Toddlers

Get out

The Children’s Museum of the Arts offers Wee-Arts Early Childhood drop-in classes for youngsters ages ten months to three years and their drowsy adults. Tots can mess around with art supplies to their heart’s content—and someone else cleans it up! The class includes storytime, sing-alongs and drumming. Let the dissonant white noise drown out all your worries. $22 per family (group of three). Wed, Thu, Fri 10:45–noon.

FREE The friendly folks at the Heart of Brooklyn organization offer free bus tours of the borough’s cultural highlights—no walking required. Tours leave three times a day each Sunday from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fifth Ave at 82nd St) or Bryant Park (42nd St between Fifth and Sixth Aves), bound for the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Prospect Park Zoo and other destinations. The thing to remember is that you don’t have to get off at any of the stops (buses travel in a continuous loop, so you’ll eventually end up back where you started). If your child is perfectly happy looking out the window and listening as the guide describes the venues, you can keep your bottom parked in your seat and wave good-bye to your new friends from Dubuque as they disembark. heartof brooklyn.org

FREE Back in 1970, the New York Public Library’s landmark Fifth Avenue building closed its children’s room. Luckily for tuckered-out parents, a new NYPL Children’s Center opened there last Thanksgiving. The spot has comfy couches, bean bags and kid-sized chairs, plus computers for checking e-mail, loads of books and—this is the clincher—storytime. Every Thursday at 11am, someone else will read tales and sing songs with your tot while you rest your weary bones. Many branches of the NYPL and the Brooklyn Public Library (brooklynpubliclibrary.org) also offer storytimes; check out their calendars online. Enter from 42nd St at Fifth Ave (212-621-0208, nypl.org).

FREE The World Financial Center is home to multinational corporations and a bustling mall, but it’s also a great place to spend lazy time with your little tax credit. The aptly named Winter Garden features a toddler favorite: lots and lots of shallow steps. Stay put and watch your little one climb up and down the amphitheater or run around the enormous open space. Arts performances frequently pop up; this month, check out short dances by the avant-garde Third Rail Project (Feb 2–27, Mon–Fri at 1pm). When hunger strikes, P.J. Clarke’s, Financier Patisserie and other options are close at hand. If all else fails, challenge wee fusspots to form a search party for Boomerang Toys. worldfinancialcenter.com

Stay-at-home games

Can’t even make it out the door? Try taping a length of butcher paper to a wall. (Out of butcher paper? Tape up every piece of junk mail you can find.) Hand out washable crayons or markers, and commission a mural. Lie on the couch and tell your mini Chagall to enjoy himself while he can because you’d never put the paint job at risk like this after eight hours of sleep. Butcher paper: $30 for a huge roll at discountschoolsupply.com; washable crayons/markers: crayolastore.com

Remember that nice retired couple who light up when they encounter your kids in the elevator? Now is the time to mine this precious yet underutilized resource. Invite them over for a playdate. Unlike that kid in 3F, they won’t smear bodily fluids on your furniture, and they will thank you profusely on their way out.

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Toddlers | Preschoolers | Grade-schoolers | Tweens | Mixed ages

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