Events: Top Kid-Friendly Activities For The Week

Now that Christmas is over, let the countdown to New Year’s begin! As usual, the city is teeming with family-friendly New Year’s Eve daytime and nighttime activities, including a dance party, ball drop, and parade at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan; New Year-themed arts and crafts at the Children’s Museum of the Arts, the NYRR Midnight Run and Fireworks Show in Central Park, and a night of entertainment on Coney Island. For more about these events as well as other New Year’s Eve festivities, click here. Plus, be sure to start off 2016 with a bang by checking out the events below. Happy New Year!

Thursday, December 31

New Year’s Eve Fireworks
Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn
11pm-midnight
Usher in the new year with a New Year’s Eve fireworks show at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn this Thursday night! Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams will be on hand for this annual display geared for families of all ages. There will also be celebratory music by DJ C-Live and the Brooklyn Mash It Up Band and free hot chocolate. Fireworks can also be viewed along Prospect Park West between Grand Army Plaza and 9th Street and along the park’s West Drive. This event is free.

Friday, January 1

New Year’s Day Free Fitness Fair
JCC Manhattan
10am-4pm
Come to the JCC Manhattan for a free day of fitness classes, giveaways, and seminars to help you start 2016 off right! Class options include Zumba, yoga, Trooper Fitness Bootcamp, healthy cooking demos, martial arts, cycling and more.  There’s even a kids’ play space for the littlest ones in your fam. Pre-registration is recommended, but walk-ins are also welcome. This event is free.

Saturday, January 2

Sonia De Los Santos with Special Guest Dan Zanes
Symphony Space
11am
Symphony Space will welcome Sonia De Los Santos to the Leonard Nimoy Thalia stage this Saturday. The Mexican-born singer and musician, who first rose to recognition playing in the Grammy-award-winning group, Dan Zanes and Friends, will celebrate the release of her first solo children’s album, “Mi Viaje: De Nuevo León to the New York Island” with an hour-long concert. Primarily comprised of Spanish-language songs, the record illustrates De Los Santos’ experiences of growing up in Monterrey, Mexico and subsequently moving to the United States. Dan Zanes will make a special guest appearance. Tickets are $15.

Saturday, January 2-Sunday, January 3

Family Program: “Cosmic Colors”
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
11am-12pm
This weekend, discover how astronomers take breathtaking, colorful photos of space at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum’s “Cosmic Colors” family program. Visitors can tour the museum’s “HUBBLE@25” exhibit (closing on January 10), and then paint space objects with help from actual Hubble data. Program runs one hour in length. Free with museum admission; pre-registration is required.

Living History Days: “Ride the Military Railroads!”
New York Historical Society
11am-4pm
Learn all about what it was like for soldiers to ride the railroads during the Civil War when you visit the New York Historical Society this weekend! Company H, the 119th New York State Volunteers, will demo how uniformed soldiers journeyed in railway cars during the 1860s before the American railroad system was completed. Guests can also take a tour of the museum’s annual holiday exhibit, “Holiday Express: Toys and Trains from the Jerni Collection.” Free with museum admission.