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Kids, Tweens, Teens, and the Parents Who Struggle to Entertain Them

Serve cotton candy at a BBQ, go to a skate park, and ride the newest roller coaster.

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THE AGENDA IF THEY ARE IN ...
Attend storytime at the MoMA Sculpture Garden’s Thursday-morning series in July featuring prize-winning kids’-book authors and illustrators.   Grade School
Cultivate tomatoes and strawberries in Rockefeller Park with Battery Park City’s Young Sprouts gardening program.   Grade School
Check out Hoboken’s kid-friendly outdoor movie series (i.e., March of the Penguins, Wallace and Gromit, etc.). At Pier A Park on Wednesday nights in August.   Grade School

  Middle School
Do cannonballs at the West Village’s Tony Dapolito Recreation Center Pool, one of the few in town with a diving board.   Grade School

  Middle School

  High School
Take them to see writer-god J. K. Rowling’s reading at Radio City (Stephen King and John Irving will also appear) August 1 and 2.   Grade School

  High School
Pollinate human-size flowers at the New York Botanical Garden’s “The Buzz About Bees” program, offered every day (free on Wednesdays).   Grade School
Feign parental courage in the face of terrifying Burmese pythons and spitting cobras at the Museum of Natural History’s “Lizards & Snakes: Alive!” exhibit, which opens July 1.   Grade School
Buy a cotton candy maker from Dylan’s Candy Bar and serve the pink fluffy treat at a BBQ.   Middle School
Register (before July 10) for the Friends of the High Line’s Children’s Photo Project: Kids get disposable cameras to shoot the neighborhood, and showcase the results at Chelsea Market.   Middle School
Watch the Staten Island Yankees take on the Met-affiliated Brooklyn Cyclones on July 5 and 7. While you’re there, check out the Staten Island Museum’s exhibit of over 100 baseball-card-inspired works.   Middle School
Drop off your riders at Rockaway Beach’s right-on-the-ocean skate park. Warning: They’ll want to go back. Every day. With their friends.   Middle School
Propose the “marine teen” internship at the New York Aquarium. It sounds dorky, but they’ll get to handle undersea creatures, and put something esoteric on their college application.   Middle School

  High School
Ride the wild new wooden roller coaster, El Toro, at Six Flags Great Adventure.   Middle School
Sign ballers 8 to 18 up for the three-on-three Hoop It Up basketball tournament on Water Street August 5 and 6.   Middle School
Don’t miss Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Will Ferrell’s NASCAR spoof, opening August 4.   High School
Suggest this for their first date: A pedalboat ride around the lake in Prospect Park. Get shot down, and go with your husband instead.   High School
Let them see Kelly Clarkson (July 12 and 13) and Ashlee Simpson (July 23) at Jones Beach, unchaperoned. Maybe.   High School
Make two stops at Coney Island: first, batting cages; second, “Shoot the Freak” booth with a paintball.   High School

Summer Stuff for Kids, Tweens, Teens, and Parents
• Agendas for Grade Schoolers and Up
• Build a Six-Figure Tree House
• The City’s Best, Kid-Tested Vanilla Cones
• Child-Friendly Destinations That Don’t Suck for Parents
• Music You Won’t Fight Over in the Car

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