Free Toddler Activities on the Upper East Side

Here is a list of FREE things to do with your children if you live on the Upper East Side… so if you don’t have enough money to have a nanny, and also pay for preschool (which is only from 9-2 so you need your nanny anyway), join the kid gyms, art annexes, and indoor farms, this is the list for you! I must give credit to my wonderful nanny who totally understands that I am not a human ATM and on her own she discovered tons of things to do with Toddler T to keep them both busy, active and entertained.

On Mondays and Wednesdays the 96^th Street Public Library has kid friendly activities. Monday is picture book time for kids at 4PM. This program is for 18 months+ so T fits right in. If your kids are 3+ then check out the Preschool Stories and Films at 10:30AM and 11:15AM. The full calendar of events can be found on their website. http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/5/calendar

(Located on 96^th street between park and lex)

Nolen Library

T and our nanny regularly head to the MET – Metropolitan Museum of Art -for Toddler Story time in Nolen Library. They usually have this program Monday-Friday, so check out what works for you! The program is from 10:30AM-11AM and you do not need to pay to get into the Museum. Bring a print out of the schedule saying this, because the people manning the admissions desks turned our nanny away once because they were ignorant and a little entitled. Don't worry, it only happened once! Also, for now the MET is actually suggested donation, so if you want to explore the museum with your kiddo, pay a dollar, or a quarter – but beware,  I recently read some horrifying news that this might change.

The schedule can be found here http://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/family-programs/storytime-in-nolen-library/toddler-storytime?eid=R042_%7b3152F630-79B5-4653-8BD3-11A1771E91DC%7d_20131030103000&rpp=10&pg=2

The MET is located on 5^th Ave and 82^nd

B&N story time

On Wednesdays, and I mean every single Wednesday because this is the greatest story time of them all, head over to Barnes and Nobles on 86^th street for 10AM story time. It is always a packed house and T always spends a few hours there playing with the toys and all of her story time friends! The story time is fun, interactive and many times they use a large projector so all of the kids can see the books. There is also story time on Sunday at 11AM but we haven't been yet. For some reason I can’t find mention of the Wed. story time on the website but here it is anyway.

http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2278 (11.7 update: I now know why there is no mention of Wed. story time on the website - It has been put on hold until Jan 2014.) 

Located on 86^th between Lex and 3^rd

If you live or are hanging out a little further down near FAO Schwarz. They also have story time which takes place at 11AM and 3PM Monday- Friday and 11AM, 1PM and 3PM on Saturday and Sunday. http://www.fao.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=10829617

Located on 5th Avenue and 58th St.

Ok, I know all of the above write-ups are about story time! What can you do, it seems like it is the one kids friendly activity everyone is willing to do for free. But story time is always different, educational, social and indoors -and boy is it starting to get cold out- so hip hip hooray for story time! We LOVE listening to books being read and then we come home and read some more!

For non-story time free options- go to one of the zillion cute NYC parks or your local PETCO which we like to call our “free zoo”.  We live close to a Petco so when it is too cold or we don’t have enough time to go to the real zoo, we head to the little zoo to see aminals (as T would say). T loves fishes and our Petco has a lot of them, and birdies, and mice, and bunnies and chinchillas so it is perfect for a quick aminal fix! Find out where your local “zoo” is and I know your kid will love it! Go to http://www.petco.com/ to check find a store near you.

FISHIES!

Our family actually has zoo member ship, and I’ll blog soon about why it is by far one of the most worthwhile things to get if you have young kids and live nearby!  There are a few other gems I'm willing to pay for and I'll let you know about those too.