Drew Kristofik

Drew Kristofik's early career editing teen magazines somehow morphed into a seven-year stint at MacNeil/Lehrer, followed by a very long sojourn at Nickelodeon/Viacom as Director of Content for Nick online and then Editor-in-Chief of ParentsConnect.com local. She was a founding member of the WebbyAward winning GoCityKids, has written for Family Fun Magazine, Vanity Fair, and New York, and her novel for middle schoolers, The Time Boat, is available on Amazon Kindle. She strives to keep the MommyPoppins New York Events calendar packed and accurate, and can be reached at events@mommypoppins.com.

Latest posts by Drew

25+ Fun Things To Do in NYC This Weekend: Pride, Porch Stomp, and More

Submitted by Drew Kristofik on Wed, 06/23/2021 - 4:35pm

The PrideFest street fair has been reimagined with safety top of mind, but there will still be plenty of celebrating going on. Photo courtesy of the fest

Wave June goodbye with a rainbow flag: It's Pride weekend in NYC! What better time to put on some glitz, make pride buttons, and party in the Village?

It's also Pollinators Weekend, which takes some of the sting out of the heat, humidity, and rain in the forecast! What better time to dance in the garden, stomp on the porch, or bang on some steel pans?

Of course there are also outdoor movies, and Klezmer, and puppets. Is this NYC or what?

Oh so much more is just waiting for your click on the Mommy Poppins Activity Calendar. We also have all the info you need to get to NYC beaches, plot a summer day trip, or find FREE fun every day of summer vacation. As if that's not enough, let us remind you our favorite FREE swimming pools open Saturday, and our Summer Fun Guide has even more seasonal must-do's.

19 Free and Cheap Online Summer Camps in 2021

Submitted by Drew Kristofik on Tue, 06/22/2021 - 1:50pm

Find an online summer camp to fill an hour (or several) of your kid's time.

Need to fill a week or two of summer camp this summer? Or, not ready to send the kids back to a full-time day camp? Good news: There are a number of FREE online summer camps from top-notch organizations and nonprofits that still have open weeks!

These virtual camps from the likes of 4-H Club and UNICEF are open to kids all over the US, from Boston to Los Angeles, so kids in cities thousands of miles apart have a chance to meet and connect with kids they might otherwise never have known. We love that most won't cost you a cent and might just help fill a few hours of your kid's day with some really fun summer activities. Find more virtual summer programs in our Camp Directory, or check out our local Summer Camp Guides for in-person options.

Free Things to Do with NYC Kids in September 2021

Submitted by Drew Kristofik on Tue, 06/01/2021 - 10:12am

Visiting a playground in Central Park is always special. Photo by Jody Mercier

See free June & July events | See free August events | See free anytime events

Free Things to Do With NYC Kids in August 2021

Submitted by Drew Kristofik on Tue, 06/01/2021 - 10:12am

The Brooklyn Public Library's Adams Street Branch offers kid-friendly fun under the Dumbo Archway. Photo by Ming Chang

See free June & July events | See free September events | See free anytime events

Free Things to Do with NYC Kids All Summer 2021

Submitted by Drew Kristofik on Tue, 06/01/2021 - 5:00am

Gaze across the sky and all the wonders it holds on select Friday evenings June through August from 8-10pm at Pier 3 in Brooklyn Bridge Park! Photo by Alexa Hoyer

Free Things to Do Anytime in Summer 2021

See free June & July events | See free August events | See free September events

Many of the events we highlighted for June, July, August, and September occur on multiple dates, but you can enjoy the activities below all summer (although not necessarily every single day).

Best Things to Do This Weekend in NYC with Kids: Street Arts, EarthFest, Holi!

Submitted by Drew Kristofik on Wed, 04/21/2021 - 2:29pm

Alex Da Corte’s Enchanting commission As Long as the Sun Lasts is now open on The Met's rooftop garden. Photo courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Anna-Marie Kellen

Happy Earth Day, everyone! The official day is Thursday, but plenty of events are running on Saturday, including the Street Arts celebration, taking over West 103rd Street with music and dancing, Brooklyn Downtown's car-free bonanza, and the Bronx Zoo's annual Run for the Wild fundraiser. The American Museum of Natural History's Earth Day celebration is an all-online affair but action-packed as ever.

Kids Take Over Camp is designed to help kids build financial savvy and is offered at all three NYC Camp stores Saturday. You can toss some color around at the Brooklyn Children Museum's Holi celebration or enjoy the return of live art programs at Wave Hill.

For more outdoor art, check out Rock Center's Life Forces immersive installation, The Met's Sesame Street/Calder mashup, As Long as the Sun Lasts, or nature's own contribution to impressionism, the Randall's Island's cherry blossoms.

For more ideas, sprint over to our Event Calendar, check out our April GoList, and don't miss our spring day trip ideas.

Remember, it's time to book summer camps, and you can learn more about local and virtual options at our upcoming Online Camp Fair, where you can visit virtual booths and watch live camp demos from the comfort of your couch.

April GoList: Best Things To Do in April With NYC Kids

Submitted by Drew Kristofik on Mon, 03/29/2021 - 5:02pm

Blooms real and fake take over the Queens Botanical Garden during Flower Patch. Photo by Eryn Hatzithomas

It's been a full year since Mommy Poppins published a monthly NYC GoList, and so it feels especially hopeful to present this list of the best things to do in April. Spring is here; vaccines are proliferating, and, for the moment, the virus seems to be receding. We have a long way to go, of course, but we've also come a very long way. And that's worth celebrating!

Many of our usual go-to GoList spring events are virtual this year, including the Easter Parade and AMNH's EarthFest, or postponing until the fall (looking at you, Brooklyn Folk Fest) in hopes that we're 100 percent out of the woods by then. Still, we've found more than 10 totally worthy GoList must-dos for April, including the Atlantic Avenue Spring Fling, a very cool performance idea from NY Theatre Ballet, the long-awaited arrival of Kusama at the New York Botanical Garden, and more.

Read on for the full, fabulous list and find more seasonal happenings in our Spring Fun Guide. Of course, it's also time to book those summer camps. Slots are going fast for the 2021 season! Learn more about local and virtual summer camps with our upcoming Online Camp Fair. Visit virtual booths and watch live camp demos.

Activities To Get You Out of the House This Weekend in NYC

Submitted by Drew Kristofik on Wed, 03/24/2021 - 12:06pm

Step aboard the Intrepid and back in time when the museum reopens to the public Thursday, March 25. Photo courtesy of the Intrepid

Spring break is on the horizon, outdoor fun is beckoning, and some beloved kid spots reopen to the public. We are psyched. First up, the Intrepid is lowering its gangplank to the public again, offering some new opportunities for big ship fans, including a peek into the bomb elevators and access to the pilot escalator. Then, Six Flags Great Adventure opens its gates in Jackson, N.J., so coaster riders can once again placate their need for speed.

Saturday's Holi celebration in Riverside Park uses colored kites for COVID safety. Easter egg hunts and celebrations dot the landscape in every borough, and kids can welcome spring with a scavenger hunt/seed swap at the Old Stone House. If that's not enough, we've found 50 fun events and activities for the spring break week and have even more seasonal picks in our Spring Fun Guide.

Poppins@Home is poised to fill in any free time remaining with Snapology's planes, trains, automobiles camp program, an awesome virtual hip hop dance class, ballet for all, and bilingual music fun with 123 Andres all await, too.

Keep a vigilant eye on the Mommy Poppins Event Calendar as the city continues to open like the gorgeous flower it is.