Travel with children in New York
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Travel with children
For youngsters, there are plenty of attractions of special appeal which will also fascinate accompanying grown-ups. Everyone enjoys a post-concert tour backstage at Radio City Hall, or finding out how the sound effects are made at the NBC.
The Children’s Museum of Manhattan (Manhattan Uptown) is full of high-tech wonders. The accent is on self-discovery and there are enough hands-on experiences to keep children under 12 happily occupied for hours. Brooklyn also has a children’s museum.
Coney Island, one of the world’s most famous seaside resorts – though heavily populated in summer – has an amusement park (open weekends only) with roller coaster, rides and games, a boardwalk, an extensive beach and a popular line in hot dogs from Nathan’s. It is worth visiting even in winter, as the New York Aquarium, with its thousands of exotic fish, is open all year (Brooklyn).
The Children’s Zoo in Central Park, where the residents are mainly pets and farm animals, also has exciting places to scramble over and through. The newly renovated Central Park Zoo includes an undercover tropical rainforest, with monkeys, reptiles and birds, and a Polar Circle, with polar bears and penguins (Central Park). Some sort of free entertainment, such as clowning or conjuring, often goes on in the park, and there is an area where the ‘Frisbee rules OK’. On Saturday mornings, model boats are raced on the Conservatory Water, and on summer weekends, storytelling sessions are held by the statue of Hans Christian Andersen.
The Bronx Zoo has one of the largest animal collections in North America, with a Skyfari cable car and a Bengali Express monorail providing a great view of some habitats (Bronx).
Back in Manhattan, at the World Financial Center, make sure the children experience the two-part ‘listening sculpture’ in the Courtyard, where a whisper in one section is clearly heard across the room in another (Downtown).
The Staten Island Ferry is now free for the round trip, and there are three-hour sightseeing cruises around Manhattan Island run by Circle Line at various prices.
Few children can resist a good toy shop. FAO Schwarz on Fifth Avenue/58th Street will bowl them over, just ask Tom Hanks (remember Big?). The staff, in fancy costumes, provides a big welcome, and the stock is awesome and fascinating.
The Toys’R’Us in Times Square has a full-size indoor Ferris wheel as well as the usual generous supply of children’s goods.
Insects and reptiles, dinosaur bones and a giant stuffed whale are on show at the American Museum of Natural History, and the next best thing to a personal visit to the moon can be arranged at the neighbouring Hayden Planetarium (Uptown).
New York’s subways and buses are free for children under the age of five. Babysitting services can usually be arranged through your hotel, or through such agencies as The Baby Sitters’ Guild (60 E 42nd St, tel: (212) 682 0227).
