A recent study estimates that the average adult spends about an hour a day waiting for something—the bathroom, the cashier, the bus, you name it. But parents seem to wait around even more than that. Plus we get the added bonus of hearing our kids whine, "I'm bored!" and beg incessantly for our smartphones.

But waiting with your kids doesn't have to be dull. You can turn that downtime into quality family time by finding ways to play together (and no, we're not talking about Candy Crush). Inspired by our series of SUMMER OF PLAY posts, here are 10 no-tech activities to try when you're stuck waiting somewhere—hopefully you won't be there long enough blow through all of them in one go!

With all of the amazing things there are to do with kids in NYC, it's no wonder that a slew of children's books are set right here in the Big Apple. We've written about a bunch of our favorites in the past, and even rounded up kids' books about NYC museums to help families get excited about visiting MoMA, the Met and the Guggenheim.

However, in honor of Children's Book Week (coming up May 12 to 18), we decided to write a new post featuring five history-filled NYC picture books that we hope will inspire enriching family outings. Three of these titles recount real-life NYC events. The other two, though fictional, give a peek at what life was like on the Lower East Side and Upper East Side circa 1900 and 1960, respectively. All are wonderful jumping off points to spark your own NYC adventures.