Family Friendly Things To Do In NYC

New York City which is affectionately referred to the ‘Big Apple’ attracts nearly 48 million tourists every year. Many of these tourists who arrive in the city chose to make the trip along with their families. Luckily for these tourists, New York City offers a wealth of family friendly attractions which cater to nearly all age groups. Listed below are some of the many family centric attractions that New York City has to offer.

Visit the many family friendly museums in New York City New York City is home to several museums which provide hours of entertainment for families visiting with children. The American Museum of Natural History which is located on the Upper West Side in Manhattan is one of the most popular family friendly attractions in New York City that offers 45 exhibition halls which showcase more than 32 million artifacts including dinosaur bones and other wonders that hail from the earth, the sea and outer space. The American Museum of Natural History also includes the Rose Center for Earth and Space, the Butterfly Conservatory, the Hayden Planetarium and the IMAX Film Hubble. The museum offers SuperSaver admission rates in addition to its general admission charges to help families enjoy the many diverse attractions offered by the museum.

Other family friendly museums in New York City include the Children’s Museum of Manhattan which is also located on the Upper West Side and offers five floors of literature, art, science and media exhibits and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum which offers numerous interactive exhibits and was the first museum in America to be established exclusively for children. Also worth recommending are museums like the New York Hall of Science in Queens which features 450 interactive exhibits, the New York Transit Museum which features displays of the different modes of transport that have served the city down the ages and the Children’s Museum of the Arts which features over 2000 pieces of artwork created by young people some of which date back as far as the 1930s.

Explore Central Park Central Park is the most prominent of all New York City parks and this park which occupies over 843 acres in the heart of Manhattan offers numerous attractions for children like the Central Park Zoo which features a petting zoo for children, the Victoria Gardens Amusement Park, The Belvedere Castle, the Carousel and the Wollman Rink which offers ice skating during the frigid New York City winters. Central Park offers a whole host of activities like bike riding, boating, bird watching, tennis, yoga, basket ball courts and many playgrounds all of which are extremely popular with locals and visitors alike.

Take a Boat Ride in New York City’s Harbor New York City’s waterways offer a wide assortment of rides which are usually a big hit with visiting families. The Circle Line Tours offer a wide array of cruises that ferry visitors around the busy New York City harbor while they take in views of the many famous New York City landmarks. These Circle Line tours also offer exciting rides on ‘the Beast’ which is the name given to a thrilling speedboat ride that features spectacular views and much pumping music and entertainment. New York City’s Hudson River Park additionally offers free kayaking at its boathouse on Pier 96 in the summers. These kayak rides and excursions can make for a great fun-filled event for all the family in New York City.

Gorge on candy at the many candy heavens and desert bars of New York City Most kids adore candy and New York City offers a plethora of sweetshops and desert bars where all the family can indulge while on holiday. When visiting New York City with your family you should thus make it a point to visit some of New York City’s best candy shops like Dylan’s Candy Bar, Economy Candy, Serendipity and even the candy section at the FAO Shwarz flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Visit the Apple Store at Fifth Avenue Apple has several stores in New York City, but the company’s flagship store in New York City is an architectural marvel for it features a subterranean store that is housed under a revolutionary glass cube. The Apple Store on Fifth Avenue is open all 24 hours of the day and showcases all of the company’s highly coveted products. The store also offers the Genius Bar, Free Wi-Fi and tutorials on how to use and work with Apple’s immensely popular products and cell phones.

Wave to friends back home from the Today Show The Today show is NBC’s morning news and lifestyle program. The show tapes on the ground floor of 49th Street and Rockefeller Center and features anchors Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, Ann Curry, Al Roker and Gene Shalit. Many visitors to New York City, who are fans of the show like to gather on the plaza to watch the taping of the show while they aspire to grab some time in front of the camera. The Today Show airs on Monday through Friday from 7am to 11am and if you and the family are fans of the show or would just enjoy being on featured on national television then it is worth making your way to NBC’s Rockefeller Center studios to participate in one of the early morning tapings of the show.

Take in some theater in New York City New York City is renowned as the home of world-class theater and it offers a wide array of theatrical performances, many which are hosted in the city’s more than forty theaters that dot its theater district which is popularly known as Broadway or the Great White Way. This theater district extends from 53rd to 42nd Streets between 6th and 8th Avenues. However aside from Broadway, New York City offers a plethora of other musical and theater performances which are held in smaller theaters which are classified as ‘Off Broadway’ though the city’s many other bastions of culture like Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center also have a wide repertoire of shows and performances which are worth taking in.

Take a walk Across Brooklyn Bridge Brooklyn Bridge which connects the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan is the oldest suspension bridge in the US. A walk along the bridge offers some of the most stunning views of the city. To start your walk across the bridge, you would have to get to the Manhattan side of the bridge near City Hall. City Hall is easily accessible via the number 6 train at Brooklyn Bridge City Hall station and once you arrive there, you have to go up the concrete ramp to access the bridge. As you walk along the bridge, you will be rewarded with stunning views of some of New York’s most famous land marks like the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. Once you have arrived on the Brooklyn Side, you and your family can reward yourselves with some pizza from Grimaldi’s Pizza which is reputed to be the home of some of the best pizza in New York City and they follow it some ice cream from the iconic Brooklyn Ice cream Factory located on the Fulton Ferry Pier to complete a truly New York City experience.