Memorial Day Weekend Activites and Events for Kids

[THIS POST IS FROM 2008. PLEASE SEE OUR 2009 EVENT PICKS FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND.]

I can't believe it's Memorial Day Weekend already...and I'm cold! But here it is and it's bringing the good weather with it. Memorial Day Weekend marks the openings of the city beaches and swimming pools. Also Victorian Garden's Manhattan's own amusement park. And this week is Fleet Week. Get ready for summer with our lists of top family beaches, swimming pools and amusement parks. Whether you are staying in the city or heading for the hills it looks like this Memorial Day Weekend really will be a great kick-off into the summer season.

The big fireworks display Thursday night was just the beginning of the celebrations for the 125th Anniversary of Brooklyn Bridge. This weekend is filled with fun family events starting tonight, plus a bunch of other interesting cultural events. Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Brooklyn Bridge Film Series Friday, May 23 Music begins at 6pm; film starts at 8:30pm Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, enter at Main Street, Brooklyn FREE Nothing heralds the beginning of the summer season like an outdoor movie. Pack a blanket and a picket and enjoy one of the first nighs of good weather watching Disney's Enchanted, a modern-day fairy tale set in Manhattan (PG). Arrive early to get a good spot, grab some of the free popcorn and enjoy music from the DJ. The film will be preceded by two short historic films??”Panorama from the Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge (1903) and Manhatta (1921). On Saturday the whole thing repeats with the musical It Happened in Brooklyn (1947), starring Frank Sinatra as a Brooklynite returning home from the war.

Brooklyn Icons Mini-Golf Satuday, May 24-Sunday May 25, 1-5PM Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, enter on Main Street, Brooklyn FREE Tee up to the Brooklyn Bridge and play through Grand Army Plaza on a mini-golf course featuring some of Brooklyn's most famous sites in honor of the Brooklyn Bridge's 125th Birthday.

NYC Transit Museum Satuday, May 24-Sunday May 25, 10AM - 4PM Located at the corner of Boerum Place and Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn Heights Directions FREE with Paid admission Learn all about Brooklyn's first bridge with a reading of Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing by April Jones Prince, a terrific children's book that tells the story of the creation of the Brooklyn Bridge. Learn about the various forms of transportation that traveled across the great bridge, and create cable cars of your own.

Tour de Brooklyn Sunday, May 25 Water St. and New Dock St, Brooklyn FREE The Tour de Brooklyn is a not a race, but a leisurely 18-mile bike tour around Brooklyn. It is family friendly, traveling at 1-12 miles per hour, and anyone can participate or just cheer from the sidelines. This year they are starting off the Tour with a children's parade which will start on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge and go across the bridge to the beginning of the tour. Advance registration is required, go to TourdeBrooklyn.org.

Lower East Side Arts Festival Saturday May 24th, 1AM-5PM 1st Avenue and E 10th St. FREE A truly eclectic arts event with an incredible diversity of NYC artists and performers. There will be a street fair plus one theater will be dedicated to performances for children with everything from Celtic Dancers to Spoken Word, Juggling and excerpts from "Pinkalicious". All Free!

Guggenheim Family Day Sunday, May 25, 1-4 p.m. Guggenheim Museum $15 per family, includes a free family pass for your next visit. If you have been wanting to go see the Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe exhibit with your kids, but haven't made it up there yet, this might e the time to do it. During the Family Day celebration you can explore the exhibitions and engage in art-making activities, performances, and storytelling. This event is not technically fee, but is actually a good bargain considering you et your whole family into the exhibits for $15 AND get a free pass to come again another time. Go early I'm guessing this is going to get very crowded, there may even be a line to get in.

Cloisters Family Festival Satuday, May 24-Sunday May 25, 12PM - 4PM FREE with Museum Admission Get medieval with metalworking demonstrations, a self-guided art hunt, and bilingual Spanish/English gallery workshops.

Russian American Kids Circus Saturday, May 24 1 and 4 PM Queens Theater in the Park $12 Your kids will dream of running away to the circus after seeing this incredibly professional circus performed entirely by kids aged 6-16. Soaring acrobatics, synchronized uni-cycling, black light juggling, clowning, and acts of precision balancing will amaze the audience.

Fleet Week Events City-Wide Through Wednesday, May 28th FREE Don't forget about NYC Fleet Week, our city's annual salute to the sea services. If you missed the "Parade of Ships" through the Harbor Wednesday, you still have a chance to see the ships, helicopters and other displays. Local neighborhood parades, helicopter displays and performances (like the one on The Today Show Saturday morning) will feature the thousands of Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen. But best of all, take some time to visit the participating ships, tour them, and see what life on the sea is like at Pier 88-90 daily (except Sunday) from 8-5. The one event that looks fun to me is the Navy vs Marines Tug of War at the South Street Seaport on Sunday at 1PM. Visit www.fleetweek.navy.mil for the full schedule of events.