10 Free Things To Do with Kids in NYC This Winter Holiday Season

New York City’s expensive. And New York City can be a tough place to keep kids entertained if you’re not familiar with all its ins and outs as a parent, especially in wintertime.

So what do you do if you’re visiting New York City with children during the winter holidays and are trying to save money?

Well, you actually don’t have to spend a load of cash — or any at all — to keep the young’uns active and occupied. There are a ton of ways to do with kids in New York for free that’ll wear them out enough to conk out when you get back to your hotel room — and buy you an hour or two to work in a tipple at the bar, finally.

Most of the free activities we suggest involve at least some time outside in New York City in wintertime, so make sure you and your kids are dressed appropriately.

1. Explore Central Park

Central Park is 843 acres of surprisingly bucolic, totally free serenity in the middle of Manhattan, and it deserves all the fame it gets. You could spend days getting intentionally lost in the park and discovering hidden delights like Alice in Wonderland, the picture-perfect Bow Bridge, Belvedere Castle, Sheep Meadow, Shakespeare Garden, the Great Lawn, and Strawberry Fields.

But our goal here is to wear the kids out so they go down easily once their heads hit the pillows back at the hotel, right? So let’s tire them out!

If it’s snowing, buy or borrow a sled from somewhere (ask at the hotel) and take the kids to Pilgrim Hill for sledding. If the water has iced over and you have ice skates with you, go to Conservatory Water (also known as the Model Boat Pond or the “Stuart Little” pond), where the park opens the pond to skating.

And if the kids want to run around, take them to the southernmost part of the park, where you’ll find one of the best playgrounds in New York City. Now a century old, Heckscher Playground, located just north of Central Park South between Sixth and Seventh avenues, runs from 61st to 63rd streets. It incorporates an outcropping of schist called Rat Rock, which kids love to climb on and parents like to rest on and watch over their kids from.

It includes safety surfacing, climbing structures, water play in the warmer months (with separate sections for little kids and big kids), a sandbox, slides, 14 swings, 6 softball fields, and tons of running-around space — which you will have probably noticed is especially rare in Manhattan.

2. Take Advantage of Free Museum, Zoo, and Garden Hours

Many of the most prominent museums and other attractions in New York City offer free admission as often as one day a week or for limited hours every day. In the Bronx, for example, the Bronx Zoo is free on Wednesdays if you make a reservation, and the New York Botanical Garden is free to non-New York City residents from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and free to New Yorkers all day.

In Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum is free on Thursdays after 2 p.m., and the New York Aquarium is free on Wednesdays after 3 p.m. (with a reservation), while the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is pay-what-you-wish on weekdays from December through February.

Many, many Manhattan museums offer free admission for everyone, with some of the bigger ones, including biggies like the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, letting New York state residents pay what they wish.

Queens’ Museum of the Moving Image is free on Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and the New York Hall of Science on Fridays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

In Staten Island, the Staten Island Zoo is free on Wednesdays after 2 p.m.

3. Go Ice Skating in Bryant Park

Throughout the year, Bryant Park (between 40th and 42nd streets and Fifth and Sixth avenues) is full of seasonal activities, like movie nights in the summer. During the winter holidays, it really ramps up the action with a bustling little winter village that includes a carousel and nearly 200 holiday shops and little stands or cafes where you can get steaming hot chocolate, hot apple cider, crepes, or more substantial meals.

However, depending on what your kids like to do and their skill level, the real draw may be the ice skating rink, which is completely free to enter, although you must reserve your time well in advance. Bring your own skates to avoid rental fees, and have someone in your party watch everyone’s belongings to avoid bag-check fees (the shoe check is free).

4. Do the Tourist Thing in Times Square and Rockefeller Center

Accept it: You’re a tourist. So why not steer into the skid and embrace it?

Instead of wearing all black, sneaking into Bushwick, and pretending you’re a local, go all out on cheesy tourist experiences and indulge in all the corny but fun stuff we New Yorkers never get to do. Go to Times Square and take in the madness (without falling for the costumed-character scams, of course) and make yourself sick on milk chocolate M&Ms and Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Or access your inner ’90s “Friends” fan and visit Rockefeller Center to join the out-of-towner throngs at the Christmas tree (you have to pay to get on the ice at this rink). If it’s nippy out, dart downstairs into Rockefeller City’s busy underground city, where you can browse the many shops and rub elbows with the poor, sun-deprived office media workers trying to convince themselves they’re not going to get Ace’s Pizza for lunch for the third time in a row this week.

And you could always make like King Kong and climb to the top of the Empire State Building, looking at the city from the apex of arguably New York’s most iconic building.

Sure, your too-cool-for-school friends now living in the city may roll their eyes, but they’re just jealous they couldn’t take the day off to do it all with you.

5. Go to Free TV Show Tapings

Join that “live studio audience” you’ve heard so much about. You can get into live tapings of most talk shows and late-night TV shows filmed in New York for free, including “Saturday Night Live,” “The View,” “The Daily Show,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” “Today,” “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” “Live With Kelly and Mark,” “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” and more. Each show has different rules about how to obtain tickets (such as SNL’s annual lottery system), so check well in advance of your New York visit.

6. Walk the High Line

This elevated rail line turned public park completely changed the atmosphere and look of much of Manhattan’s west side from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street, and has become a must-do experience since it was opened in 2009, filled with art, artist stalls, greenery, water features, play areas, and great views.

It’s free, and you can come and go as you please, so it’s easy to, say, descend in Chelsea and hop from gallery to gallery for an hour or two (also free) before going back up to the High Line and walking it the rest of the way.

7. Stroll Around in Chinatown and Little Italy

A little taste of old New York still lives on in the more tightly packed and always busy streets and sidewalks of Little Italy and Chinatown, where you and your kids can wander around and take in the little old ladies shopping for fresh mozzarella across the street from overly loud barkers trying way too hard to get you to step inside for an espresso or a brasciole.

It’s all only a couple blocks from fishmongers weighing fish heads with customers in Cantonese, street vendors trying to get you to buy jade or baby turtles, street stalls ladling out noodles or egg cakes, and teahouses, joss paper stores, and dim sum lines all jumbled together in the wonderful chaos of Manhattan’s Chinatown. You don’t have to spend a penny if you don’t want to, including taking in the Chinese New Year festivities, if you’re in New York City at the right time. You’ll probably see a Chinese dragon or two.

By the way, you may notice that the barkers outside the Italian restaurants along Mulberry Street in Little Italy are as forward about getting your business as the Chinatown restaurant workers are indifferent. Don’t let them pressure you into spending money at a Little Italy eatery if you don’t want to — you’re not going to hurt their feelings, and they’ll just shift their attentions to their next potential marks.

8. Take the Staten Island Ferry

Don’t shell out big bucks to show your kids the best views of the Statue of Liberty from the water. Instead, take the Staten Island Ferry, which has been free to all passengers since 1997. It’s about a 25-minute ride between Manhattan and Staten Island, and, yes, there are toilets on board.

9. Walk Over the Brooklyn Bridge

Easily one of the most famous bridges in the world, the Brooklyn Bridge is also basically a massive pedestrian walkway connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn.

In the winter, the weather can make the existing chill even more bracing, so make sure you and your children are bundled up tight and prepared to endure East River winds that haven’t been blocked and slowed down by skyscrapers and trees. Once you’re up there, though, you and the children can feast your eyes on some of the best views of the city, especially at golden hour in the morning and evening.

Budget at least half an hour to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge either way, and you and the kids will likely want to celebrate the crossing with some time in Downtown Brooklyn or Dumbo (if you’re going East) or around City Hall, Chinatown, or the Financial District (if you’re going west).

The Brooklyn Bridge also includes car lanes and bicycle lanes below the pedestrian path, but don’t try to bike across the bridge as a tourist — it’s really not that fun or scenic.

10. Get the Off-Season Coney Island Boardwalk All to Yourself

Most people, including New Yorkers, consider the Coney Island Boardwalk a summertime destination, and it’s true that the obvious attractions, such as the amusement parks and the Brooklyn Cyclones, aren’t open in winter.

But the Boardwalk is always open during the day and fun for (warmly dressed) kids to run along, climb the playgrounds, and explore before visiting the New York Aquarium (which, as mentioned, is free on Wednesday afternoons with a reservation) or Nathan’s Famous (where the hot dogs are not free).

Final Thoughts

Yes, New York City is too expensive. However, you don’t have to spend a fortune — or even a single cent — to keep your children occupied when you visit.

As long as you’ve packed warm jackets, hats, and gloves, you and your kids can spend several days in New York City having the time of your lives entirely for free — and you can spend your nights with the kids sound asleep in their hotel beds while you finally get time to yourself.