Hi everyone! Fall has arrived and there are so many fun events to enjoy this weekend in NYC!
This weekend check out the Fifteenth Annual Brooklyn Children’s Book Fair at Brooklyn Museum, Ed Center Reopening & 6th Birthday Celebration in Brooklyn Bridge Park, BAMkids Family Day, Celebrate Sukkot and Family Music Concert Series: Fyütch at Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Highbridge Park Film Festival, Final Friday on Myrtle Avenue, Movies Under the Stars: The Boss Baby: Family Business in Cooper Park, Migration Celebration in South Cove, Bilingual Birdies Virtual Storytime Class in French, Story Time with FDNY Veteran Brenda Berkman at DiMenna Children’s History, Movies Under the Stars: In the Heights in St. Catherine’s Park, Film Forum Jr. Matinee: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at the Film Forum and The Rock and Roll Playhouse at Brooklyn Bowl.
Also check out long running events like The Amazing Maize Maze at Queens County Farm Museum, Family Discovery Days at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Rumpelstiltskin at Puppetworks, The Nature of Color Exhibit and Worlds Beyond Earth at the American Museum of Natural History, Urban Farm Exploration Days! in Randall’s Island Park, Tall Ship Wavertree at South Street Seaport, Free Bike Mornings and The Yard – Adventure Playground on Governors Island, the Putting Green Mini Golf and the Green Meadows Farm: Pumpkin Picking Weekends at Aviator Sports and Events Center.
These are just some of the weekend events so check calendar to see everything going on. Also like us on Facebook for last minute events and updates.
Happy Fall and have a wonderful weekend!
~ Deirdre (mom to O & C)
Friday September 24th
QPL: Bilingual Birdies Storytime Class in French (virtual)
Fridays 11-1130a until October 8th. Free. Experience the online bilingual magic with music, a dance party, and an entertaining puppet show! In our 30-minute classes, families enjoy lively fun with Myla Birdie and an outstanding bilingual teaching musician! Kids are encouraged to move, jump, sing, and dance along with their guitar-playing teacher as they increase their vocabulary in French! Watch on the Queens Public Library Facebook page.
Final Friday on Myrtle Avenue (Fort Greene/Clinton Hill)
Friday September 24th 5-9p. Free. Stop by Myrtle Avenue to enjoy free live music, happy hour all night long on Myrtle Avenue businesses, interactive art installations, free demos at Myrtle Avenue businesses, outdoor projections, free games at Myrtle Avenue Plaza including cornhole, giant Jenga, and connect four, classic board, and table games, like dominoes, chess, checkers & more. Enjoy Latin Jazz by Benny Lopez Ensemble, Los Pollitos III, 5-8p, Jazz trio, Carlton Triangle, 5-8p and Smooth Jazz, Vanderbilt, and Myrtle, 5-8 at Vanderbilt. See the website for all the event details.
Highbridge Park Film Festival (Washington Heights)
Fridays until October 15th at various times. Free. Join NYC Parks and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment for a free film! Grab a blanket and snuggle up for this year’s Fall Film Festival at Highbridge Pool Deck. NYC Parks will host a series of movie screenings accompanied by fun and exciting activities fit for the whole family. Friday September 24th: 530p Scavenger Hunt. 7p Dora and the Last City of Gold: Dora, a teenage explorer, leads her friends on an adventure to save her parents and solve the mystery behind a lost city of gold. Rated PG. See the website for Covid-19 protocols.
Movies Under the Stars: In the Heights in St. Catherine’s Park (UES)
Friday September 24th 7-930p. Free. Join NYC Parks and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment for a free film! Inthe Heights: A film version of the Broadway musical in which Usnavi, a sympathetic New York bodega owner, saves every penny every day as he imagines and sings about a better life.Rated PG-13. Grab a blanket and come enjoy a movie in a neighborhood park or playground! This summer, NYC Parks will host family-friendly movie showings across the five boroughs. Movies begin at dusk. You should arrive before 7p. to get your spot. This event is FREE and open to the public, but seating is limited. Reservations are not taken.
See all the Friday events here.
Saturday September 25th
BAMkids Family Day (Fort Greene)
Saturday September 25th 1030a-330p. Free. Location: 300 Ashland Plaza. Join us for a day of performances, interactive workshops, and showcases of local talent as we celebrate the resilience of community and the power of the arts, which helped sustain us over the last year and now brings us together. Featuring Lucy Kalantari & the Jazz Cats!, Feet of Rhythm Kids, Brooklyn United, and Brown Rice Family, the festivities are emceed by BAM teaching artists Kimani Fowlin and Farai Malianga.
Ed Center Reopening & 6th Birthday Celebration in Brooklyn Bridge Park
Saturday September 25th 1-5p. Free. Join Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy for a special family-friendly event celebrating the reopening and the 6th Anniversary of the Environmental Education Center!We will celebrate our reopening and recent 6th anniversary of the space with some special birthday festivities and outdoor activities, in addition to allowing visitors back indoors to explore our unique educational exhibits and animals. Featuring themed crafts, a community art project using recycled materials, a mini photo booth, goodie bags, Park scavenger hunts, and more! Brooklyn Public Library will present a nature themed storytime at 2:30 PM at the Pebble Beach Stairs. See the website for Covid-19 protocols.
Migration Celebration in South Cove (Battery Park City)
Saturday September 25th 2-4p. Free. Join us at the annual fall celebration of all creatures that migrate through and by Battery Park City. Participants will make their way through a variety of interactive “welcome stations” consisting of art making, nature activities, storytelling with Freestyle Repertory Theatre, plus live performances by Villalobos Bros. Music performances at 2, 245 & 345p. Storytelling at 230 & 330p.
Family Music Concert Series: Fyütch at Brooklyn Children’s Museum
Saturday September 25th 3-5p (performance 330-430p). Tickets: $13 (children under 1 free). Purchase tickets here. Four artists, four messages. Join us this fall at BCM’s first annual “We Got Something to Say” Family Music Series, where Brooklyn families connect to Black artists who are using music to inspire change. Hear what each artist has to say while enjoying dance, food, community art, and award-winning family music. September 25th: Fyütch uses Hip-Hop, spoken work, and visual storytelling to create unique all-ages experiences that promote racial equity and liberation. Additional performances Saturdays until October 9th. See website for information on the performers.
Movies Under the Stars: The Boss Baby: Family Business in Cooper Park (Williamsburg)
Saturday September 25th 645-840p. Free. Join NYC Parks and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment for a free film! The Boss Baby: Family Business: This 2021 sequel to the wildly successful 2017 comedy follows the now-adult Templeton brothers who are brought back together after the new Boss Baby requests their help to stop a professor from erasing childhoods worldwide. Rated PG. Know Before You Go: You should arrive by 6:45 p.m. to get your spot for the movie. Please bring your own picnic blanket or chair. Food is OK, but no alcohol or smoking is permitted. All are welcome! See the website for Covid-19 protocols.
See all the Saturday events here.
Sunday September 26th
Celebrate Sukkot at Brooklyn Children’s Museum (Crown Heights)
Sunday September 26th 10a-1p or 2-5p. Tickets: $13 per person (children under 1 free). Did you know that each year on Sukkot, Jewish people all over the world build temporary shelters called sukkahs and welcome friends and neighbors to join them inside for meals and festivities? This year, we welcome you to join us as we celebrate Sukkot with music, stories, and more! Take a walk through our rooftop sukkah to learn all about the holiday’s origins and how people celebrate today in Brooklyn and around the world. Go to the website for Covid-19 protocols & to purchase tickets.
Fifteenth Annual Brooklyn Children’s Book Fair at Brooklyn Museum
Sunday September 26th 11a-4p. Free. Location: Plaza on Eastern Parkway. The annual Brooklyn Children’s Book Fair has returned! Bring your family and join us outdoors on the plaza to meet thirty of your favorite Brooklyn authors and illustrators as they share their latest books. This free event features storybooks, picture books, and graphic novels—including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry—for book lovers from preschool through the middle grades. Throughout the day, children can enjoy a chat with an author or illustrator, get a book signed, and have fun with chalk drawing. This event takes place outdoors. To enter the building, all visitors 12 and older must show proof of vaccination and a valid I.D. Masks are required regardless of vaccination status. See the website for information on the Book Fair participants.
Film Forum Jr. Matinee at the Film Forum (Lower East Side)
Sundays at 11a until December 12th. TICKETS $11.00, $9.00 for members. Advance tickets on sale at the box office and online. Most programs appropriate for ages 5 and up. Classics For Kids and Their Families! Those 12 years of age and older must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Children 11 years of age and younger are required to wear a mask while at Film Forum. Sunday September 26th: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory ~ Reclusive candyman Willy Wonka is ready to open the doors of his magical factory – cost of admission: one golden ticket. Hidden in the wrapping of his famous candy bars, children across the world clamor for one of just five tickets, and as the winners trickle in, no one is more surprised than poor boy Charlie Bucket. But what happens when Wonka’s “world of pure imagination” is more than what they bargained for? Scripted by Roald Dahl (adapting his own book), and starring Gene Wilder in his most iconic role. DCP. Approx. 100 min.
The Rock and Roll Playhouse at Brooklyn Bowl (Williamsburg)
Sundays doors 11a, show 12n until October 31st. Tickets: $12 + fees. Purchase tickets here. The Rock and Roll Playhouse, a family concert series hosted at historic music venues across the country, allows kids to “move, play and sing while listening to works from the classic-rock canon” (NY Times). Performing songs created by the most iconic musicians in rock history, The Rock and Roll Playhouse band offers its core audience of families with children age ten and under games, movement, stories and an opportunity to rock out in an effort to educate children and explore their creativity. The Rock and Roll Playhouse is an early and often first introduction to a child’s lifelong journey with live music and rock and roll. See you at the show! This concert for kids and families shares the music of the artist named above with a new generation of music lovers, but is not associated with or endorsed by the artist. All children must be accompanied by a parent or adult caregiver. The Rock and Roll Playhouse knows that little ears are sensitive, so we turn down the volume at our shows. September 26th: Music of The Beatles for Kids and More
Story Time with FDNY Veteran Brenda Berkman at DiMenna Children’s History Museum (UWS)
Sunday September 26th 2p. Tickets: $6 kids (5-13) & $22 adults, free, Members and ages 4 and under. Ticket price includes Museum admission; recommended for ages 5 and up. Join us for a special Sunday Story Time to meet FDNY veteran and 9/11 first responder Brenda Berkman. Learn all about Berkman’s inspiring fight for women to have a fair shot at being a firefighter in Jess Rinker’s book Send a Girl! The True Story of How Women Joined the FDNY. A Q&A and book signing will follow. This program will take place in person. Capacity limits, vaccination proof plus matching ID (for those ages 12 and up), and mask requirements apply.
See all the Sunday events here.
All Weekend
The Amazing Maize Maze at Queens County Farm Museum
Fridays 12n-430p, Saturdays-Sundays 11a-430p until October 30th and also Monday October 11th 11a-430p. Advance tickets: $12 and $8 for ages 4-11y (free for ages 3 and under). Purchase tickets here. Andy Warhol’s Cow at Queens Farm? This year The Amazing Maize Maze celebrates the genius of Andy Warhol’s pop art in NYC’s only corn maze. The adventure begins with a Stalk Talk to prepare you for the 3-acre challenge of finding clues, solving puzzles, and making your way to Victory Bridge where the full vista of Warhol’s Cow is revealed.
95th Annual the Feast of San Gennaro (Little Italy)
Daily until Sunday September 26th at various. Free to attend. Location: Mulberry Street. The Feast of San Gennaro 2021 in Little Italy, NYC runs from Thursday September 16 through Sunday September 26. See the website for the schedule of events. The Feast celebrates the life of San Gennaro of Naples who was Bishop of Benevento, Italy and was martyred in 305AD. We’re happy to announce that our Grand Marshall for the 2021 Feast of San Gennaro is is NYC Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro. In honor of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 this year’s feast is in honor of all of our First Responders and their families!
Family Discovery Days at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Fridays & Saturdays 1030a-1230p and also Wednesdays until October 30th (no programs Saturday, October 9). This is a drop-in program for families with children of all ages. Free with Garden admission. Use your senses to explore plants, create nature art, and pot up a plant to take home! Visit the Hamm Children’s Learning Courtyard inside the Discovery Garden for hands-on activities alongside BBG staff. On Saturdays, learn about birds with teens from the Garden Apprentice Program. All programs are outdoors and canceled in inclement weather. Check this webpage for updates. Please note that face coverings are required for all BBG program participants under 12 and those who are not fully vaccinated. Advance tickets are strongly recommended. Purchase tickets here.
Green Meadows Farm: Pumpkin Picking Weekends at Aviator Sports and Events Center
Saturdays-Sundays 11a-5p until October 31st and also Monday October 11th 11a-5p. Admission: $12 per person age two and above. Register here. Make your plans to enjoy a Fall day of farm fun. Visit Green Meadows Farm-friendly animals, have fun on the hayride, pick your own pumpkin, and be delighted by their Fall decorations. Your $12 admission per person includes: free pumpkin, fun hayride, sit on 10 different tractors, BIG!! BIG!! Bulldozer to Operate, bumpy roller slide, Milk “Katie” the Cow, Play in our huge Farm Playground, Plenty of Picnic Tables and so much more! Extra charge: Animal Feed.
Rumpelstiltskin at Puppetworks (Park Slope)
Ongoing Fridays 1230p and Saturdays-Sundays 1230p & 230p until October 31st. Tickets: Children $10 each, Adults $11 each. Suggested for 4 and up. Rumpelstiltskin from the Brothers Grimm (1823) adapted for Marionettes by Nicolas Coppola. Call for reservations: 718-965-3391 or e-mail to: puppetworksinfo@gmail.com. Masks required to protect the unvaccinated (especially children).
Putting Green Mini Golf (Williamsburg)
Mondays-Wednesday 12n-8p, Thursdays-Sundays 10a-8p. Admissions: $10 adults, $5 kids/seniors (Wednesdays before 5p & Saturdays before 1p $5 adults, $2 kids/seniors). All profits will be donated to local nonprofit organizations addressing climate change in NYC. PUTTING GREEN is an 18-hole mini golf course open to the public on the waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This neighborhood pop-up is designed to showcase the problems and solutions for some of the most pressing climate change issues facing our planet. Each of the 18 holes has been designed by a community partner, including artists and designers, community and school groups, environmental advocacy organizations and public agencies. See website for all the details.
Tall Ship Wavertree at South Street Seaport
Open Friday-Sundays 11a-5p through October 2021. The permanently-moored 1885 tall ship Wavertree will be open to the public for FREE with timed entry, from at Pier 16 (Fulton and South Streets). Visits will be self-guided along a set route and will include access to the main deck and quarter deck. Learn how people worked and lived aboard a 19th century cargo sailing vessel, from the captain to the ship’s officers, cooks, and crew. Then visit the cargo hold and stand atop the viewing platform where you can take in the massive main cargo area.The Museum will allow no more than 150 guests on board the ship at any time to encourage social distancing from different households. All guests above the age of 2 will be required to wear a face covering at all times aboard Wavertree and at the Museum’s pop-up gift shop. Reserve tickets here.
Free Bike Mornings on Governors Island
Mondays-Fridays 10a-12n. Free. Blazing Saddles offers bikes, surreys, pedal cars, scooters and more for rental. Free Bike Mornings allow visitors to borrow a bike from Blazing Saddles for free for up to one hour every weekday between 10 AM and noon. Come visit Blazing Saddles at the north end of Colonels Row and bike the Island! This year you need a reservation for the ferry. See the website for all the details.
The Yard – Adventure Playground on Governors Island
Saturdays-Sundays 12n-4p. Free. Welcome back to The Yard, New York City’s only adventure playground! The Yard offers free weekend play with Covid safety protocols in place. The Yard is a kids-only space recommended for young people ages 6 to 18, stewarded by trained playworkers. The Yard supplies young people with loose parts materials for building, exploring, imagining and destroying. Rules and more information: No more than 35 children at a time will be allowed in The Yard. Children must be over 5 years old. Masks are required. Shoes: Closed-toe shoes are required. play:groundNYC has a limited selection of loaner shoes on site. See the website for the waiver.
Urban Farm Exploration Days! in Randall’s Island Park
Saturdays-Sundays 10a-4p until October 17th. Free. Explore the Randall’s Island Urban Farm’s variety of crops, rice paddies, fragrant herbs, and meet the chickens too! All ages welcome!
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 December 5, 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. Worlds Beyond Earth at the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater is now open with limited seating to maintain health and safety. See all the details here.