Your Awesome New York Kids Weekend: July 17-19

These seven fun and easy day trips out of New York City will add adventure to your family’s summer. Take advantage of the warm weather by renting a car, packing a picnic and driving to any of these safe, kid-friendly destinations. Of course, make sure your family is equipped with water bottles, masks, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and any other supplies that will make you feel most comfortable on the road.

Check out these day trip locations out of New York City here!

It’s now sprinkler and water playground season in NYC, which means it’s time to get the kids into their bathing suits and find a city oasis with spewing fountains, water jets, and endless water fun at one of the many water playgrounds and sprinkler parks across NYC. Gear up with some kid-friendly sunscreen and find the nearest “spray ground” right in your neighborhood. Kids will be thrilled and entertained and it’s SUPER cost-efficient. Whether you head for the parks or the beaches, you will definitely have a refreshing summer in New York City when you explore these water playgrounds!

Take a look here at water playgrounds and sprinkler parks in your neighborhood!

Embracing and exploring nature in NYC is a great way to relieve stress, and when it comes to COVID-19, outdoor spaces are a great way to maintain safety guidelines and still be able to have fun and get out of the house. And, while you might not think of wide, open spaces when you think of the concrete jungle, there are actually plenty of places to enjoy nature in NYC throughout its five boroughs. These are some of the best green spaces throughout NYC to take your family on a fun-filled nature adventure! We suggest that you check in with each respective location to make sure you know the safety rules and regulations before heading out so that you can keep your family and your fellow New Yorkers as safe as possible.

See the best place to enjoy nature in NYC During COVID-19 here!

This summer, get out of the house and grab a meal with your family at one of these safe, kid-friendly NYC restaurants with outdoor seating. As New York City goes through the many Phases of its COVID-19 reopening plan, restaurants in all five boroughs are coming up with creative ways to allow customers to eat outdoors, sometimes by building makeshift sidewalk cafes. The 17 kid-friendly locations on this list offer socially-distanced outdoor seating options like gardens and patios that won’t have you and your kids worrying about sidewalk traffic or busy streets. Remember to wear masks and check out each restaurant’s specific rules and guidelines before stopping by!

Check out these kid-friendly NYC restaurants with outdoor seating here!

Berry farms are a great summer activity for the whole family to have fun, embrace nature, and even practice social distancing to ensure safety during this time. There are so many berry farms and stands surrounding NYC where your kids can have the U-pick experience and choose from a variety of delicious, healthy fruits to enjoy.

Check out the best berry farms near NYC here!

Summer is here, but things look a bit different this year. Many traditional summer camps are not operating normally due to the pandemic and necessary safety precautions, but luckily, this wide variety of online summer camps have taken the steps to shift their activities and classes to a virtual platform! Your child can now experience the joy of summer camp right from the computer screen and engage with material that sparks their interest and creativity.

See our full list of online summer camps here!

The Classic Harbor Line (CHL) is actively readying to set sail! Guests can book tickets now with greater ticket cancelation flexibility. Also, there have been many updates to operating practices that guests should review on their website.

Skyline Drive-In NYC is a unique drive-in theater with a view! Now open in Greenpoint and situated on the East River, the outdoor cinema boasts the Manhattan skyline as its stunning backdrop. See what movies they are playing right here!

Bike, hike, and picnic at city parks and beaches. One of our favs is the Newtown Creek Nature Walk, a quarter-mile, self-guided, waterfront nature walk is located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Richly planted with native trees, shrubs and other flora, the Nature Walk revives a long-inaccessible industrial shoreline for public use as a waterfront promenade. City beaches are open for swimming on July 1 and in the meantime, walking, running, exercising, and access to the sand and boardwalk are still permitted during regular park hours.

Photo via Architect Magazine

You’ll need: a tall glass vase or a large bowl, an orange and water

Instructions: fill the container with water, and ask your kids whether they think the orange will float or sink. Why? Are they surprised when it floats? Next, peel the orange, and ask them what might happen when it’s placed back in the water. It sinks! Chances are your kids will be confused by the results.

The orange is being acted upon by two forces: gravity pulls it down and buoyancy pushes it up. Archimedes’ Principle determines the strength of the buoyant force of an object, saying that any object in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. The orange’s peel adds much more volume (so more fluid is displaced) but adds only a small amount of mass to be acted upon by gravity. When the peel is removed, the orange’s volume decreases, so the buoyant force decreases, while the orange’s mass, and thus gravity’s strength, remains the same. This allows gravity to overcome the buoyant force and causes the orange to sink! 

Experiment and Photo via Playdough Plato