Hi everyone! The last weekend of the Summer is here and there is lots to enjoy with the family in NYC!
This weekend check out Farmhouse Family Day: Harvest Sun Prints, Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra #Unchambered in Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pop-Up Lefferts: Play and Go Kits in Prospect Park, Hindu Lamp Ceremony, Rubin Museum Virtual Block Party, Urban Park Ranger Nature and Wildlife Activities in Sunset Park, A Laurie Berkner Family Concert – Pajama Party!, Natural Dyeing with the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, Little Red Riding Hood at Puppetworks, The Amazing Maize Maze® and September Sundays at Queens County Farm Museum, a Drag Queen Story Hour and Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden Virtual Storytime: Let’s Take a Trip.
Don’t forget to check out the long running events like Biking, Boating + Splash Pad and Rollerskating at Lakeside in Prospect Park, the Spineless Exhibit at The New York Aquarium and The Nature of Color Exhibit at American Museum of Natural History.
These are more events so check the calendar to see everything going on. Also like us on Facebook for last minute events and updates.
Enjoy the last weekend of the Summer!
~ Deirdre (mom to O & C)
Friday September 18th
Natural Dyeing with the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum
Friday September 18th 10-1030a. Free. Join the Wyckoff Museum staff as they explore the art and science of natural dyes using materials from the garden or grocery store. We’ll touch on textile history, the pH scale, and color theory as we guide you through the steps to dye clothes at home! See the website for the list of materials needed and to RSVP.
Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden Virtual Storytime: Let’s Take a Trip
Friday September 18th 1130a-12n. Free. Join us for a virtual museum storytime. We will read picture books about weekend trips like camping and going to the beach, and then we will play a game together. Everyone welcome, but designed especially for children 6 and under. See the website for the Zoom details.
Urban Park Ranger Nature and Wildlife Activities in Sunset Park
Friday September 18th 2-3p. Free. Location: 43rd Street and Seventh Avenue. Look out for our Urban Park Rangers who will be in the park providing nature and wildlife-related activities and engagement. Activities may include nature art, scavenger hunts, physical challenges, and more. Note: Maintain six feet of physical distance between households, wear a face covering and additionally, we encourage participants to bring their own hand sanitizer to our programs. See the website for all the event details.
See all the Friday events here.
Saturday September 19th
Farmhouse Family Day: Harvest Sun Prints
Saturday September 19th 11a-3p. Free. Welcome back to in-person Farmhouse Family Days at Wyckoff! While our museum remains closed, our activities are returning outdoors with farm tours, a beekeeping demonstration, coloring, and socially-distanced hands-on crafts this Family Day.We will be exploring the shapes and textures of our garden by making sun prints with handmade frames – sign up to reserve a spot for your family group or pick up a kit to take home! Stick around to enjoy the grounds and complete a scavenger hunt, and make sure to stop by the farmstand and get a tour of our Farm from one of our Garden Apprentices. Register for tours here.
Pop-Up Lefferts: Play and Go Kits in Prospect Park
Saturday September 19th 2nd 11a-4p. Free. See the website for all the details. Prospect Park Alliance presents Pop-Up Lefferts, which brings our favorite family activities enjoyed at Lefferts Historic House to locations around Prospect Park and surrounding neighborhoods while the museum undergoes a $2.5 million restoration funded by the New York City Council. Enjoy Play and Go Kits filled with historic games and toys, including a DIY nine-man morris game board and Mamantuhwin, a Native American (Lenape) dice game, which you can take home with you. There is also a wooden egg and spoon, and potato sacks, for races with your friends and family. A small library of children’s books can also be borrowed along with your kit. Kits can be borrowed on a first-come, first-served basis for up to 45 minutes, and will be sanitized between sessions. This event will also happen Sunday September 27th 11a-4p.
Hindu Lamp Ceremony
Saturday, September 19. 12-2pm Kit Pickup (at Pebble Beach, Brooklyn Bridge Park). 5-5:45pm Virtual Ceremony. This event is free and registration is required. RSVP here. Join us the 8th annual Aarti Hindu Lamp Ceremony with Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy! In order to honor social distancing guidelines, the ceremony will take place virtually, but materials will be made available for pick up in the Park prior to the ceremony. Aarti is a tradition in which an offering of light is made on the banks of the river – to honor the nurturing power of the river and signify purification. The lamps are made from palm bowls, painted with traditional ceremonial colors, with a wick made of cotton dipped in ghee or oil. These materials, along with directions, will be provided for you in a kit (to pick up in the Park). Instead of being released and then collected in the East River, we will make our lamps at home and release them into homemade water bodies. We will email participants with Zoom details and instructions for picking up your lamp materials.
Drag Queen Story Hour
Saturday September 19th 4-5p. Free. What do drag queens and children have in common? They love dressing up and all things sparkly and fancy! Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) is just what it sounds like—drag queens reading stories to children in libraries, schools, and bookstores. Drag Queen Story Hour captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity in childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models. Enjoy songs and stories for kids age 3-8 during a livestream of Drag Queen Story Hour. Watch live on DQSHNYC’s Instagram, or afterward on Brooklyn Public Library’s Instagram page.
See all the Saturday events here.
Sunday September 20th
September Sundays at Queens County Farm Museum
Sundays 11a-2p & 2-5p. $15/children under 12 & $20/adults plus fees. These special event days have been created to provide farm-fresh entertainment! September Sundays Tickets include: The Amazing Maize Maze, Hayrides, Live music from New Orleans-inspired bluegrass band Mama Juke! Audience Crop Circles will help with social distancing. (Guests are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs to social distance too.) Adopt-a-Worm composting program, crafts and tips at the Con Edison Ecology Booth. Enjoy Queens Farm’s Beer Garden sponsored by Bridge & Tunnel Brewery with local food vendors to fill hungry tummies. See what’s growing on at Queens Farm’s acclaimed Farmstand, featuring the season’s best produce fresh-picked from our fields plus a farmers market featuring New York State produce and goods.
Rubin Museum Virtual Block Party
Sunday September 20th 12n. Free. Welcome to the Rubin Museum’s annual Block Party! Celebrate curiosity, wonder, and community as the Block Party goes virtual this year! Inspired by the Rubin’s yearlong exploration of impermanence—the idea that everything changes, so possibility is all around us—and the symbol of the lotus, this year’s Block Party reminds us that beauty can emerge from even the toughest conditions. See the website for all the event details. The Block Party activities will be accessible through September 27 and will stream here.
A Laurie Berkner Family Concert – Pajama Party!
Sunday September 20th 12n. Tickets: Regular Ticket-PJ Party $20, Need-Based Ticket-PJ Party $10. Purchase tickets here. Sing, dance, and play interactive games through your device with Laurie Berkner as she performs your favorite songs, interacts with you through the computer, and brings in a few surprises – from her house to yours! This special virtual concert event is the third in this series, and your ticket helps support the team in continuing operations during in-person concert cancellations! Join us for the hour before the concert for some fun pre-show activities like a scavenger hunt, music videos, and to make sure your stream is working smoothly! Bring your pajamas, your dancin’ shoes (or slippers), and a stuffed animal (for your head!) Laurie will be playing a mix of greatest hits and pajama party favorites!
Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra #Unchambered in Brooklyn Bridge Park
Sunday Septmeber 20th 3-4p. Free. Location: Fulton Ferry Landing Pier 1. This Sunday’s #Unchambered concert takes us to the Fulton Ferry Landing where BCO’s woodwind quintet will perform a variety of music, from Mozart to modern day. See you there!
See all the Sunday events here.
All Weekend
The Amazing Maize Maze® at Queens County Farm Museum
Fridays & Saturdays 11a-430p (last ticket sold at 430p) in September and Fridays-Sundays in October. Advance Tickets: $12; $8 (ages 4-11) (plus fees). Free for ages 3 & under. Purchase tickets here. Get lost in NYC’s only corn maze! The Amazing Maize Maze adventure begins with a Stalk Talk to prepare you for the 3-acre challenge of finding clues on your way to Victory Bridge where the full vista of Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ masterpiece is revealed. Maze entry will be staggered in order to maintain event capacity.
Little Red Riding Hood at Puppetworks (Park Slope)
Wednesdays-Sundays at 1230p until September 20th. Tickets: Children $10 each, Adults $11 each (suggested for ages 3 and up). Charles Perrault’s Folk Tale adapted for Hand Puppets by Michael Thomas. Call for Reservations: 718-965-3391 or e-mail to: puppetworksinfo@gmail.com NO Same Day e-mail reservations please. Performances are @ 25% Capacity, Masks Required.
Brooklyn Public Library Vitural Storytimes
Daily usually at 11a & 2p. Free. Sometimes the storytimes are on the Brooklyn Public Library Family facebook page and other times they are on a specific branch facebook page. See the website for all the details.
Biking, Boating + Splash Pad in Prospect Park
Open daily. Hours: Boating + Biking: daily, 10a- 8p & Splash Pad (water play): daily, 10a-dusk. Splash pad is free see website for biking & boating rates. COVID-19 Update: Please note that starting Saturday, August 1, the LeFrak Center at Lakeside will be open daily for biking, boating and water play, with food and drink available for takeaway from the Bluestone Cafe. Please note that our water play feature, Splash Pad, is not regularly sanitized, and patrons are requested to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines posted on site, including adhering to mask wearing and social distancing protocols.
Rollerskating at Lakeside in Prospect Park
Daily 12n-6p until mid October. Pricing: $6 admission & $7 skate rentals on weekdays and $10 admission, $7 skate rentals on weekends (weekend pricing begins 4p Fridays). Roller Skating is BACK! COVID-19 safety guidelines will be followed, including mask-wearing and social distancing protocols. Skating will operate at reduced capacity. Come get moving with us at Lakeside! Lakeside’s outdoor roller skating rink provides fun for kids, tweens, and adults alike. Skate to a mix of pop hits while taking in views of Prospect Park Lake. Skate rentals are available in children and adult sizes. See website for all the details.
Spineless Exhibit at The New York Aquarium (Coney Island)
Daily 10a-5p (park closes at 6p) until September 20th and then 10a-4p (park closes 5p) until October 31st. Admission included with ticket. All visitors must reserve a date-specific ticket in advance. Please check Know Before You Go for details. We have great news: The New York Aquarium is reopening on August 27! Buy tickets to see all of your favorite marine animals today and enjoy summer on Coney Island! Explore Spineless, our latest exhibit, and marvel and the jellies, octopus, and more. Come wave hello to Erie the sea lion and Murphy the Harbor Seal. Relax in Ocean Wonders: Sharks! and watch the rays, sharks, and turtles.
The Nature of Color Exhibit at American Museum of Natural History (UWS)
Museum is open Wednesdays-Sundays with timed entry tickets are available 10a-4p (museum closes 530p). Exhibit is open until March 8, 2021. Select a General Admission + One or General Admission + All ticket, choose date and time of entry to the Museum, then select The Nature of Color. Reserve tickets here. Our world is awash in color. Color makes the world feel vibrant and alive. But that’s not all. Color helps us make sense of the world. It contains vast amounts of information—about the natural world, and the human world. Come and explore the world of color in this immersive exhibition.