Indoor Activities

Places to stay warm with your children outside the home

Winter is the time of the year I am, most likely to watch the clock,, counting down the minutes until bedtime. Underhill playground is the default outing in our household to help pass those minutes on slower days. When it’s cold, wet, and dark- Underhill is clearly less appealing.

This list of indoor activities is broad. Sometimes, you want to schedule something. At other times, you just need to get out of the house and go somewhere warm for free. This list is for all of those scenarios and various age groups. I only focused on locations with availability on Saturdays and Sundays.

I compiled every location into a shared Google Maps list: Kids Indoor Activities. I’ve added notes to each saved location. Keep reading for my full description!

Free Places:

These are my favorite kid-friendly places you can visit without spending money. (Exercise extreme willpower to get out of some of these without spending money.). These are probably less of a destination and more of a way to pass the time.

• Brooklyn Public Library (added most locations to the list)

• Target (City Point or Atlantic Terminal)

• McNally Jackson (great kids’ reading area at City Point)

• Barnes & Noble (Cobble Hill & Park Slope)

• Ikea (kids area is open again)

• Industry City

Indoor Play Areas:

I define an indoor play area as one that is open most of the time during the weekend, and its primary purpose is play or entertainment. (This is contrasted with my drop-in events list below.)

• Flying Apple (I just discovered this one, and I’m very intrigued)- Play area for children ages 1-10

• Brooklyn Children’s Museum

• Ferox Athletics

• Playwell

• Chuck E Cheese

• Kids N Action (closed Saturdays)

• Urban Air

• Discovery Kids

• Fairytale Island

• The Play Lab

• Good Day Play Cafe

• Area53- Adventure Park & Laser Tag- geared towards a bit older, maybe starting at ages 4

• New York Transit Museum

• Shipwrecked- Mini Golf & Arcade geared towards slightly older kids

• Brooklyn Bowl- Family Bowl from 12:30-5 on Saturday and Sunday; Rock & Roll Playhouse concerts on most Saturdays as well.

Membership Based Open Play:

There are a few places with very flexible open play sessions, but a committed membership is required:

• Carnaby House

• Families First

• The Wonder (in Battery Park City)- Expensive but beautiful with lots of weekend programming

Drop-in Classes (or Open Play)

• Kids Town Park Slope- No set weekend schedule; call ahead to check

• NY Kids Club Cobble Hill- Open Play for ages 1.5- 5-year-olds currently on Saturday Morning

• Creatively Wild- Art classes for ages 4-8

• Paper Playground BK- Art classes for ages 4+

• Brooklearn- Drop & Shop, kids night out events for ages 2-7

• Prospect Gymnastics- Open Play on Sunday mornings for kids 1-4 years old

• STEAM Champs- Classes for Ages 5+

• Loop of the Loom- Classes for Ages 6+

• Brooklyn Ballroom Dance- Lessons for Ages 4+

• Lola & Tots- Typically a few hours are available every weekend

• Twinkle Playspace- Saturday & Sunday 8:30-10:30am for children under 6

• Brooklyn Ninja Academy- Saturday & Sunday classes for ages 6+

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Are there others that your family visits? Should I start to incorporate Manhattan into the map or is that too confusing?

-Katie