Kids Korner

Visit Long Island and Beyond!

Sailing School

Lighthouse

Jones Beach

Beaches and sky scrapers; museums and shopping 'till you drop; food you love and food you've never tried; theaters and concerts; and baseball. Welcome to New York! Whether you're on Long Island or in New York City, and whatever you like to do, you're in for a great time in a place that's like none other.

Did You Know?

Every year, more than 7 million people visit Jones Beach. That's more than go to Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks combined! Take your pick of water at Jones Beach State Park, 6.5 miles of ocean beach, a half-mile of bay beach, and two swimming pools (www.nysparks.state.ny.us/).

Long Island is 118 miles long and 20 miles across at its widest point so there are lots of beaches to choose from, including: Montauk State Park, which features Long Island's most famous lighthouse; Robert Moses State Park on Fire Island, and the Hamptons, where you might meet a movie star in the summer (www.discoverlongisland.com/).

Theodore Roosevelt, who was the 26th President of the United States, ended his workday at 4 p.m. so he could play with his six kids. You can visit their home on Long Island at Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay and learn more about the Roosevelts' lives in the early years of the 20th Century. You'll also learn how TR, as he was known, was both a famous hunter of big game animals and a pioneering conservationist (www.nps.gov/sahi/).

The first transatlantic flight started on Long Island when Charles Lindbergh flew from Roosevelt Field to Paris in 1927. It took him 33 hours, 30 minutes until he landed at LeBourget Airport, where a huge crowd greeted him. Today, Roosevelt Field is a big shopping mall but you can learn more about Lindbergh's flight and see all kinds of flying machines, including one that belonged to Lindberg, at the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island. There are 70 planes here! (www.cradleofaviation.org/)

New York City was first called the “Big Apple” by jazz musicians in the 1920s, who said: “There are many apples on the success tree, but when you pick NYC, you pick the Big Apple (www.iloveny.com/).

The original hot dog was invented on the boardwalk of Coney Island when a German immigrant named Charles Feltman started selling hot sausages wrapped in a roll up and down the beach for 10 cents. One of his workers, Nathan Handwerker, began selling his own hotdogs for a nickel and Nathan's Famous Frankfurters were born, eventually selling millions a summer. You can still get great hot dogs and hot pretzels from street venders in Manhattan who today also sell kebabs and falafel sandwiches.

You can watch a baseball game played like it was in the 1860s at Old Bethpage Village Restoration, where you'll also see how kids managed before cars, video games, and computers at the living history museum. In August, there's a Historic Baseball Tournament (www.oldbethpage.org). Of course while you're in New York you can also see the Mets play at Shea Stadium (www.mets.com) or the Yankees in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium (www.yankees.com). Don't forget to bring your mitt in case a ball comes your way!

Manhattan is just one of New York City's five boroughs. The others are Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Long Island has its own suburban towns and governments. Manhattan is an island just over 12 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. You've got to use either a bridge or a tunnel to get in and out of Manhattan.

More than 1.5 million people walk through Times Square every day. You'll find great NYC souvenirs here -- T-shirts, NYPD and NYFD hats, mini Statues of Liberty, the biggest indoor Ferris wheel anywhere at the Toys R Us store, and plenty of choices for plays, movies, and restaurants that you'll like. (Check out www.broadway.com and The New Victory Theater with special kids' productions www.newvictory.org).

When you ride the elevator up to the top of the Empire State Building, you're ascending 1,200 feet a minute! In case you're wondering, it's 1,575 steps from the lobby to the 86th floor. Every year there's a race to the top and the winners can do it in less than 10 minutes! (Visit www.esbnyc.com)

What Other Kids Say You Should Do While In Long Island . . .

Meet: Mike (age 13), Danny (age 9), and Jenn (age 15),) who live in Holtsville, NY. They are the children of Southwest Airlines ISP Station Training Supervisor, Sandy Clavin.

They say: Long Island is a great place to live because there is something fun to do all year long. You can swim in the summer, go pumpkin picking in the fall, and play in the snow in the winter.

Don't miss:

Splish Splash Waterpark or the Aquarium in Riverhead
A charter fishing boat trip out of Captree
Fire Island

Don't go home without: Eating New York's famous pizza, garlic knots, and bagels.

Best place to eat: Dave & Buster's for the good food and fun games.

Best place to visit outside of Long Island: New York City! While you're there, be sure to visit Central Park, Times Square, or go see a show on Broadway like Beauty and the Beast.

Kids, Tell Your Parents . . .

Rain or shine, you'll find more to do on Long Island and in NYC than you'll have time for. There are some good books to help, including my Kids' Guide: NYC from Globe Pequot; Frommer's New York City with Kids; Fodor's Around New York City with Kids, and Leonard S. Marcus' Storied City that offers walking tours of New York that have been featured in scores of books for children and teens.

You'll be tempted to pack too much into each day. Figure one sightseeing excursion and plenty of park, playground, and beach time. Central Park alone stretches for 50 city blocks! If you want to hit a lot of NYC sites, check out CityPass (www.citypass.com), which gives you discounted tickets for the city's major attractions AND allows you to go to the front of the line.

Check out www.NYCVISIT.com for the latest family deals. Also check out www.iloveny.com and www.funonli.com. Use www.timeoutnykids.com to find out what's going on in Manhattan for kids while www.nycparks.org can tell you where to find playgrounds. For a free tour from locals, make an appointment with Big Apple Greeter (www.bigapplegreater.org).

You may also want to visit:

The Children's Museum in Garden City. (See: www.licm.org)
The Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum, with more than 6,000 artifacts and a fully equipped 19th Century whale boat. (See: www.cshwhalingmuseum.org)
Fire Island with its 26-mile long Fire Island National Seashore. Just off LI's South Shore, it's primarily accessed by ferry. You won't need your car -- you can walk, bike or take a water taxi.
Splish Splash, ranked the #1 water park in the Tri State area and one of the top water parks in the country (See: www.splishsplashlongisland.com).
The Tanger Mall Outlet Center in Riverhead on long Island, one of the largest outlet malls in the country with 165 stores. (See: www.tangeroutlet.com )
The Long Island Game Farm (See: www.longislandgamefarm.com) on Long Island in Manorville where you can have a pony ride, meet the kangaroos or visit Lin Lin, a rare female White Tiger.
FAO Schwarz in NYC where your kids can watch demonstrations of the newest toys-and get a giant ice cream sundae. (See: www.faoschwarz.com)
The American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Check out www.amnh.org and the special kids' website www.ology.amnh.org with nearly a million fossils.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (www.met.museum.org) where you can download special family brochures. Kids love the Arms and Armor exhibit and the Egyptian Temple of Dendur.
A Broadway Play. Get discount tickets at the TKTS booth at 47th Street and Broadway (www.tdf.org) or find more discount coupons in the Times Square Visitors Center across the street (www.timesquarebid.org).
The Bronx Zoo (www.bronxzoo.com), the largest metropolitan zoo in the country with more than 4,000 animals. The Central Park Zoo (www.centralparkzoo.com) and on Long Island, Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead (www.amwny.com).

See Past Editions of Kids Korner.

By: Eileen Ogintz, Author of Taking the Kids™