Grade-schoolers

Get out

Who’da thunk the New York Hall of Science houses a Sports Challenge on its large upper floor? While you get comfy in one of the race cars, your kids can surf (and learn about balance), rock climb (and get a lesson in friction), pitch balls of different sizes (physics), measure their long jumps (momentum) and race wheelchairs (aerodynamics). When they’re done there, smarty-pants high-school and college students posted around the museum present group demonstrations and offer one-on-one instruction.

Every other Monday at 4pm during the school year, Cobble Hill Cinemas turns into kid heaven, with “Big Movies for Little Kids.” The series organizers, who select classic films from all eras, call it “a gentle introduction” to film history. Parents who intend to doze through the show often find themselves enjoying it as much as the kids do. This month’s screenings are Buster Keaton’s The General on February 9 and Max Fleischer’s feature-length animated version of Gulliver’s Travels on February 23. $6.50. 265 Court St at Butler St, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn (718-596-9113, bigmoviesforlittlekids.blogspot.com)

Never saw a reason to go to Roosevelt Island? One word, my fatigued friend: tramway. Your kids will be thrilled to glide 250 feet in the air. A downside is that the ride lasts only five minutes each way (darn that Swiss ingenuity). But take heart: Once you disembark across the channel, a nifty red bus will carry you and your progeny around the two-mile-long island for a mere 25¢—and kids under ten are free! If necessary, keep the peace with tall tales about the prison inmates on what used to be called Blackwell’s Island. Board at Second Ave between 59th and 60th Sts.

When you think of the Bronx, what comes to mind? If your answer does not involve rolling hills and a river view, then you haven’t beento Wave Hill, a public garden and cultural center built as a country estate in 1843. Teddy Roosevelt and Mark Twain found quiet inspiration there, and you can, too. In its year-round, drop-in family programs (Sat, Sun 1–4pm), arts educators help kids make nature-inspired crafts. Join them in “Tropical Patterns à la Matisse” (Jan 31–Feb 1) and “A Desert Under Glass” (Feb 21–22). Beforehand, on Sundays, fortify your depleted self with brunch in the estate’s formal dining room ($22, 11:30am–1pm). 675 W 252nd St, enter from Independence Ave at W 249th St, Bronx (718-549-3200, wavehill.org). Travel: 1 to 242nd St (free hourly shuttle service between 242nd St station at Broadway and the Garden); or Metro-North’s Hudson Line local to Riverdale. Tue–Sun 9am–4:30pm. $6, seniors and students $3, ages 6–18 $2, children under 6 free. Free Sat 9am–noon and all day Tue.

Stay-at-home games

Wouldn’t it be great if the Good Fairy appeared and whisked your little ones away to summer camp right now? Break out that underused tent and let the kids have a wilderness adventure in the living room. No tent? Let them grab some blankets to throw over a table or chairs. Send in sleeping bags or pillows, water bottles, flashlights, favorite toys and games. Encourage whispering so they don’t “wake up the bears.”

Have last Sunday’s Times on hand? Allow your brood to scrunch the pages into balls and have a newspaper snowball fight.

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

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