Monsters at the Cloisters, Prospect Park Opening Day, Open Houses at NY Kids Club, and Fringe Music for Kids...

When I saw that Hi-Art was giving anime classes for $675 I thought, "wow, those must be some pretty amazing classes." But I also thought to myself in New York City I bet there are some other really cool classes for kids to learn about the Japanese cartooning style, anime, that don't cost the maintenance money. I thought it would be fun to do a feature like in the magazine (same outfit Hi or Lo). So I did a little research and found a couple of different ways to expose your kids to anime in NYC right now. Here's Japanese Anime for Kids: Hi/Lo:

HI:
HiArt Manga Madness
For the $675 you'll pay for HiArt's Manga Madness anime classes, you'll get 8 classes (starting today). Yes, that's almost $100 per class, but kids 7-14 will learn anime-style drawing techniques from acclaimed artist Yali-Lin. In addition to learning the techniques for drawing different types of characters and faces, kids will write their own stories and learn how to create panels, incorporate text, and design their page. There will be beginner and advanced sessions so kids can really hone their skills.

What you'll get: Professional level art class with a renown artist in a beautiful, light-infused chelsea loft. Lots of individual attention and intensive study.

LO:
Brooklyn Museum Anime Event
The Brooklyn Museum is kicking off their Takashi Murakami exhibit at this Saturday's Target First Saturday event. Kids and adults are encouraged to dress up as their favorite anime characters. There will also be anime activities where kids can create their own anime alter egos. Try to catch a screening of Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service (if you haven't watched this with you kids it's a wonderful story. If you're not going to the event think about renting it). That's the tip of the iceberg. There will be Japanese Drumming, gallery talks and more. Saturday, April 5, 5-11pm at the Brooklyn Museum.

Check out the Brooklyn Museum site for the full schedule. All attendees will also get free admission into the museum to see Takashi Murakami exhibit and the other galleries. The exhibit will run through July 13th.

What you'll get: Free anime workshops, free movies, free museum admission, and...crowds. Some events may be filled if you don't arrive early.

Family Day at the Asia Society
Discover the origins of anime through Japanese prints (ukiyo-e) in the "Designed for Pleasure" exhibit at the Asia Society. During this family day event children can also learn more about Japanese culture with traditional and modern Asian storytelling through pictures, puppets and performances. Free with Gallery Admission (which is free for kids under 16) Saturday, April 5, 12-3pm. at the Asia Society.  Exhibit runs through May 4.

What You'll Get: A free day of family events geared to exposing children to Japanese culture and placing anime in it's cultural and historical background.

HA! They totally got me. I guess a case of wishful reading. The band performing will be the Red Hot Chili PIPERS! Thanks MB for catching that one. Anyone who goes will still have a great time with Scottish music and check out the other Tartan Week events this weekend. YIKES! Sorry.

As part of a concert of traditional and contemporary Scottish music for Tartan Week, the Red Hot Chili Peppers PIPERS will be performing for free in the British Memorial Garden in Hanover Square. Also performing are MacTalla Mor and Pentland Caledonia Pipes and Drums.

In honor of Earth Day, Spring, and that theoretical thing people call Global Warming, this month we're focusing on everything Green. We've got a whole roster of fun events and information to inspire you to make your life greener with your kids in New York City. Plus we've got some big green giveaways and craft ideas.

Of course we'll still have our regular free fun fridays, linkin' blogs and other great content sprinkled in, like our Mommy Poppins Do-It-Yourself Spring Break Camp and some really cool activity ideas.

Tonight since I went out drinkin' with the girls from SK*RT and my favorite NYC parent bloggers (if you don't know these sites, you should), I'm giving you some of the best green posts from our archive.

Best Environmental Websites for Kids

Zipcar: Drive to the greener side of the street

It's Time to Give Up the Water Bottle

Recycled Materials and Nature Crafts

Description:

DUSC/GGFC offers innovative training on the fields at Pier 40 in downtown Manhattan. Under the guidance of Gustavo Palomino and Paul Jeffries, our experienced and talented staff employs disciplined training methods to deliver 10 weeks of innovative and fun soccer education.

Each week presents campers with an intensive program designed to take individual games to a higher level of play. Players will learn new forms of warm up and flexibility; skills training will focus on different parts of the game each day: emphasis will be put on dribbling, body movement, passing, shooting, game tactics and much more. Games allow players to develop skills gained. Campers will watch soccer games on video, and discuss tactics. The full-day program includes swimming in a college-sized pool.

DUSC/GGFC soccer clubs focus is on the imagination, style and flair of the individual: soccer is a game where each player should be given the skills that support their imagination and allow them to make critical decisions on the field without the restrictions of over-coaching. We want to develop smart players, with a strong grounding in proper technique, who will go on to develop their own creative interpretation, and love, of the game.

Program Information:

June 8th-August 21st, Ages 5-12 and 7-14 and 3-4
Full Day/Half Day and Single Day options.  

The program is run at Pier 40, Houston Street and the West Side Highway, New York City.

Contact:

Website (on line registration): www.dusc.net

Gustavo Palomino: 646-247-6449 or gmsgpalomino@optonline.net or information@dusc.net

And for more great camp ideas, check out our Summer Camp Guide!

We're all itching to get outside, but the weather is still unpredictable enough that it's worth doing one more indoor activities post. every once in a while we like to update you with more free indoor activities like story times. You can see all our previous posts on free indoor activities, story times, and art classes in the Winter Fun Guide.

Congratulations to Amber who won our Elf Tennis giveaway. Amber will be enjoying five free tennis lessons with the special Elf Tennis approach.

Private schools just had their Spring Break and public schools have theirs coming up and as we're waiting for the weather to warm up, we've got vacations on the brain.

Have you ever been stuck with a family vacation that actually seemed like more work than not being on vacation? If you are used to having childcare, a family vacation can be a shocking experience. It's not something that most people want to admit, and of course we all love spending lots of time with our kids, but hard-working parents need some real down-time too or they're going to have their own little melt-downs that no binky can fix.

Taking a babysitter on vacation with you might seem like a huge luxury, but sometimes luxuries are really necessities. But wanting to take a baby sitter on vacation with you and actually doing it are two different things, two things with lot of steps in between, like how much to pay and how to find a sitter who will travel with you, etc. The experts at Sittercity have shared some tips with us on how to make the fantasy a reality.