Sarah G

We continue our month-long focus on the East Village with a look at the best places to shop with kids in the neighborhood. While there are certainly some wonderful independent children's boutiques and toy stores in the area, including geek emporium Toy Tokyo and one of our favorite kids' consignment spots, Jane's Exchange, there are also "grown-up" shops that are fun for families to explore like punk mecca Trash and Vaudeville and gift bazaars Pink Olive and Random Accessories. Bonus: A few of our East Village kids' shopping picks feature play areas where children can romp while parents browse. Here are our top 14 places to shop with children in the East Village.

What's the one neighborhood in NYC that has not one but two children's museums? If you guessed the Upper West Side or Park Slope, try again. Crown Heights, Brooklyn is home to the super-popular and interactive Brooklyn Children's Museum as well as the lesser-known Jewish Children's Museum, which features an entire floor of games including an indoor mini-golf course. So while there may not be any traditional kiddie gyms in Crown Heights (yet—it's only a matter of time), there's certainly no shortage of places for kids to play and learn.

In addition to the aforementioned tot spots, there's the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Museum, which are both very kid-friendly and offer wonderful family programming year-round. Plus the historic Weeksville Heritage Center is about to debut its brand-new Education and Cultural Arts Building. We continue our month-long spotlight on Crown Heights with a look at everything these institutions have to offer families, including lots of opportunities for enriching drop-in fun.

Our month-long focus on Midtown West continues with a look at some of the culturally diverse restaurants you'll find on Ninth Avenue. While we've covered other places to eat with kids in the neighborhood in the past—notably family-friendly eateries near hot spots Times Square and Rockefeller Center—a stroll down Ninth Avenue can feel like taking a trip around the world. Unlike other foodie strips that focus on a specific ethnicity (see Chinatown, the Bronx's Little Italy and Little Tokyo in the East Village), Ninth Avenue is filled with eclectic eateries—there's a reason it hosts NYC's annual International Food Festival every spring.

No children's menus or chicken fingers at these spots. Instead, Ninth Avenue is a great place to introduce your brood to delicacies from Thailand, Greece, Turkey, Brazil and others—way more options than we could ever list here. Our top picks are all casual and kid-friendly, and located on a 12-block strip. You could even grab takeout from a few of them and throw your own international family food fest in nearby Hell's Kitchen Park.