Sports

We have been getting lots of great tips from readers in our in box and in the comment section of the site. It's been hard for me to keep up with it all on top of our regular posting. Some of them I've been able to slip into regular posts, but the tips are all too good to let go, so this week and next week I set aside some days that I am going to be posting the great ideas for things to do with kids in New York that you have been sharing.

If you have some tips you'd like to share with us please send them to me.

Thanks to Sharon Kleinhandler, Tricia Gillespie and Neeta Vallab for these tips: Read more »

Today is the first day of the Prospect Park fishing contest, but that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to free sports activities in New York parks for kids.

The NYC Parks Department offers some really amazing sports programs that are (even more amazingly) FREE. NYC kids can do all sorts of sports from learning to swing a golf club or to play tennis to going fishing, paddling a canoe or even sleeping out under the stars—all for the sweet price of FREE. Your next thought is that these programs filled up in February, right? Not so, many of these programs require little if any advance registration and have gotten great reviews from our reader parents. We'll tell you all about the City Parks Foundation's and Urban Ranger's activities and how your city kids can be part of these free sports programs in the city parks this summer. Read more »

You can now rent bicycles in Lower Manhattan for FREE! Perfect for families, you can even get bikes with baby seats or Tag-a-longs (those kid bike add-ons that turn a bike into a tandem perfect for young bikers to safely ride with a parent). They have wagons too!?

Bike Around Downtown is a new program that lets you borrow a bike for a two to three-hour window. You can register online and pick up your free bike at the South Street Seaport Bike and Roll booth. From there you can bike up the Greenway up the East or West sides, or even head over to Governor's Island. (By the way, I noticed that they are also renting-not for free- bikes on Governor's Island now, with tag-a-longs available there too.) Read more »

Congratulations to Amber who won our Elf Tennis giveaway. Amber will be enjoying five free tennis lessons with the special Elf Tennis approach. Read more »

Summer is just around the corner and summer means swimming. In preparation of summer and swimming season get your feet wet at these free swimming events. Read more »

Tennis is a great sport for NYC kids. There are free tennis courts all over the city and you can play inside during the colder months. Now tennis is even more accessible to it's littlest players thanks to Elf Tennis and it's creator Esther Forrester. Esther, a former Division I college tennis player with over 10 years of experience teaching tennis to adults and children, has developed a new method of teaching tennis perfect for children as young as 3 years old.

What is the Elf Tennis secret? First they start with oversized foam balls and smaller nets to help smaller children get into the game and love it. But classes also focus on the 4 Fs: Fun, Fitness, Friendship and Fundamentals of tennis. Sounds like a winning combination to me. Read more »

There are lots of places to go ice skating in New York if you don't mind waiting on line and skating shoulder to shoulder with rowdy teenagers. We've picked out the best places to ice skate with kids in NYC where you can avoid the lines and the crowds. All of these places offer skating lessons and birthday parties and almost all of them even offer hockey. Check each website link for additional information. Read more »

The kids are settled back in school again - occupied and cared for until 3 pm every weekday. Whew! But, then comes the after school hours. And after-school programs can be exorbitantly expensive. I've been hearing about programs that cost $700 for one afternoon a week for ONE SEMESTER! Yikes! Luckily there are also lots of great, high quality after school programs that are free. Absolutely free.

Mommy Poppins has dug up the best of the free after-school programs for kids and teenagers. You won't find this information anywhere else. But, if you want to try to enroll your child in any of these programs you should check the program website right away. A couple of them are enrolling just through this weekend. One or two are already finished enrolling, but are still worth knowing about for the future. And some are drop-in programs, so, no worries. Read more »

I should never admit this, but when I was younger I kind of liked the idea of being a soccer mom. The image of popping my athletic kids into a station wagon and driving them around our little town to their various activities seem kind of nice. It does make the suburbs sound kind of appealing to think about little leagues and soccer games and all of that. But I don't think I could have really done it. It's just not in my DNA code. Luckily you can have all that team sport goodness right here in NYC - no car or mommy jeans necessary. Read more »

This is one in a series of posts about last minute camp openings for kids in NYC. Every day for the next week, we will be posting more exceptional camps for children of all ages that still have openings. If you are interested make sure to register soon because these spots will go fast.

Chelsea Piers Sport Camps offer programs for kids of all ages, from 20 months to teenagers. Chelsea Piers Sport Camps let kids be active and enjoy the sports they love out of the heat of the summer sun, taking advantage of an amazing sports facility and the wide range of activities available under on roof without leaving the city. Read more »