Weekend Planner: January 13-16

Contributing Writer: Elizabeth Raymond

It’s a long weekend for
most, thanks to the man that dared to dream big. We’ve scoped out some of the
MLK Jr. events that are geared towards fams, plus a really
cool SpaceFest and family-friendly fun day at the Museum of Arts and Design. —

FRIDAY

Unleash your child’s inner Project Runway at the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center in Central Park
with an afternoon of nature-inspired printmaking.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

Catch the shadow-collecting tale of Miss
Ophelia as she makes her New Victory Theater premiere in a limited
three-day run. Homespun puppetry is sure to dazzle!

SATURDAY-MONDAY

Head to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum for a MLK Jr. birthday weekend full of activities designed
to teach and inspire kids. Learn about different cultures,
tolerance and harmony with fun crafts and inspirational presentations.

SATURDAY

After learning how to play the new Ninjago LEGO game, LEGO maniacs will then
have an opportunity to battle it out with other gamers under the watchful eye
of the Scholastic Store’s own sensei.

Check out cool 3D cities inspired by The Sims. On display at the Sony Wonder Lab, talented 7th and
8th graders created these urban models as part of the Future City Competition.

The whole family will go MAD over a day designed just for them, from the
awe-inspiring works of contemporary Korean artists to an energetic dance
workshop, the Museum of Arts and Design is the place to be.

Head to the Scandinavia House’s Luminous Modernism Workshop where children can get
versed in all-things Nordic architecture. Kids will design their own buildings
to show off their newfound knowledge of the Dragon Style.

Fish that think they can fly? Prepare for an uproarious time at Symphony Space
this Saturday as Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke entertain you with their quirky and
upbeat tunes. The accompanying four-piece band is just an added bonus!

SUNDAY

The 92Y Tribeca hosts Jeremy Plays Guitar for a musical morning sure to get everyone
moving.

At the Studio Museum in Harlem, children can create portrait collages embodying who
they want to be in the New Year.

Ages 5-10 can sample dance classes in everything from salsa to ballet at The PeriChild
Program Kids Dance Fair.

Bring the whole fam to the famed Gotham Comedy Club for some hilarious
acts (by kids!) on those pesky resolutions we never end up keeping.

At the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, young citizens will brainstorm how to make a
difference in their schools and communities, just like MLK Jr. did, and create
their own Make A Difference Pledge.

For a day that is out of this world, bring the kiddos to SpaceFest at The American
Museum of Natural History. Don’t miss stargazing, storytimes and a guest appearance
by astronomer, Ted Williams.

MONDAY

Take in the sights and sounds of historic Harlem with the Big Onion Walking Tour on MLK Day. Sample some treats along
the way!

Catch a 60-minute family stage presentation on the extraordinary life
of Zora Neal Hurston at the New-York Historical Society, for ages 7 and up.

For even more events
and activities this weekend and beyond, check out our Family Calendar.

And if you haven’t already, click
here to register for our free weekly newsletter which features our favorite
events to enjoy every weekend in the city and beyond.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jocelyn Chase for MAD

The Ailey School – First Steps and Bounding Boys

<blockquote style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;"> <div dir="ltr"> <div class="m_-3740164643787738207m_4977048992707393770WordSection1"> At The Ailey School, FIRST STEPS offers a structured creative movement curriculum that allows girls (ages 3-6) and boys (age 3), to develop body awareness and control and learn the basics of dance technique. BOUNDING BOYS (ages 4-6) provides a more athletic experience, and an energetic approach to teaching dance skills. </div> </div> </blockquote>

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;

Dance Workshop - NY

Nestled in the heart of the UES, Dance Workshop is a community-focused studio committed to dance education in a loving and safe environment. Dance Workshop offers Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip-Hop, Musical Theatre and Acro for ages 2+. They also offer a Pre-Professional Company track for dancers interested in taking their technique to the next level. Trial classes may be scheduled with the studio at the start of the season. Dance with Dance Workshop! MaryAnn Grasso founded Dance Workshop in 1979. Her daughter Nanci later joined her at the helm and in 2016 established Dance Workshop on the Upper East Side of NYC. MaryAnn and Nanci have devoted their lives to dance education, community and the development of children; raising dancers and sound human beings alike. Dance Workshop has seen thousands of dancers pass through the doors. They believe dance has the power to elevate and change lives!