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Free Fun Friday: Family Events that are fun for Mom and Dad too

8/1/08 - By Anna Fader

200808010040.jpgWe all know you secretly sing along to Laurie Berkner, but that doesn't mean you don't occasionally enjoy real grown up entertainment. This week our family friendly activities really are fun for the whole family, focusing on stuff that the grown ups will enjoy for themselves, but we think cool NYC kids will love too.

The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival. What a great way to set the stage and introduce your kids to Chinese culture and the Olympics! This weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, enjoy two days of dragon dances, martial arts performances, and arts and crafts tent including Chinese calligraphy, rice doll making, paper cutting and other crafts. Plus of course the dragon boat races!

Here's the perfect family event, in my book:

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Celebrate Brooklyn's Music and Movies. On Friday, August 1, Carl Davis will conduct three terrific, original scores (I heard snippets on NPR) that he faithfully composed to three early Charlie Chaplin shorts. Two Boots is selling picnic dinners and movie snacks (full dinner about $10). The kids get short films and picnicking and outdoors, you get live classical music and to be out after dark doing something fun and relatively grown-up. Admission is free, but a $3 donation is suggested.

If you need to stick to more kid-centric family activities, Celebrate Brooklyn's Family Concert is on Saturday, August 2. Father Goose, The Sippy Cups and Joan Osborne (of "What if God Was One of Us?" fame and who now has a children's album inspired by her own foray into motherhood) will be performing kid music that youll definitely be humming along to.

Here's another great family event if you've got really cool kids (and I know you do). Central Park's Summerstage performance tonight, Friday August , will feature Dance Brazil with a kinetic Afro-Brazilian style based on Capoeira, the Brazilian gymnastic martial arts form. Also performing will be Max Pollack and RumbaTap, which melds, Latin, Jazz, tap and body percussion. I think cool kids will be mesmerized by the fun, gymnastic energy and movement of both these performances.


Could the movie The Red Balloon be any more magical? How about watching it for free, outdoors Against the darkened East River at Socrates Sculpture Park? The film is only 34 minutes, and begins at 7PM so you can still get the kiddies home at a decent hour. Or if they fall asleep, stay for Persepolis. Socrates Sculpture Park, Wednesday, August 6.

About the Author

Anna Fader

Founder of Mommy Poppins

A fourth-generation Brooklynite, Anna started Mommy Poppins in 2007 to help families find the best things to do with kids in NYC, with a particular emphasis on sharing activities that are free, affordable, and enriching. The site, used by millions of families, has grown to become the ultimate resource for parents in the major US cities, plus travel guides for 100s of destinations.

Anna is a believer in the magic of summer camps, traveling with kids, and that you can raise kids on a budget and still have a rich life full of amazing memories. Anna's first Mommy Poppins book, The Young Traveler's Journal and Activity Book, published in 2025 and co-written with her daughter, Amelia Eigerman, brings that ethos to life, in addition to this website.

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