75 places and programs for kids in and around the Upper East Side, Manhattan (18 free): playgrounds, dance, museums. Includes The Frick Collection and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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.
New York's giant encyclopedic art museum, where kids can wander past Egyptian tombs, knights in armor, musical instruments and period rooms. Family guides, drop-in art-making and family programs help younger visitors engage with the collection.
A Fifth Avenue museum of art and Jewish culture in a historic mansion, with a family-friendly permanent collection and rotating exhibitions. Family programs and art-making events are offered on select dates.
A free hands-on space inside The Met where kids 3-11 explore wood, metal, clay and light, build drums, try digital woodblock printing and play instruments. Families can also borrow picture books and grab a field guide for exploring the galleries.
An Upper East Side museum of traditional and contemporary Asian art with free docent tours and cultural celebrations such as Lunar New Year family days. Kids 16 and under are free, and Fridays are free for all.
Baby Fingers' Sign & Song classes blend American Sign Language with songs and play, giving babies and toddlers a way to communicate before they can talk. Classes welcome both Deaf and hearing families.
The Smithsonian's design museum in the Carnegie Mansion, where kids can use interactive tables and digital tools to sketch their own designs. Exhibitions span furniture, textiles, graphics and technology, and there's a garden to relax in.
Students get one-on-one or small-group tutoring from certified tutors after an academic evaluation, with plans covering math, reading, writing, science and study skills. Older kids can prepare for SAT, ACT and other standardized tests.
A weaving studio where children sit at their own looms and freely choose colors and yarns to create scarves, bags and wall pieces. The Fiber Arts Kids Club meets weekly during the school year.
A family toy store operating in New York since 1931, stocked with toys, games, books, and gifts for kids of all ages. Children can explore the aisles of classic and new toys while parents get help from staff with gift picks.
Kids get a personalized math plan after a diagnostic assessment, then work with instructors in small groups on the specific skills they need, from counting and fractions through algebra and SAT prep. Homework help is folded into the sessions.
A stone 1799 carriage house that became a day hotel for New Yorkers escaping the city, with rooms set up as they were in the 1820s. Guided tours and a small garden give kids a peek at early 19th-century life.
A children's art studio on the Upper East Side offering drop-in hourly art classes, after-school programs and camps. Toddlers and caregivers can join a 90-minute Grown Up & Me art and sensory session on weekday mornings.
A museum of illustration on the Upper East Side showing art from picture books, comics, magazines and posters. Kids who love drawing and graphic novels can see original artwork up close; kids 10 and under enter free.
SwimJim runs year-round learn-to-swim lessons in a warm indoor pool, starting with parent-and-baby classes and progressing through levels to confident independent swimmers. Families enroll on a monthly basis in group or private lessons.
A bright craft shop and studio where kids can drop in to make projects like tie-dye, friendship bracelets and painted keepsakes, take structured classes, or celebrate birthdays. Staff handle setup and cleanup so families can just create.
A sewing and fashion design studio where kids use child-safe sewing machines to make garments and accessories, finishing with a runway show. Weekly classes, one-day workshops, camps and parties are available.
The children's and young adult library at this historic Upper East Side membership library hosts story times, baby and toddler sessions, weekend craft activities and a young poets group. Many events are open to all, while borrowing books requires membership.
A long-running Upper East Side studio where children paint, draw, sculpt and try papier-mâché and fashion design in small weekly classes grouped by age. The studio also runs holiday workshops, school-break camps and art birthday parties.
Penguin City Swim teaches small-group, semi-private and private swim lessons from water babies (6 months) up through adults. Kids progress through skill levels in short 30- or 45-minute classes, with semesters that follow the NYC public school calendar.
An Upper East Side boxing gym whose group classes are open to teenagers as well as adults. Teens can take group, small semi-private or one-on-one boxing sessions focused on technique and fitness.
A performance-focused music school where kids learn guitar, bass, drums, keys or vocals and then rehearse songs together as a band. Students work toward live shows at real venues, with younger beginners starting in introductory programs.
Little dancers learn ballet through story-based classes that draw on famous classical ballets and their music. Babies and toddlers attend with a caregiver, while preschoolers and early-elementary kids move up through leveled ballet classes that mix skill building with imaginative play.
92NY's youth dance classes cover ballet, hip-hop, jazz, tap and modern for toddlers through teens. Classes meet on the Upper East Side campus.
LittleGotham lists 75 places and programs for kids on the Upper East Side, Manhattan. The largest groups are 12 playgrounds, 10 dance programs, 9 museums.
Yes. 18 of 75 are free to attend, including 81st Street Studio at The Met, Mary Arnold Toys, Ancient Playground.
59 listings are indoors, such as The Frick Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum.