The Big Apple offers attractions and outdoor recreational activities appropriate to every age group and every interest. You can keep the kids fit and healthy while walking through Central Park and its many attractions, playing sports like basketball or golf at Chelsea Piers Sports Complex and visiting the amusement park or museum at Coney Island.
Sports Activities
Kids can participate or take lessons in 17 sports and fitness activities at 28-acre Chelsea Piers Sports Complex on Manhattan's Hudson River. Sporting options include classes covering fundamentals of golf at Chelsea Piers Golf Club, public skates at the Sky Rink or the drop-in programs at the Field House, where youth can choose from rock climbing, soccer, gymnastics, baseball and basketball. You'll find 11 skate parks within the city's five boroughs that offer boarders an opportunity to work on and perfect their flips, ollies and other skateboard tricks. Four of these are located in the Bronx, including the 10,000-square-foot River Avenue Skate Park, which features ledges, benches, banks, stairs and rails.
Central Park
According to New York City Parks and Recreation, Central Park is not only the first public park built in America, but it's also one of the most visited "with over 25 million guests per year." Outdoor recreational opportunities include 6 miles of multi-use trails, two ice rinks and tennis courts. Central Park is also home to attractions such as Belvedere Castle and the Central Park Zoo. You can view penguins and polar bears at the Polar Circle exhibit, see the big cats at the Allison Maher Stern Snow Leopard Exhibit, bark with the sea lions and walk the nature trail at Tisch Children's Zoo. Younger children can jump, slide and swing at one of Central Park's 21 playgrounds.
Coney Island Attractions
A historic landmark, Coney Island is a New York City neighborhood with more than 50 amusement park rides, including the world-famous Cyclone, museums and attractions such as the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, the Ringling Bros. Circus, as well as Coney Island's notable boardwalk. Though the beach and boardwalk are open all year round, the rides and attractions are seasonal, operating between Memorial Day and Labor Day. During the summer months, you can watch the fireworks sponsored by the Cyclone and Deno's Wonder Wheel Park. Coney Island is also home to the 14-acre New York Aquarium, where kids can touch sea stars, view moon jellies and flower hat jellies at the Alien Stingers exhibit or discover the aquatic wonders of a coral reef at Glover's Reef and Conservation Hall.
Historic Sites
Walk or bike across the Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, which connects the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan. You can take the ferry to Liberty Island to view the Statue of Liberty up-close and then stop at Ellis Island to visit where 12 million immigrants first set foot on American soil. A tour of New York City wouldn't be complete without a visit to Ground Zero, the World Trade Center site. Walking tours, as well as audio tours are available around the perimeter of the site and the WTC Tribute Center's galleries display images and artifacts that illustrate the events of 9/11. Kids can have fun at the whispering gallery in historic Grand Central Terminal. The acoustics of the low arches can make a whisper sound like a shout in the dining concourse of this terminal.
As Seen On TV
Take the kids on a walking tour of New York City TV and movie landmarks, including the Palace Hotel seen regularly on "Gossip Girl," the manhole cover from the movie "Enchanted" and St. Patrick's Cathedral seen in "Spider-Man." Several tour companies offer walking tours of famous New York City landmarks, as well as celebrity tours highlighting familiar filming locations, celebrity homes and televisions studios. If you plan ahead, you can get free tickets for the taping of a favorite New York-based show. On an evening stroll in the theater district of Manhattan, you can view the neon lights of Times Square and the home of MTV's New York studios at 1515 Broadway.
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