Sarah Gonser - NYC Writer
Sarah is a Brooklyn-based health, education and parenting journalist. A former business reporter, she finds writing about parenting and kid-related happenings a whole lot more fun and engaging. She loves the flexibility of freelance writing as it leaves plenty of opportunities (between deadlines) to spend quality time with her two sons. With Prospect Park their daily stomping grounds and Manhattan just a few subway stops away, she and her husband feel lucky to be raising their kids in NYC.
Sarah's Latest Gallery Posts on Mommy Poppins:
Fort Tryon Park & Fort Washington Park
New Williamsburg Play Space: Twinkle
New Drop-In Art Space in Bed-Stuy
Three Brooklyn Museums You've Never Heard Of
Fort Greene Clinton Hill: 35 Things to Do for NYC Families
Submitted by Sarah G on
School-age kids with an interest in food—its history, culture and the science behind its production—won't want to miss the Museum of Food and Drink at its first (although temporary) brick-and-mortar location in Williamsburg, near McCarren Park, in Brooklyn.
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Looking for a creative art class for your toddler or preschooler without a long-term commitment? Drop-in classes are often the perfect solution for little kid entertainment. We pulled together six great drop-in art options in Brooklyn for budding Picassos eager to go beyond finger paints and crayons at home. These artsy spots provide all kinds of materials and guide tots as they explore art and have fun creating their own masterpieces.
Looking for more options? Check out our Classes Guide and Directory. Our Indoor Activity Guide has even more craft options.
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We've rounded up fifteen of the city's best winter happenings for the preschooler and toddler set from hot-ticket kid spectacles like Daniel Tiger and Sesame Street Live to a low-key Greenpoint sock puppet show, an always catchy Music for Aardvarks concert and an upcoming Mo Willems exhibit that truth be told, might be more for mom and dad.
Winter can feel mighty long when you're cooped up indoors with an antsy preschooler. So go ahead and bundle them into that winter gear to hit up these must-do January-March 2016 activities. We promise, we only picked options worth the winter gear struggle.
Even more family winter entertainment ideas can be found in our Winter Guide or our just released 2016 GoList, covering the best events all year.
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There are many perks to living in New York City, and now we can add to that list getting up close and personal to one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered on Earth.
A 122-foot-long titanosaur, an herbivore from the Cretaceous period, went on display Friday, January 15, on the dinosaur-packed fourth floor of the American Museum of Natural History—and, happily, it really does live up to the hype. It is massive! Preschoolers to teens will love walking around and underneath the life-size skeleton cast. Read on for more details on this must-see new exhibit, including a video showing its construction.
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Shopping for a Christmas tree in New York City can be a lovely family holiday tradition—or a messy, last-minute hassle. Think crowded, picked-over sidewalk tree displays, sap-covered hands and aching lower backs from dragging trees home on the subway or around several neighborhood blocks.
Sure, if you plan ahead, a day trip out to a nearby farm with the kids to cut your own tree can be a lot of fun, but now that we're well into December, the clock is running out!
So whether you're a last-minute procrastinator or just prefer the ease of NYC's everything-can-be-delivered culture, a door-to-door tree delivery service might be just right. We've round up five local companies that will deliver that tree right to your door, even on Christmas Eve. There's an East Village collective that ferries its trees to your stoop by cargo bike (of course there is!) and a Brooklyn tree business run by a couple of Mainers that delivers to every borough. Whether you're in Manhattan, Queens or the Bronx, you're really out of excuses for not scoring the perfect tree for the kiddos.
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More than 75 oversized puppets will help bring classic children's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other works by famed author Eric Carle to an off-Broadway New York theater this January.
Jonathan Rockefeller's The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show comes to NYC from Australia where it debuted in January 2015 and continues to tour the country. Rockefeller's adaption stands out with its large, colorful puppets and lively storytelling of a caterpillar's metamorphosis geared specifically to first-time theatergoers, including toddlers and preschoolers. While we've told you about previous NYC productions of this iconic early childhood classic, including just last year, we're excited to welcome a new entrant—especially given its seemingly ambitious scope.
Watch a preview clip of the show below!
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If you've got a baby or toddler in NYC, chances are you have a stroller (or two or three). When my son was young, our stroller got plenty of wear and tear up and down subway stairs, across potholes, and through muddy parks, snowy streets and rainstorms. It also pulled double-duty as a grocery cart, coat rack and, when strapped, a diaper changing table.
While heavy-duty strollers are built to withstand a fair amount of abuse, if you're using your wheels every day, parts inevitably break. Do you really want to trash that $1,000 stroller because the frame bent or the tire popped off? We didn't think so.
For simple repairs like a blown tire, you can try your local bike shop (many handle minor fixes and may even stock standard stroller-size inner tubes and other small parts). But for more advanced assistance, we've found five New York City services that specialize in stroller repair so your family can get rolling again.
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While the 85-acre, waterfront Brooklyn Bridge Park is certainly the biggest and best known green space in Brooklyn Heights, there are a handful of lovely little neighborhood playgrounds like Pierrepont, Harry Chapin and Squibb Park, which are all located on or near the Promenade. Plus there are some great indoor spots where kids can drop in and play, too, like the soon-to-be-overhauled local library and the New York Transit Museum, which has vintage buses and trains to explore.
We finish up our month-long focus on Brooklyn Heights with a roundup of our favorite places to play both indoors and out in the area.
