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Family outings

Family outings in New York

New York is one huge playground: a park on every corner, museums designed for children, libraries that even lend museum tickets, free pools in summer and a French community that runs camps, classes and a Bastille Day in Central Park. Here are our addresses, checked on official websites.

Verified on 30 October 2026

Parks, playgrounds and waterfronts

New York playgrounds are fenced, fitted with water play in summer and often with restrooms: there is one in every neighbourhood. The big parks and the new promenades along the East River and the Hudson complete the picture, free of charge.

Good to know

  • Central Park has 21 playgrounds, each different; the oldest and largest, Heckscher Playground, opened in 1927 between 61st and 63rd Streets on the west side, lines up swings, slides, a maze-like climber and a big water feature, 6:30 to 21:00 all year. Source
  • The city parks' outdoor pools are free and open from late June to early September: bring a padlock for the locker and a plain white T-shirt if you want to keep one on poolside, that is the rule. Source
  • The Governors Island ferry leaves the Battery Maritime Building (10 South Street) every 30 minutes, free for everyone on Saturdays and Sundays before 11am; on weekends and holidays, late May to early November, it also leaves from Brooklyn Bridge Park (Pier 6) and Red Hook. Source
  • Brooklyn Bridge Park is free: Pier 6 gathers Slide Mountain, Swing Valley, Sandbox Village and the Water Lab, open daily 10am to 7pm when it is warm enough, a short walk from the Governors Island ferry landing. Source

Addresses

  • Central Park, Heckscher Playground

    Park

    Central Park West, entre 61st et 63rd Street

    The largest of the park's 21 playgrounds, with restrooms in the Heckscher Building; combine with the nearby zoo, carousel and ice rink.

    Website Source

  • Prospect Park

    Park

    Prospect Park, Brooklyn

    Brooklyn's Central Park, designed by the same landscape architects: zoo, carousel, Lefferts Historic House, playgrounds and the LeFrak Center for skating in winter and water play in summer. Park Slope families live here at weekends.

    Website Source

  • Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 6

    Park

    Atlantic Avenue et Furman Street, Brooklyn Heights

    Four themed playgrounds, water play, lawns and skyline views; Jane's Carousel at Pier 1 and the Governors Island ferry at the end of the pier.

    Website Source

  • Governors Island

    Park

    Ferry depuis 10 South Street, Lower Manhattan

    A car-free island ten minutes away by ferry: slide hills, hammocks, bikes, picnics facing the Statue of Liberty; open all year, free at weekends before 11am.

    Website Source

  • Domino Park

    Park

    River Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

    Six acres on the site of the former Domino Sugar refinery: a factory-themed playground, a fountain to run through in summer, an ice rink in winter and Manhattan views; open 6am to 11pm.

    Website Source

  • Little Island et Hudson River Park

    Park

    Pier 55, West 13th Street, Hudson River Park

    The Hudson's floating garden on stilts, free, open from 6am; all of Hudson River Park is a string of playgrounds (Pier 25 in Tribeca, Pier 51 and its water play) along the bike path.

    Website Source

  • Bronx Zoo

    Park

    2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460

    The city's great zoo, open 10am to 5pm, with animal encounters and a family Halloween event in October; free Wildlife Conservation Society zoo membership with the IDNYC card.

    Website Source

Go further

Children's museums and free memberships

New York museums charge admission, but two free cards change everything: IDNYC for residents, which gives a year's membership at the biggest, and the library card, which books tickets through Culture Pass. And three museums are designed entirely for children.

Good to know

  • The IDNYC card, free for residents, entitles you to a free one-year membership: unlimited entry to the American Museum of Natural History, the Met and MoMA for adults, free entry to the Brooklyn Children's Museum, a family membership at the Queens Museum, and access to the Wildlife Conservation Society zoos and aquarium. Source
  • Culture Pass lets holders of a New York, Brooklyn or Queens library card, from age 13, reserve free tickets online to over a hundred institutions: Met, MoMA, Guggenheim, Intrepid, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Bronx Children's Museum. Source
  • The Met offers pay-what-you-wish admission to New York State residents and to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut students, with proof; children under 12 enter free. Source
  • The Brooklyn Children's Museum, opened in 1899, is the world's first children's museum; the Children's Museum of Manhattan on the Upper West Side and the New York Hall of Science in Queens complete the trio of hands-on museums. Source

Addresses

  • American Museum of Natural History

    Museum

    200 Central Park West (79th Street), Upper West Side

    Dinosaurs, blue whale, planetarium and the new Gilder Center with its insectarium: the favourite museum of 3 to 12-year-olds, on the edge of Central Park; free adult membership with IDNYC.

    Website Source

  • Brooklyn Children's Museum

    Museum

    145 Brooklyn Avenue, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY 11213

    The world's first children's museum (1899): Totally Tots for under-5s, Neighborhood Nature, AirMaze and exhibitions on skateboarding and BMX; open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm.

    Website Source

  • Children's Museum of Manhattan

    Museum

    212 West 83rd Street, Upper West Side, NY 10024

    Five floors of play designed for ages 0 to 6 (PlayWorks, Dora and Diego, Dynamic H2O), Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 5pm; perfect on rainy days with a stroller.

    Website Source

  • New York Hall of Science

    Museum

    47-01 111th Street, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY 11368

    The hands-on science museum (Design Make Play), with the CityWorks exhibition on how the city works; in the World's Fair park, next to the Queens Zoo.

    Website Source

  • Intrepid Museum

    Museum

    Pier 86, West 46th Street et 12th Avenue, Hell's Kitchen

    A 1943 aircraft carrier moored on the Hudson, with the space shuttle Enterprise, a Concorde and the submarine Growler; flight simulators, Kids Week in February, open daily 10am to 5pm.

    Website Source

  • New York Transit Museum

    Museum

    99 Schermerhorn Street, Downtown Brooklyn, NY 11201

    In a 1936 subway station: twenty vintage cars dating back to 1907 to climb into, a signal tower, family programmes and a free annex at Grand Central.

    Website Source

  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art

    Museum

    1000 Fifth Avenue (82nd Street), Upper East Side

    The Egyptian temple, the armour and the roof garden in summer: pay what you wish for state residents, free for under-12s, free membership with IDNYC.

    Website Source

  • MoMA

    Museum

    11 West 53rd Street, Midtown

    Modern art free for under-16s, with a sculpture garden and family trails; priority access all year with the IDNYC card.

    Website Source

Go further

Libraries and books in French

Three free public library systems (New York, Brooklyn, Queens) with baby storytimes in every neighbourhood. For French, FIAF's Haskell Library and the Albertine bookshop, in a Fifth Avenue mansion, are the two addresses to know.

Good to know

  • The New York Public Library card is free for anyone who lives, works or studies in New York State, children included; it unlocks books, e-books and Culture Pass reservations, and is issued online or at any branch. Source
  • Albertine, the bookshop of the French Embassy's Cultural Services, sells books in French and English at 972 Fifth Avenue, Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 6pm (closed Wednesdays); its Prix Albertine Jeunesse is awarded every year by readers aged 3 to 11, and a newsletter announces children's events. Source
  • Look for your branch's weekly story time, baby lapsit and toddler time: free nursery rhyme and story sessions, ideal for meeting local parents; the Queens system even runs an early literacy programme for 3 to 4-year-olds. Source

Addresses

  • Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (NYPL)

    Library

    455 Fifth Avenue (40th Street), Midtown

    Midtown's big circulating library, opposite the historic building and Bryant Park: a floor for children, a teen space, storytimes and a rooftop terrace.

    Website Source

  • Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library

    Library

    10 Grand Army Plaza, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

    The Art Deco library at the entrance to Prospect Park, with a vast children's area; the Brooklyn system has around sixty branches, free card.

    Website Source

  • Queens Public Library

    Library

    Succursales dans tout le Queens

    The Queens system, one of the busiest in the country: early childhood programmes, Toddler Learning Center, kindergarten readiness for 3 to 4-year-olds and foreign language collections.

    Website Source

  • FIAF, Haskell Library

    Library

    22 East 60th Street, Upper East Side

    The French Institute Alliance Française library, with a French collection, a children's corner and storytimes; paid membership, in the same building as the children's French classes.

    Website Source

  • Librairie Albertine

    Shop

    972 Fifth Avenue (79th Street), Upper East Side, NY 10075

    New York's French bookshop, in the Cultural Services mansion opposite Central Park: picture books, comics and children's novels in French, children's events and the Prix Albertine Jeunesse.

    Website Source

Go further

Activities, classes and camps in French

Keeping French alive when school is in English: New York invented the public dual language programmes and a parents' association, EFNY, runs French classes in thirteen public schools. FIAF, the Lycée Français and the French-language media list the rest, from summer camps to workshops.

Good to know

  • EFNY (Éducation en Français à New York), a volunteer parents' association founded in 2005, helped create the first French dual language programmes in public schools and today teaches French to over 700 students a year in thirteen partner schools in Manhattan and Brooklyn, through after-school and online classes. Source
  • Every summer, French Morning publishes the list of French-language summer camps in New York and New Jersey, from the Lycée Français de New York (22 June to 17 July in 2026) to Brooklyn's bilingual schools; they fill up fast, register in spring. Source
  • On 12 July 2026, thousands celebrated Bastille Day in Central Park at the consulate general's free festival, with Black M, Laurent Voulzy and Michel Polnareff on stage: the big French outing of the year, open to everyone. Source
  • The private bilingual schools also open outside school hours: the International School of Brooklyn in Carroll Gardens (French and Spanish, Pre-K 3 to grade 8, International Baccalaureate) and The École in Flatiron offer camps and after-school activities to neighbourhood children. Source

Addresses

  • FIAF, French Institute Alliance Française

    Activity

    22 East 60th Street, Upper East Side

    French classes for children and teens, workshops and shows for young audiences, the Haskell Library, cinema and the Crossing the Line festival in autumn: the home of French culture in Manhattan.

    Website Source

  • EFNY, Éducation en Français à New York

    Activity

    Écoles publiques de Manhattan et Brooklyn

    After-school French classes in thirteen public schools (PS 3, PS 6, PS 84, PS 234, PS 527 in Manhattan; PS 20, PS 58, PS 110, PS 133, PS 321 in Brooklyn) and small online groups for all of New York; parents can ask to open a programme at their school.

    Website Source

  • Lycée Français de New York, summer camp

    Activity

    505 East 75th Street, Upper East Side

    The Lycée's summer camp, open to outside children: learning French while having fun for four weeks from late June to mid-July, in the 75th Street building.

    Website Source

  • Albertine, événements jeunesse

    Activity

    972 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side

    Author meetings, readings and the Prix Albertine Jeunesse vote for ages 3 to 11 in the Fifth Avenue French bookshop; sign up for the children's events newsletter.

    Website Source

  • International School of Brooklyn

    Activity

    477 Court Street, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, NY 11231

    French and Spanish immersion bilingual school, Pre-K 3 to grade 8, International Baccalaureate programme; holiday camps and after-school activities open to neighbourhood families.

    Website Source

  • Bastille Day à Central Park

    Activity

    Central Park, Manhattan

    The free Bastille Day festival run by the French consulate general on a Sunday in July, concerts by French artists and a partners' village; come early with the stroller.

    Website Source

Go further

Through the seasons and festivities

The New York year is a string of rituals: pumpkins and the Halloween parade, giant Thanksgiving balloons, ice rinks and the Rockefeller Center tree, Lunar New Year in Chinatown, Brooklyn's cherry blossoms, free pools and concerts in summer, a Caribbean carnival to finish. And a Bastille Day in Central Park.

Good to know

  • Autumn: the Village Halloween Parade heads up Sixth Avenue on 31 October at 7pm, and anyone in costume can march, children included; the little ones go trick-or-treating along the brownstone streets of Brooklyn and the Upper West Side. Source
  • Winter: Central Park's Wollman Rink opens from late October to mid-March with lessons from age 3, Bryant Park's Winter Village lines up ice rink, holiday shops and igloos from late October, and the Rockefeller Center tree lights up in early December. Source
  • Lunar New Year is celebrated in Chinatown with the Firecracker Ceremony in Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the day itself, then the big parade on a Sunday at 1pm (1 March in 2026, 21 February in 2027): lion dances, confetti and stalls on Bayard Street. Source
  • Summer: SummerStage offers over sixty free concerts and shows in thirteen parks, from Central Park to neighbourhood parks; the city pools are free from late June to early September; and Brooklyn's Caribbean carnival, the largest in North America, parades along Eastern Parkway on Labor Day Monday, with a Junior Carnival for children the day before. Source

Addresses

  • Village Halloween Parade

    Activity

    Sixth Avenue, de Canal Street à 15th Street

    The big participatory parade on 31 October at 7pm: giant puppets, marching bands, and anyone can march in costume; very crowded, claim a spot on the pavement early with the children.

    Website Source

  • Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

    Activity

    De Central Park West à Herald Square

    The giant balloons on Thanksgiving Thursday morning; the evening before, the balloon inflation near the American Museum of Natural History is the little ones' favourite outing.

    Website Source

  • Bank of America Winter Village, Bryant Park

    Activity

    Bryant Park, 42nd Street et Sixth Avenue

    Ice rink, holiday shops and private igloos from late October to early March; the rest of the year, Le Carrousel, juggling classes and free kids' activities in the park.

    Website Source

  • Wollman Rink, Central Park

    Activity

    Central Park, entrée 59th Street et Sixth Avenue

    Central Park's ice rink, open daily from 28 October 2026 to 16 March 2027; Learn to Skate group lessons from age 3, skate school and mini hockey for children.

    Website Source

  • Lunar New Year Parade, Chinatown

    Activity

    Chinatown, Manhattan (Mott, Bayard et East Broadway)

    Parade and festival on a late-winter Sunday at 1pm, stalls on Bayard Street from 11:30am to 3:30pm; very busy, come early with a stroller.

    Website Source

  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden, saison des cerisiers

    Activity

    990 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225

    Cherry blossoms from April to early May, the children's Discovery Garden and weekday First Discoveries drop-ins for toddlers; open Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 6pm.

    Website Source

  • SummerStage

    Activity

    Central Park (Rumsey Playfield) et parcs des cinq arrondissements

    The parks' free festival since 1986: over sixty concerts and shows from June to September, from jazz to dance, enjoyed as a family on a blanket.

    Website Source

  • West Indian American Day Carnival

    Activity

    Eastern Parkway, Crown Heights, Brooklyn

    The largest Caribbean carnival in North America, on Labor Day Monday in early September: costumes, steel bands and, the day before, the Junior Carnival where children parade.

    Website Source

Go further

Trips under two hours away

The Metro-North train runs up the Hudson in an hour to the villages, sculptures and pumpkins of the Hudson Valley; to the south, the beaches of New Jersey and Long Island, Philadelphia by train, and Connecticut with its free dinosaurs.

Good to know

  • Storm King Art Center, a 500-acre open-air sculpture museum in the Hudson Valley, is free for under-5s and reachable without a car: Coach USA bus from Port Authority (admission included) or Metro-North to Beacon then a half-hour drive; season until 30 November, tickets to book. Source
  • In autumn, Historic Hudson Valley lights thousands of carved pumpkins at the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor, and opens Sunnyside, Washington Irving's home, and the Philipsburg Manor mill in Sleepy Hollow, the village of the headless horseman legend. Source
  • The Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven, Connecticut, is always free: Brontosaurus, Triceratops and Stegosaurus from the 'birthplace of paleontology', under two hours by train from Grand Central. Source
  • Beach: Sandy Hook, in New Jersey, is reached by Seastreak ferry from Manhattan between Memorial Day and Labor Day (paid parking in summer by car); Rockaway Beach, in Queens, is at the end of the A train and the NYC Ferry. Source

Addresses

  • Storm King Art Center

    1 Museum Road, New Windsor, NY (Hudson Valley)

    Monumental sculptures across 500 acres of meadows and hills, a free on-site tram and a children and families programme; free for under-5s, season from spring to 30 November.

    Website Source

  • Dia Beacon

    3 Beekman Street, Beacon, NY

    A giant contemporary art museum in a former factory on the Hudson, an hour and a half by Metro-North from Grand Central; children love the huge spaces and the town of Beacon for ice cream.

    Website Source

  • Sleepy Hollow et Historic Hudson Valley

    Sleepy Hollow et Croton-on-Hudson, Westchester

    Philipsburg Manor, Sunnyside and the autumn Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze, under an hour by Metro-North (Hudson line); Blaze tickets to book well in advance.

    Website Source

  • Sandy Hook, Gateway National Recreation Area

    128 South Hartshorne Drive, Highlands, NJ

    Ocean and bay beaches, a 250-year-old lighthouse and Fort Hancock in a national park, by Seastreak ferry from Manhattan in summer; open 6am to 9pm, carry in, carry out.

    Website Source

  • Jones Beach State Park

    Wantagh, Long Island, NY

    Long Island's great sandy beach, lifeguarded in summer, with boardwalk, playgrounds and an air show in spring; by LIRR train then shuttle, or by car.

    Website Source

  • Philadelphie

    Philadelphia, Pennsylvanie

    The Please Touch Museum and its century-old carousel, the Franklin Institute and its giant heart, the Liberty Bell and America's first zoo; about an hour and a half by train from Penn Station.

    Website Source

  • Yale Peabody Museum

    170 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut

    Famous dinosaurs and admission always free, Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 12 to 5pm; New Haven is under two hours by train from Grand Central.

    Website Source

  • Legoland New York

    Goshen, NY (Orange County)

    The park designed for ages 2 to 12, about sixty miles north-west of the city, with a Lego hotel on site; open spring to autumn, by car or coach.

    Website Source

Go further

A place has closed, something has changed? Tell us: the mums of New York will thank you.

Sources for this page

The public pages these landmarks come from. The official website always prevails.

  1. 1 Central Park Conservancy, Heckscher Playground
  2. 2 IDNYC, adhésions gratuites aux institutions culturelles
  3. 3 Culture Pass
  4. 4 Albertine, librairie des Services culturels de l'ambassade de France
  5. 5 EFNY, Éducation en Français à New York
  6. 6 Consulat général de France à New York, Bastille Day 2026 à Central Park
  7. 7 French Morning, les summer camps en français 2026
  8. 8 Storm King Art Center

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