting at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. FREE with garden admission - which is free till noon on Saturday.

The Secret Garden – Midtown East
The Hampstead Stage Company brings this timeless piece of children’s literature to the life in a staged performace.  FREE

On A Wing: Family Festival – Upper East Side
Check out the live falcons, hawks and owls that will be visiting from the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary then make some arts projects and learn about the hundreds of birds that call New York City home.  FREE

Family Day at the Center for Architecture – Greenwich Village
Go green this weekend and tour the centers new exhibit on solar powered products that use a new type of material to collect the suns power. Then families get to create their own innovation with mock solar panel fabric and other craft materials.  $20 for a family of 4

Saturday Arts at the Armory – Upper East Side
Currently on display is No Man’s Land by Christian Boltanski, considered to be one of the important living French artists and this exhibit is his biggest and most ambitious project to date.  At this educational event families can view the exhibit; a hall filled with tons of old clothing accompanied by soundtrack of human heartbeats and then create their own collage, poem and even record their heartbeat for use by the artist.  $15 per family

Tasty Puppets—Flushing
Using the diversity of cultures in Queens as inspiration children will create their own “food” puppets and learn how to bring them to life.  $8.00

BAMfamily Book Brunch: LaChanze and Brian Pinkney--Brooklyn
Celebrate the release of the book, Little Diva, by LaChanze. First enjoy a continental breakfast with your family and then listen to LaChanze as she reads her book aloud and performs the original song of the same name.  $15 for adults and $10 for children (includes brunch)

 

Sunday, May 16, 2010:

Curious George Family Day—Upper East Side
Get into the spirit of everyone’s favorite storybook monkey at an event filled with music and art.  Kids can create their own animal books, work on a group mural, listen to the kiddie rock band Funkey Monkeys and meet the monkey of the hour himself as he makes a personal appearance.  FREE with museum admission

Suzi Shelton Concert—SoHo
Kids and families love her folksy yet rocking style of music.  Her concerts are packed with lots of fun, catchy tunes and kids dancing in the aisles. $10 a person. Children under the age of 1 free.

Farm Fest – Queens
Take the kiddies to a real farm without ever leaving town. There is a real working farm tucked away on the Eastern most border of Queens County.  The farm is a great place to go any time but even better during Farm Fest when they offer hayrides, pony rides, a petting zoo, sheep shearing demos and live music.  $3.00 per person

Orienteering: North by Northwest – Upper East Side
Bring your compass and join the 92nd Street Y on an orienteering trek through the Conservatory Gardens and pick up nature samples along the way. $40 for adults, $20 for children

Out of NYC: 
If you are heading out to Long Island visit the Sweet Briar Nature Center in my hometown. This week they are teaching kids all about baby animals at their Wildlife Baby Shower.  The nature center is an amazing place with hiking trails and lots of animals and birds that are being rehabilitated plus a very cool rainforest room for kids.

Still looking for something to do? Visit our events calendar to see what else is going on around town.  
 

If you are planning an event, don’t forget to let us know.  Enter it into our calendar.
 

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