Hi everyone!
We are half way through August! Have you started shopping for back to school supplies yet? NYC public school kids go back to school 3 weeks from today!
Get out enjoy carless streets with North Slope Weekend Walks, Summer Streets and Summer Stroll in Bay Ridge. Also happening this weekend you can fly kites at the Summer on the Hudson: FlyNYC 2014, build in the sand with the kids at the 24th Annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest, check out the second weekend for The 9th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party at Governors Island and enjoy the free NYC Parks Summer Movie Series: Annie at Owl’s Head Park and make puppets with Puppet Productions Family Art Workshop in Madison Square Park!
That is just some of the events so check out the calendar and see what else is happening this weekend in Brooklyn & NYC! Please remember to check with venues to see if there are any schedule changes. Remember to like us on Facebook for last minute events and news!
Have a great weekend!
~ Deirdre (mom to O & C)
Friday August 15th
Summer Science Club : Bubble Science at Brooklyn Public Windsor Terrace Library
Fri 330-4p. Free.
Join us for bubbles related fun. Make a bubble wand out of a pipe cleaner.
North Slope Weekend Walks
Friday August 15th & 22nd 5-9p. Free. Fifth Avenue between Sterling Place and Dean Street.
Weekend Walks returns to the Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID on August 15th and 22nd between Sterling and Dean Streets (adjacent to the Barclays Center). Romeo and Juliet will be performed again in this stretch of the Avenue on the 15th at 7p. Hosted by Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID
Summer Stroll in Bay Ridge
Friday August 15th from 6-10p. Free. Third Avenue from 80th to 90th Street.
It’s Friday night in the middle of summer and you don’t feel like dealing with the crazy Jersey Shore or Hamptons traffic. Summer Stroll in Bay Ridge is the place to be! Join us for some family-friendly fun as we close the main neighborhood strip to traffic and open up the streets like the Piazza San Marco. Be there!
NYC Parks Summer Movie Series: Annie at Owl’s Head Park (Bay Ridge)
Friday August 15th 8-10p. Free.
See our city one movie at a time. Throughout July and August, NYC Parks is showing free movies in its parks and recreation centers! No RSVP required, just bring yourself and a blanket to sit on. Annie is the story of a young orphan girl and her adventures as she searches for a family to adopt her. Rated PG.
For more Friday events please click here!
Saturday August 16th
Summer Streets (Manhattan)
August 16th 7a-1p. Free.
Starts at the Brooklyn Bridge and goes up Lafayette & Park Ave to Central Park/72nd St. With nearly 7 miles of open streets, 5 rest stops and a seven-block-long art installation in the Park Avenue Tunnel – there is plenty to explore at Summer Streets. And remember, everything at Summer Streets is free! See website for more details.
Puppet Productions Family Art Workshop at Madison Square Park
Sat Aug 16th 10a-12n & 1-3p on the northwest lawn. Free.
Mad. Sq. Kids presents a free Family Art Workshop, Puppet Productions, inspired by Rachel Feinstein’s current Mad. Sq. Art exhibit, Folly. Join us on the northwest lawn for a free puppet crafting workshop from 10am-12pm and 1pm-3pm. Families with children of all ages can learn fun ways to create puppets using simple materials such as clay, wood and cloth. It’s a great way to spend your summer Saturday, crafting in the park!
Summer on the Hudson: FlyNYC 2014
Sat Aug 16th 11a-4p. Free. Pier I in Riverside Park South.
Come fly a kite at this festival for all ages! Kite-making for children and live music with Batala NYC & Shinbone Alley Stilt Band aids your celebration of simple fun throughout the day.
24th Annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest
Sat Aug 16th 12n-5p. Free. Must register to compete. Registration here. Judging begins at 3p and the award presentation is at 430p.
The 24th Annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest brings together individuals, families and artists to celebrate our community. Professional artists will build remarkable sculptures while amateurs from within the community and across the region will challenge each other for cash prizes. It will be a family-friendly and fun-filled day with live entertainment and activities for children. This annual event frequently attracts local and national press as well as 3,000-4,000 visitors from the community and across the country.
For more Saturday events please click here!
Sunday August 17th
Astoria Park Shore Fest
Sun August 17th 1-630p (last day!) Free. Shore Boulevard between Astoria Park South and Ditmars Boulevard.
Shore Fest continues to evolve as a showcase for the potential of Shore Boulevard as a multi-use public space. Shore Fest is a place to meet new people, enjoy old friends, and carve a river of life out of a car-filled street. August 17th: Make Shore BoulevART! Work out your imagination and display your creativity on Shore Boulevard! Join us to paint, play music, dance and much more. Let the river inspire you, while taking in amazing views of the city.
Kid/Around with Lesley and the Flying Foxes at South Street Seaport
Sun August 17th 2-4p. Free.
KidAround! at the South Street Seaport is a FREE family event series featuring live music, story-time with your favorite characters, games and more! Happening this Summer at See/Change. Why do we have eyebrows? What does a turtle singing opera sound like? These are some of the important questions Lesley and the Flying Foxes answer in their Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winning hilarious and heartwarming songs. This is a silly and scintillating family music show for all ages!
Ready, Set, Kindergarten at Brooklyn Public Central Library (Prospect Heights)
Sunday Aug 17th (last one!) at 230p. Free. In the Youth Wing.
Have fun at the library and help your child get ready for school. For children 3 to 5 years and participating parents or caregivers. Families enjoy stories and activities designed to encourage the development of early learning skills. Exploring literacy, science, and math through music, stories, crafts, and play will help you and your child get ready for school! Families will receive free materials to continue the learning and fun at home.
The 33rd Annual Downtown Dance Festival at The Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park
Sunday August 17th 6p. Free. Also happening Mon-Thu 6p until August 21st.
The Downtown Dance Festival (DDF) is one of lower Manhattan’s most highly anticipated summer events. Initiated in 1982 by Battery Dance Company (BDC), the Festival has thrilled audiences in the hundreds of thousands and showcased great dance companies from around the world as well as the best New York City has to offer, all free-of-charge to the public. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and many foreign media outlets have accorded the DDF consistently excellent reviews and lavish features. As Battery Dance Company’s signature downtown community program, DDF has featured over 200 dance companies ranging in style from classical ballet to post-modern, Indian classical to Afro-Cuban. The Downtown Dance Festival is NYC’s longest-running dance festival. See website for more information on the event.
For more Sunday events please click here!
All Weekend
Marvel Universe LIVE! at Barclays Center (Prospect Heights)
Friday August 15th-Sunday August 17th various times. See website for schedule. Tickets $25 and up. Marvel Universe LIVE! will captivate audiences with an authentic and original story that brings more than 25 Marvel characters together on one epic quest. The story is framed around the battle over the Cosmic Cube, the source of ultimate power and one of the most feared and coveted treasures in the Marvel Universe, that has been shattered into pieces by the Mighty Thor in order to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. With the pieces scattered across the globe, Thor’s villainous brother Loki devises a scheme to clone its powers, inciting a threat that could not only decimate Earth but also obliterate the Universe. – See more at: http://www.achildg
The 9th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party at Governors Island
Sat Aug 16th & 17th 11a. General Admission: $35, tickets under 12 free. Purchase tickets here.
The Jazz Age Lawn Party is New York City’s original prohibition era inspired gathering. Hosted and conceived by Michael Arenella, the event started as a small gathering of perhaps fifty friends and fans. The event, initially produced by the island, was handed over to Michael in its third year to organize and grow. Under his watch, the event was carefully crafted and nurtured, becoming what is now referred to by The Wall Street Journal as, “the biggest (not to mention the cleanest and most family-oriented) regular event in the ‘Retro Noveau’ movement…” It was at this time that St-Germain joined forces with The Lawn Party, delightfully whetting the whistles of fops and flappers with their refreshing summer cocktails. See website for more details.
Theatreworks USA Presents: The Lightning Thief at Lucille Lortel Theatre (West Village)
Performances Monday July 21-Friday August 22nd at various times (no shows on Sat) See website for full schedule. Free. For ages 7y+
Let Theatreworks take you into a world with gods, monsters, and heroes! The Lightning Thief is a new musical adapted from the book, “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief”, by Rick Riordan. With the rights provided by Twentieth Century Fox, and through a special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Theatre, Theatreworks is excited to bring this new musical adaptation to children and families in New York, with book by Joe Tracz and music and lyrics by Rob Rokicki, choreographed by Sam Pinkleton and directed by Stephen Brackett. The Lightning Thief features Percy Jackson, the 12-year-old son of Poseidon, who gets pulled into an unfamiliar, mythological world full of treacherous encounters and challenges thrust upon him by the Greek Gods. Percy struggles with dyslexia and ADHD, coming to terms with a father he has never known, and solving the mystery of Zeus’ stolen lightning bolt, alongside his two best friends Grover and Annabeth. Since this is a free event please read the information on the website about how to get tickets.
Victorian Garden at Wollman Rink (Central Park)
Daily until Sun Sep 7th various times and admission & ride prices varies by day. See website. Enter park from 59th St. and 6th Avenue.
Victorian Gardens will open its gates Memorial Day Weekend! Opening weekend times: May 24th 10a-9p, May 25th and May 26th 10a-8p. Victorian Gardens is a traditional family amusement park featuring one-of-a-kind handcrafted rides, games of chance, classic concessions, face painting and live entertainment.
Bessies’s Big Shot at Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre (Central Park)
M-Sun now until August 24th M-F 1030a & 12p, Wed 1030a, 12p, & 230p, Sat-Sun 1p. Tickets: $7 children under 12y & $10 all others. For all ages.
Based on the famed PuppetMobile show of the same name, this popular production makes its Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre debut! Directed by Bruce Cannon and co-written by Douglas Strich, Alexander Bartenieff and Bruce Cannon, this version of the beloved show will feature several new puppets in addition to new and extended scenes. It’s a bird … it’s a plane … no … it’s Bessie the cow! CPF’s original production, Bessie’s Big Shot, follows Bessie the cow’s dream of joining the circus. Can she lift more than Ziegfried, the strongest man in the world? Fly on a trapeze high above the crowd? Train Munson the Monkey? This variety show cheers Bessie on as she attempts the impossible and searches for her special talents.
CMA/Free Arts Island Outpost on Governors Island
Sat-Sun now until Sep 28th and Labor Day Sep 1st 11a-3p. For ages 1-15y. Free.
Join us as we spend the summer amongst the trees, with the crickets and cicadas, dreaming of far away spaces and surreal surroundings! Places with wonderful surprises and strange twists, where not making sense makes the most sense! Be prepared for theater games and film-making; painting, collage, and found object art; costume and prop-making; up-cycling, recycling, and re-purposing! And don’t forget: The Flubber Experience! Location: Governors Island, Outside Buildings 11 & 14 in Nolan Park.
Kids Corner at Habana Outpost (Fort Greene)
Saturdays & Sundays until August 24th 11a-3p.
Drop in for FREE, fun arts & crafts every Saturday and Sunday in the courtyard of Habana Outpost. August 16th & 17th: Corn Husk Dolls
Dinosaur Safari: Mysteries Revealed! at the Bronx Zoo
Now until November 2nd 10a-5p. Admission included in total experience ticket price. Dinosaur Safari: Mysteries Revealed! Nine new dinosaur species have been added this year including the deinonychus, prodohadros, stegosaurus, and edmontonia. Returning for the Dinosaur Safari: Mysteries Revealed, the ever-popular 40-foot long tyrannosaurus rex will send chills up the spines of Bronx Zoo adventurers. At the end of the experience, there is a field site that includes a fossil dig for children; a Tyrannosaurus rex photo-op; a paleontologist’s tent that includes a fossil museum; and an interactive robotic dinosaur that illustrates how the animatronics work.
Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History (UWS)
Now until January 4th 10a-545p. Free with General Admission Plus One
In the new exhibition Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs, rare fossils, life-size models, and hands-on interactives bring these ancient animals to life. Step back in time to see pterosaurs, including giants such as Tropeognathus mesembrinus,with a wingspan of more than 25 feet, and find out how they moved on land and in the air. Get a first-hand look at the rare pterosaur fossils that have helped paleontologists learn all that we know about these animals. In a virtual flight lab, use your body to pilot a pterosaur over a prehistoric landscape. Encounter the exceptional creatures that flew in the age of dinosaurs.
Prospect Park Carousel Summer Hours
Now until September 1st 2014 Thu–Sun: 12n–6p. $2 per ride, $9 for a book of 5 tickets.
Kick off spring with a ride on the Park’s beautiful 102 year-old carousel. Located in the Park’s “Children’s Corner,” the Carousel features 51 magnificently carved horses, a lion, a giraffe, a deer, and two dragon-pulled chariots. Carved in 1912 by Charles Carmel, one of the foremost carousel designers of the time, and restored by the Prospect Park Alliance in 1990, the Carousel promises that classic summertime amusement will be available for generations of fun. In addition, the Prospect Park Carousel is one of the few in the world that is wheelchair accessible.
Pop-Up Audubon in Prospect Park
Saturdays & Sundays until October 19, 2014: 12n–5p. Free.
The Prospect Park Alliance presents Pop-Up Audubon, now in its second season, which invites families to directly engage with nature through outdoor learning in locations around the Park. JUNE: Incredible Invertebrates. Location: Entrance to the Ravine, downhill from the Picnic House
The Art of the Brick at Discovery Times Square (Hell’s Kitchen, Midtown West)
Now until Sep 7th. Sun-Tues 10a-7p, Wed & Thur 10a-8p, Fri & Sat 10a-9p. Tickets: $19.50/adult, $16.50 kids age 4-12y. The return of The Art of Brick!RT OF THE BRICK, and will feature a newly introduced gallery that showcases artist Nathan Sawaya’s In Pieces collection, a multimedia collaboration produced in tandem with award-winning photographer Dean West.
Sawaya’s original Art of the Brick exhibition is a critically acclaimed collection of intriguing and inspiring works of art made exclusively from one of the most recognizable toys in the world — LEGO® bricks. The Discovery Times Square exhibit will be the world’s biggest and most elaborate display of LEGO® art ever and will feature brand-new, never-before-seen pieces by Sawaya. Don’t miss the show named one of CNN’s Top 10 ‘Global Must-See Exhibitions.’
For a full calendar of events please click here!