Events: Top Kid-Friendly Activities For The Week

Watch top riders at the Central Park Horse Show. Photo via chronoofhorse.com

By Gavriella Mahpour & Tiffany Lu

This weekend is so jam-packed with stellar events that we had a difficult time choosing just five. Check one out, or, if you’re feeling ambitious, we dare you to try them all! Without further ado, here’s what’s happening for families in the city.

Thursday, September 18-Sunday, September 21

Central Park Horse Show
Trump Skating Rink, Central Park
Various times
Saddle up, and get ready for the Central Park Horse Show to make its inaugural debut this week! This outdoor equestrian sporting event will showcase some of the best show jumpers and riders in the world at the Trump Rink in Central Park. Daily exhibitions and competitions (including the Rolex Central Park Grand Prix) will feature different breeds and disciplines as well as a dressage showcase. Additionally, 50 percent of the matinee tickets will be donated to local children’s groups in order to broaden their exposure to equestrian sport. Tickets start at $32.65.

Saturday, September 20-Sunday, September 21

World Maker Faire
New York Hall of Science
Sat.: 10am-7pm, Sun.: 10am-6pm
At the 5th annual World Maker Faire, makers will be sharing everything from robotics to food-making to DIY crafting in what has become the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth. Be sure to buy a ticket and drop by to learn what innovations are shaping the future and meet the people behind them. Tickets start at $17.50 for children and $32.50 for adults.

Queens County Fair
Queens County Farm Museum
11am-6pm
Take the family out to the 32nd Annual Queens County Fair for a whole day of authentic county fair traditions like a corn maze, pie eating- and cornhusking-contests, pig races, hayrides, carnival rides, games, circus entertainment, kids’ crafts, live music, and more! Admission is $9 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under.

Sunday, September 21

Brooklyn Book Festival
Brooklyn Borough Hall
10am-6pm
Calling all book lovers! The place to be this Sunday is the Brooklyn Book Festival at the Brooklyn Borough Hall. All ages can listen to author readings, enter contests, participate in a “Where’s Waldo” search, hear from authors during book discussions, make a flag book, and much more. This event will be held rain or shine. Admission is free.

Street Fair & Celebration: New York On Location
Kaufman Astoria Studios, Museum of the Moving Image and the surrounding streets in Astoria, Queens
11am-5pm
Go behind-the-scenes of the motion picture industry with the Museum of the Moving Image, Theatrical Teamsters Local 817, and Kaufman Astoria Studios during New York On Location. This day-long street fair will show visitors how movie magic is created and grant access to star dressing rooms, special effects trucks, hair & makeup trailers, and more. Plus, stunt performers will demonstrate street fighting and other tricks of the trade! Food will be available for purchase on movie catering trucks. Admission is free.

The Language Workshop For Children

After offering both group and private lessons for many years and analyzing the results over&nbsp;time, The&nbsp;Language Workshop for&nbsp;Children, founded&nbsp;in1973, has decided&nbsp;to emphasize private remote lessons at shorter intervals.&nbsp;Our skilled educators&nbsp;will&nbsp;focus their attention exclusively on the&nbsp;unique needs, learning style, and interests of your child.&nbsp;This allows a&nbsp;bond&nbsp;to develop&nbsp;between teacher and student, which&nbsp;has been&nbsp;shown to&nbsp;drastically improve retention.&nbsp; OUR METHOD&nbsp; Developed by the pioneers of language education for children, our programs bring decades of&nbsp;experience to your living room with individualized, active language classes. Each lesson is based on proven methods and materials perfected to capture your&nbsp;child&rsquo;s attention during the ages when he/she absorbs information the fastest. &nbsp;&nbsp; While other online language classes rely on videos for passive learning, we deliver interactive, and engaging lessons with native-fluent teachers. In addition, all our teachers are certified in the Thibaut&nbsp;Technique which has been featured&nbsp;in the New York&nbsp;Times, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, and many other well-respected&nbsp;publications.&nbsp;&nbsp; Our short one-on-one lessons give kids the chance to focus, hear pronunciation clearly, and practice speaking in their target language.  THE PROCESS&nbsp; First, students have a short meeting with our Director&nbsp;Francois&nbsp;Thibaut, in&nbsp;English, with&nbsp;their parent(s)&nbsp;present.&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut&nbsp;will determine&nbsp;the best course of study, including&nbsp;class length and&nbsp;frequency, the&nbsp;right&nbsp;teacher, lesson&nbsp;format and materials (or action games for younger students.) Then the learning&nbsp;begins!&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut will continually check in on your child&rsquo;s learning to assure they are getting the most&nbsp;of&nbsp;their&nbsp;classes.&nbsp; OTHER OFFERINGS&nbsp; We can also help your child prepare for: the French subject tests for SAT, AP &amp; CLEP, the European DELF/DALF, the Canadian TEF and other standardized testing, college entry exams, studying or traveling abroad,&nbsp;cultural changes when moving abroad,&nbsp;and much more!&nbsp; &nbsp;

British Swim School - Long Island

The premier learn-to-swim provider for people of all ages, offering programs for children ages 3-months through adults.&nbsp; British Swim School uses gentle teaching methods and a survival-first approach to help people of all experience levels become safer, stronger swimmers. British Swim School&rsquo;s safe, fun, and effective instructional program has made it the preferred choice for parents and students for over 40 years. Come see the British Swim School difference!

Adventuring Portal

<a name="m_-1473885667065203258__Hlk72147528"></a>Adventuring Portal runs Dungeons and Dragons (D&amp;D) games for kids.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We have created a safe online space for tweens and teens to learn and play D&amp;D. Our D&amp;D Summer Camp session are a one-week experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;Monday &ndash; Friday.&nbsp;&nbsp;Each day will be 3 hours of gaming (with 2 breaks build in).&nbsp;&nbsp;15 total gaming hours for $180.&nbsp;&nbsp;If you have played with us before, you are entitled to 10% off.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Need your kids, nieces or nephews, grand kids or neighbor&rsquo;s kids to be occupied for a bit so you can get work done &amp; take care of your to-do list? Maybe your tween or teen is still a bit isolated and craves connection with their peers? Whether your teen/tween has played D&amp;D before or is brand-new to the experience, this safe space brings players together to have fun and solve problems as a team in ways few other online opportunities do. All our games focus on experiential learning.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Our players leave knowing all the basic game play as well as experiencing: teamwork, bravery, compassion, generosity, negotiation, improvisation, gamer etiquette, strategy, critical thinking, problem solving, cartography and probability - all through online D&amp;D adventuring! We are an inclusive organization and welcome gamers who are LGBTQIA+ and those on any spectrum.&nbsp; All girls&rsquo; groups available.&nbsp; I am a parent, a certified elementary school and middle school math teacher and last summer in the midst of the mess started&nbsp;Adventuring Portal, an&nbsp;online Dungeons &amp; Dragons&nbsp;business&nbsp;for kids. There are so many benefits to playing D&amp;D and I hope you will consider us as a great way for your child to safely socialize, grow as people and have a great time.