Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM)
212 West 83rd Street between Broadway & Amsterdam
New York, NY
Daily 10 am – 5 pm
$16, $13/seniors, free/babies under 1
Explore interactive, educational, well-designed exhibits for babies to pre-teens.
🖼 Assemble, create, peek into, crawl under, and walk through one of a kind sculptures and installations in Inside Art.
🌈 Cross a rainbow bridge, learn Spanish, dance in Dora’s bedroom and imaginative play in the spacious Adventures with Dora and Diego.
🇺🇸 Sit on your own presidential desk and learn what voting is and why it matters and the role of the president of the United States in Right to Vote.
🐦 Step into a playful, comic book version of New York City with a lively team of pigeons, Zip, Zap, and Zoom in Superpowered Metropolis.
💧 In warmer months, splash at (outdoor) water exhibit Dynamic H2O with 800 sq. ft. of of hands-on interactives and colorful graphics.
🎨 Enjoy educator-led experiences and special guest artist including weekly themed art projects, art scavenger hunts, storytime, dance-time & music.
🎟 $100 3-month “mini membership” include unlimited free admission for 2 adults and up to 4 children plus nannies and caregivers, access to members-only hours and events and 15% off purchases at the CMOM Store.
🎟 Families of employees of corporate members (many NYC companies including Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg & American Express) get one year of free admission.
👶 Strollers must be left at the coat check. All of the bathrooms have diaper changing tables.
🌳 Lots of chances for climbing and sliding inside the museum; for outdoor play head a few blocks west to the River Run Playground or a little north to the destination Hippo Playground.
🍽 Nearby, choose from salads, sandwiches, amazing healthy artisanal bread and not-so-healthy pastries at the UWS outpost of the 100+-year-old Orwashers Bakery or indulge at famous French dessert cafe Cafe Lalo.
Kobra Street Art Gandhi & Mother Teresa Mural
Humanitarians Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi Brazilian are depicted facing each other in street artist Eduardo Kobra’s colorful harlequin-pattern mural.
Kobra Street Art Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein is a NY-loving graffitist in street artist Eduardo Kobra’s colorful harlequin-pattern mural.
imagiNATIONS Activity Center
Solve puzzles, perform experiments, play state-of-the-art computer simulations and find out how corn is like a dog in this interactive, family-friendly space. Explore scientific principles behind Native innovations and technologies that are so ingenious, many remain a part of our daily lives.
Krispy Kreme Times Square Flagship
Get hot, fresh addictively delicious doughnuts 24/7 at Krispy Kreme’s Times Square Flagship store. The 4,500 square-foot shop features a doughnut-making theater, a Glazed Waterfall with digital projection, a giant conveyor belt that runs throughout the store and and a doughnut themed seating area. Choose from a variety of flavors, including an exclusive Big Apple Doughnut, filled with a Red Delicious flavored cream and dipped in a sweet, shiny red shimmer mirror glaze.
Strawberry Fields
Visit a unique memorial to the British rock musician and peace activist John Lennon, across from the ornate Dakota building where he lived. His wife, artist Yoko Ono, invited countries from all over the world to contribute plants as well as stones to create an international garden of peace with small meadows lined with trees and shrubs plus a path that winds through a small, wooded area.
Look for flowers and musicians paying tribute at an Imagine mosaic, donated by the city of Naples, Italy and a plaque inset into a rock outcrop acknowledging the countries that made contributions.
Other memorials to musicians in Central Park include statues of Duke Ellington, Victor Herbert, and Beethoven.
Levain Bakery
Everything is baked on-site throughout the day at this legendary bakery, from an array of rustic breads to the world-famous, super-gooey, six-ounce cookies in five flavors: Two Chip Chocolate Chip, Walnut Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip & Oatmeal Raisin (plus a gluten-free chocolate chip option).
Other options include sour cream coffee cake, brioches, whole wheat walnut raisin rolls are also yummy (and a little healthier).
Outposts also in Harlem, the UES, NoHo and Williamsburg.
Daily 7 am – 9 pm
Eataly NYC Downtown
The 40,000 square feet outpost of Italian marketplace Eataly is focused on bread, but you can also find delizioso pizza, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, pasta, rotisserie chicken, chocolate, gelato and (post-pandemic) weekend kids cooking classes.
Choose from five restaurants, nine take-away counters (including gelato), two caffès, and one wine bar. Shop more than 10,000 high-quality imported Italian and local seasonal products spread over the f , including salt, extra virgin olive oil, dried pasta, fresh truffles, aged balsamic vinegar and a mix-and-math Venchi chocolate bar.
Watch fresh pasta shapes, gooey mozzarella cheese and other products being made.
Look for more than 500 signs that tell the story of different products, from ancient tradition to modern place in Italian cuisine, plus a cool pasta shape map of Italy. Shop for kid-friendly kitchenware and books.
Conservatory Gardens
Enter the magnificent 1894 Vanderbilt Gate to Central Park’s only formal garden, a six-acre oasis within an oasis with European charm.
Climb onto the wisteria pergola in the Italianate Center Garden overlooking a yew hedges-bordered large lawn and 12-foot jet fountain. To the north, the French-style garden offers spectacular seasonal displays of tulips and Korean chrysanthemums and a fountain featuring the Three Dancing Maidens sculpture.
In intimate English-style South Garden, Mary and Dickon from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved children’s book The Secret Garden stand at the end of a small waterlily pool, bordered by trees, shrubs, and perennial and annual flower beds.
Friendly gardeners are often planting and happy to chat with young nature lovers.
Cafe Gitane
This bright, friendly French-Moroccan is known for its tasty avocado toast and couscous but we always get the all-day waffles. Table-service, expect waits during peak hours.
Angelina Paris NYC
Travel to Belle Epoque France at an outpost of an iconic Parisian tea room and dessert café founded in 1903.
Get pastries, macarons, the iconic Angelina hot chocolate and the signature Mont-Blanc (meringue, light whipped cream, chestnut cream vermicelli) to go, or sit in the gorgeous dining room for brunch (served all day), afternoon tea, sweet treats and savory brasserie classics: Niçoise salad, Croque-Monsieur, onion soup, or the Angelina Croissant filled with scrambled eggs and cheese, ham, or smoked salmon. Light and modern seasonal dishes, from seasonal vegetable soup to a vegan quinoa salad, include gluten-free and vegetarian options, but the hot chocolate, served in a dramatic presentation, is worth the indulgence.
Keep the Parisian vibes going at Bryant Park across the street.
Monday-Friday 8 am – 8 pm
Saturday-Sunday 9 am – 7 pm
Kitchen closes thirty minutes before close
Alice’s Tea Cup
Enjoy scones in rotating flavors as magical as the decor, sandwiches, salads and treats with optional fairy wings and glitter at a whimsical tea house inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Choose from hundreds of teas served in charming mismatching pots and cups.
Gets crowded on weekends; reservations recommended. Go early to beat the crowds (or take the scones to go for a Central Park picnic).
Also in the East 60s.
Wednesday–Sunday 11 am – 6 pm
Serendipity 3
Get the famous Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, a creamy secret blend of 14 exotic cocoas, and other decadent, over-sized desserts at this legendary restaurant and store with whimsical antique-store-meets-ice-cream-parlor decor. Heraty burgers, foot long hot dogs, mac ‘n’ cheese variations, salads and sandwiches are also available. A favorite of actors, artists and tourists for the last 67-years.
Minimum food or drink purchase of $16.95 per person so bring an appetite – portions are huge.
Daily 11 am – 11 pm