Climbing gyms, coding, theater, sports leagues, art programs and museums that work for ages 10 and up. 206 listings.
98 listings
A free Saturday visual arts program for New York City public high school students, held on Cooper Union's East Village campus. Teens take studio classes in drawing, painting, design and more, with portfolio courses for juniors and seniors heading to art school.
A Gilded Age mansion museum filled with old master paintings, sculpture and decorative arts, reopened in 2025 after a major renovation. It suits tweens and teens, who can explore the historic rooms free of charge.
High schoolers spend three or six summer weeks in Cooper Union's engineering school working on hands-on projects such as building a calculator from digital circuits, designing iOS apps, prototyping with Arduino and testing water quality. Classes meet Monday through Thursday.
High schoolers use a fully equipped fabrication and robotics space on the Cornell Tech campus to build competition robots, learn digital design and experiment with prototyping tools. The center has long evening and weekend hours, and membership is free.
The historic Midtown art school offers drawing and painting for kids 8-12 and classes for teens such as figure drawing, materials exploration, comics and portfolio development. No experience or entrance exam is needed.
The historic West Village acting studio founded by Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen offers acting classes for young people alongside its adult programs. Kids and teens work on scene study and performance skills in the same building used by generations of professional actors.
A three-week summer program at the Neighborhood Playhouse where serious high-school actors train in the Meisner technique and related skills. It's designed for teens preparing for college theater programs or conservatory study.
High schoolers with a strong interest in science spend Saturday mornings on Columbia's campus taking college-level courses in subjects across the sciences, math and engineering taught by university scientists. The program runs through the academic year.
At the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, middle and high schoolers join a free Saturday program that uses the archives for research, writing, art and media projects about the history and culture of the African diaspora.
37 listings
Middle and high schoolers take hands-on programs in areas like Arduino electronics, cybersecurity, sustainable city engineering, game design and machine learning, run by NYU's engineering school in Downtown Brooklyn. The flagship ARISE program places high schoolers in university research labs for ten summer weeks.
Pratt's program for high school students offers Saturday art and design classes in fall and spring, one-day workshops, and immersive summer sessions on the Clinton Hill campus. Teens build portfolio work and can earn college credit.
Brooklyn's history museum and library in a landmark Brooklyn Heights building, with exhibits on the borough's neighborhoods, people and waterfront. It offers school programs, teen internships and public talks.
A large nonprofit fabrication space in Sunset Park with wood, metal and digital fabrication shops. It runs K-12 and school programs where young people learn to design and build with real tools.
Teams explore multi-room themed escape games, searching for clues and solving puzzles together before time runs out. The games are pitched at families and first-timers, with hints available when kids get stuck.
A Fort Greene glass art center with a free gallery and store, plus youth glass classes by semester for middle and high schoolers. Week-long summer camps cover glassblowing, bead-making and stained glass, with sliding-scale pricing.
A free after-school music lab for girls and gender-expansive youth where participants learn audio production, songwriting, sampling, film scoring and coding for music. An advanced series digs into mixing, signal processing and interactive media.
A Marine Park studio teaching taekwondo and kickboxing to kids in small groups. Children learn self-defense basics with an emphasis on discipline, and instructors give beginners close attention.
A Bushwick bouldering gym with walls at many angles and serious training boards. Teens 13 and up can join its Youth Training Center team, and minors climb after a parent-signed waiver and an on-site safety orientation.
36 listings
Located in the Far Rockaway library, this free STEM center lets kids 12 and up build robots, learn design software and try fabrication tools during after-school drop-in hours.
Inside Queens Public Library's central branch, middle and high schoolers take robotics and technical workshops and use design and fabrication equipment with guidance from STEM staff. Access is free with an NYC FIRST membership.
This stand-alone teen library gives Far Rockaway teens their own after-school hangout with gaming consoles, VR headsets, computers, a podcast/recording studio and a DJ booth. It also runs college-readiness workshops; a library card is needed to get in and activity stations can be reserved in short blocks.
A College Point gym affiliated with Caio Terra Academy that runs kids martial arts classes along with Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai. Coaches give children individual attention as they learn grappling and striking basics.
A Forest Hills traditional martial arts dojo open since 1991 that runs dedicated children's classes before the adult sessions. Kids practice Sosuishiryu jujutsu on Mondays and Wednesdays and Isshinryu karate on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
A newly opened Flushing studio offering kids' classes in jazz, contemporary, hip hop, ballet, K-pop, acro, tumbling and lyrical. Private lessons are also available.
A Flushing martial arts school where the youngest students start in a Little Tigers class and school-age kids move up to kids martial arts, with teen classes as they get older. It also runs an after-school program, a competition team and a summer camp.
A long-running Czech-American Sokol club that holds weekly co-ed gymnastics and fitness sessions for kids and teens. Young members also get chances to volunteer and build leadership skills.
A Jackson Heights dance school founded in 1978 that teaches local children. Its Jitterbugs sessions give the youngest dancers a weekday-morning introduction to movement.
18 listings
Teens drop in to use 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC routers and electronics gear, get hands-on help with robotics team builds, and join workshops in coding, fabrication and engineering. Membership is free and grants walk-in access during open hours.
A Bronx youth center for teens and young adults offering music production, culinary arts training, job readiness and youth employment programs. Young people can also work toward a high school equivalency and get counseling support.
The small cottage where Edgar Allan Poe spent his last years and wrote 'Annabel Lee,' restored with period furnishings. A quick visit that suits older kids reading Poe, with Poe Park's visitor center next door.
A Melrose gallery devoted to documentary photography and film. Its free Youth Photo League teaches middle and high schoolers photography, filmmaking and visual journalism after school.
A Morris Park martial arts gym whose kids and teens program mixes karate, judo, boxing and grappling under a belt system. The gym has been run by the Delgado family for nearly three decades and also trains adult kickboxers and MMA fighters.
A family-owned Morris Park dojo, open since 1996, where kids earn belts in karate and can also try judo, jiu-jitsu and kickboxing. It runs an after-school karate program, summer camp and birthday parties.
A Bronx arts organization offering after-school art center programs for middle and high school students, spanning visual art, design, media and poetry. Teens can move into internships and a design center.
An after-school choral program for Bronx children where singers train their voices, learn to read music and perform in concerts around the city. The program pairs music with academic and social support.
A contemporary art gallery in the South Bronx run by the Bronx Council on the Arts' Longwood Arts Project, showing work by Bronx and other emerging artists. The project also runs a youth engagement program connecting young people with art.
17 listings
A Staten Island tennis academy with 10-and-under training on modified courts and balls, plus junior groups for beginners through advanced players. In summer it runs a weekday junior camp for ages 7-17 with full-day, half-day and daily options.
A West Brighton boxing gym with a weekly Kids & Teens class that puts coordination, discipline and confidence ahead of hard boxing. Young members do mitt work and punching drills with coaches, and classes are included in monthly memberships.
Kids learn Brazilian jiu-jitsu and self-defense in beginner and intermediate-advanced classes held every weekday afternoon, with extra sessions on weekends. The academy welcomes all ages and skill levels.
A grappling-focused academy offering kids' Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes almost every day of the week, plus teen training in disciplines like Muay Thai, judo and wrestling. Kids learn takedowns, positions and escapes on the mats.
A Staten Island studio, running since 2005, that offers after-school and Saturday dance classes for children and teens. Kids train in a range of styles and perform at studio shows.
Kids design, build and program autonomous LEGO robots in a hands-on, inquiry-based after-school program on the Wagner College campus. Along the way they practice teamwork and prepare for robotics competition challenges.
A Tottenville training center exclusively for women and girls, offering BJJ, kickboxing/boxing, martial arts and self-defense. Girls learn practical protection skills and grappling in an all-female setting.
A family-owned Staten Island school where kids take martial arts classes and can also train in jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts. The school hosts martial arts birthday parties and runs a summer camp.
A West Brighton taekwondo school where young children start in a 'Little Ninjas' group and older kids and teens learn kicks, forms and belt-rank skills. The school also runs week-long summer camp sessions.
9 recurring programs for tweens and teens are listed, including NYC FIRST STEM Center @ Andrew Freedman Home, Broadway Workshop, D.A. Sokol Youth Gymnastics.
Yes. 29 listings for teens are free, such as Cooper Union Saturday Program, NYC FIRST STEM Center @ Andrew Freedman Home, NYC FIRST STEM Center @ Cornell Tech.
206 listings: Manhattan (98), Brooklyn (37), Queens (36), the Bronx (18), Staten Island (17).