This Week: Best Places to Cool Off in NYC & Beyond, New Staten Island Mini-Amusement Park, Awesome Day & Weekend Trip Ideas
Cool ways to beat the heat seemed to be the theme across all of our sites this week. (Perhaps it had something to do with how much we've been shvitzing.) In NYC, we rounded up our top 50 places to cool off with kids, both indoors and out. Our Long Island site highlighted five water slides worth the day trip and did a whole post on Splish Splash Waterpark, which is just 90 minutes by car from NYC.
Connecticut, meanwhile, is filled with pristine public beaches to explore as well as many cool isles situated o the Long Island Sound. And in New Jersey, you can go swimming in lakes and watering holes.
If you're looking for more than just a day trip, our Travel site just wrapped up its series of posts about Richmond, Virginia with a list of the best outdoor activities for kids. Or you could hit the amusement park, waterpark and green spaces on Southern NJ's gorgeous Long Beach Island.
Whether you opt to go away this weekend or stick close to home, remember to share your family's playful pics on social media for a chance to win great prizes in our SUMMER OF PLAY CHALLENGE. We've been getting some amazing entries and we love seeing how our readers are enjoying themselves this summer.
Here's what else we covered on the NYC site this week:
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We kicked off the week with a list of 50 ways to cool off with kids in NYC, from the best pools, beaches and water playgrounds, to indoor spots with water play or air conditioning.
Our Staten Island blogger, Nataki, took her kids to the just-opened mini-amusement park Fantasy Shore at Midland Beach, perfect for preschoolers.
Our SUMMER OF PLAY CHALLENGE continued with a roundup of fun do-it-yourself activities inspired by popular children's books.
Here's one to bookmark: a list of the top pediatric ERs in the outer boroughs, a companion piece to our Manhattan pediatric ER roundup.
Our biweekly news post has the scoop on Staten Island's newest carousel, Google's FREE virtual maker camp and the closure of Bowlmor Union Square.
Got a kid obsessed with model trains, planes or other old-school pastimes? Then check out our roundup of hobby shops in NYC—there are more than you might think.
Best bets for the weekend include many of our top family event picks for the month including City of Water Day on Governors Island, SummerStage Bronx Family Day and the Bastille Day Festival on the Upper East Side.
