25 upcoming events · 0 local studios
A narrow residential island in the East River, Roosevelt Island sits technically in Manhattan but feels like its own small town. Most families get here by tram from 59th Street and Second Avenue, a three-minute aerial ride that kids tend to love, or by the F train. Once you're on the island, the whole thing is easy to navigate on foot or by the free red bus that loops continuously. Outdoor space is genuinely part of daily life here. Blackwell Park has playgrounds right on Main Street, and Four Freedoms Park at the southern tip gives toddlers room to run with skyline views as a backdrop. The NYPL branch on Main Street has a dedicated children's room and runs regular toddler storytimes, which makes it a solid rainy-day anchor. For classes and programming, Main Street Theatre & Dance Alliance has a real presence here, and What's Cooking? brings drop-in and party-format cooking classes to the island. There are currently 5 upcoming events on our calendar. On weekends the pace slows down considerably compared to the rest of Manhattan, which, with a stroller and a one-year-old, is not a bad thing.