10 Fantastic Kid-Friendly Day Trips From NYC To Plan This Summer
With school officially being out for summer, you may be thinking about a new way to entertain your kid in the city! Sure there’s so many great things to do with kids in NYC, but why not try something a little beyond city limits?
We put together a list of family-friendly day trip ideas that are just a short drive or train ride away, and which range from awesome museums to thrilling amusement rides. Here’s our guide of best day trip adventures to plan with your children near NYC:
1. Bubble Planet
Spend a day at New Jersey’s American Dream mall, where a brand new immserive experience Bubble Planet just opened! Perfect for the kiddos, this place is truly bubble paradise…a wild planet filled with bubble-themed VR technology, themed rooms and fantastical landscapes.
Children can spend a full day hopping throughout the different areas and letting their senses run wild with oversized bubbles, balloons, soap, and more! The sensory universe is a true one-of-one and is worth spending a day across state borders! Learn more about Bubble Planet (and how you can even go in a hot air balloon simulator) here.
Distance from NYC: 30 minutes
Grab your tickets to Bubble Planet here!
2. LEGOLAND New York
For the children that are absolutely obsessed with LEGOs, you have to take them on a day trip to LEGOLAND just outside NYC in Goshen, NY. It’s quite literally a LEGO utopia where kids can spend an entire day riding LEGO-themed rides, taking LEGO building workshops, watching 4D cinema, and frolicking in their massive play areas. Plus, during the summer right now their awesome LEGO CITY Water Playground is open for the season, as well as their brand new Minifigure Skyflyers, which are aerial themed party pods which can carry families in style around the park!
It’s truly one of the best theme parks in the Tri-State area, and if you’re really looking to make it a trip you can even book overnight stays at the resort’s hotel on site! Learn all about the cool happenings taking place at LEGOLAND plus how to score child tickets starting at $29 here!
Distance from NYC: 2 hours
3. Luna Park
So technically Luna Park is still within New York City (Coney Island to be exact), but it’s still a place to bring kids for a day full of thrilling fun! The amusement park is full of family-friendly rides and carnival games that you can spend hours playing. Take advantage of their brand new motorsport Electric Eden Raceway or slide down the brand new log flume ride Leti’s Treasure. It’s been the largest park in NYC for over 120 years, and their seaside attractions and entertainment, shopping and dining, thrill rides and special events are perfect for all ages.
While you’re in Coney Island, don’t forget about other fun things to do during the day, like the 3 miles of sandy beaches, aquarium, Brooklyn Cyclones games, and more!
Distance from NYC: 45 minutes
4. The Crayola Experience
Let your kid’s inner creativity come to life at The Crayola Experience, a hands-on arts destination where kids can get crafty with different activities, coloring, and interactive exhibits involving the famous crayon brand. Located in Easton, Pennsylvania, it’s about 1.5 hours from the city, making it great for a quick visit all in one day. The 65,000 square foot center features all kinds of family-friendly experiences like starring in their own coloring page, naming and wrapping a personal Crayola crayon, exploring 4-D coloring adventures, witnessing a live show of how crayons are made, plus so much more.
If your kid likes arts and crafts this is the place to let their mind explore! Learn more about The Crayola Experience here.
Distance from NYC: 1 hour 30 minutes
5. Bear Mountain State Park
Looking for a family-friendly day trip that’s a little outdoorsy? Bear Mountain State Park is the perfect kid-friendly summer getaway where you can go hiking, have a picnic, stroll the Bear Mountain Zoo, ride a merry-go-round, and see the gorgeous Hudson River. This park is the perfect nature escape, and depending on your kid’s age there’s plenty of fun to be had!
Alongside the plethora of outdoor activities to be had, the park also throws seasonal events which are great for kids, including free concerts, arts and crafts, games, and storytelling sessions. Head here if you’re looking for a kids day trip more on the camp-y side.
Distance from NYC: 2 hours
6. The Maritime Aquarium
One of the best kids aquariums in the Tri-State area is The Maritime Aquarium, which is located just outside in Norwalk, CT. Kids can spend a whole day here exploring the 75 different live exhibits which feature over 2,700 marine animals and 300 species. Some of these awesome exhibits include their ongoing Travel Back in Maritime installation, which features plenty of “ancient species that can still be found swimming in Long Island Sound and underwater giants that went extinct with the dinosaurs.” It also includes a cute fossil digging area for the little ones!
In terms of other great child-friendly activities, the aquarium is home to a 4D movie theater, virtual reality experiences, and a shark and ray touch pool just to name a few. Learn more about The Maritime Aquarium and what’s on here!
Distance from NYC: 2 hours
7. Sesame Place
If the perfect day trip for kids age 3 – 5 exists, it’s at Sesame Place in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. This theme park centered around iconic children’s show characters like Big Bird and Elmo is a kid’s wildest dreams, and a great chance to even meet their favorite characters in person! Of course there’s real life renditions of them walking around, but Sesame Place also offers other activities like rides, water rides, live shows and parades, story times, kid-friendly restaurants, themed shopping, and so much more.
Plus, the summertime welcomes special seasonal activations for kids, like a fireworks display with Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Cookie Monster, and Count von Count and the brand new 123 playground with slides, soft play mounds, and interactive play panels. Learn more about Sesame Place and see what’s on here!
Distance from NYC: 2 hours
8. Liberty Science Center
Only 30 minutes across the water in Jersey City, New Jersey sits the Liberty Science Center, an educational day trip idea for the little ones that’s great during summer vacation! The 300,000-square-foot learning center located in Liberty State Park is perfect for a summer day trip, where kids can spend time browsing 12 museum exhibition halls, a live animal collection with 110 species, giant aquariums, a 3D theater, live simulcast surgeries, hurricane- and tornado-force wind simulators, K-12 classrooms and labs, teacher-development programs, and the Western Hemisphere’s biggest planetarium.
It’s a great family-friendly option to keep your kid sharp during the off-months of school, and a chance to dig deeper into science in a fun way! Learn more about Liberty Science Center and what’s on here.
Distance from NYC: 30 minutes
9. Dinos Alive
Roar! Let your children get up close and personal with dinosaurs at this brand new immersive experinece a few hours north of the city. Dinos Alive in Schenectady, New York is the latest and greatest Jurassic immersion that your kids can spend hours at! Families will be able to teleport back millions of years to get face-to-face with life-sized Velociraptors, T-rexes, and so many more fearsome giants!
It’s super hands on too, since it includes fun activities like VR experiences, a unique virtual aquarium, a “Budding Experts” interactive space where kids can become paleontologists, plus so much more. Dinos Alive is a little over 3 hours outside the city but it’s worth the hike for the little ones!
Distance from NYC: 4 hours
Purchase your tickets to Dino Alive here!
10. Long Island Aquarium
If you’re looking for a kids day trip idea on Long Island, consider the Long Island Aquarium! It’s home to not only a world-famous coral reef display tank (one of the largest all-living coral displays in the Western Hemisphere), but there’s also loads of family-friendly activities like animal exhibitions, sea lions shows, snorkel adventures, penguin selfie opportunities, and a whole lot more.
They also host lots of daily events too like animal feedings, science lectures, and boat tours (which always need some youth’s volunteering). Learn more about the Long Island Aquarium and what’s on here.
Distance from NYC: 3 hours
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