10 Things To Do With Your Kids Around Brooklyn During This Week’s Mid-Winter Break

From hot chocolate and ice skating to a Chinese New Year celebration, there are a ton of free and fun events happening around our area to keep you and your kids entertained during this week’s mid-winter recess. Here are some of our favorite events that are happening, and let us know if you know of something that we’ve left off! Comment below or email us at editor@bklyner.com.

Rock with Adam
When: Wednesday, February 18, 10:30am
Where: Park Slope Library, 431 6th Avenue at 9th Street
What: Are you ready to rock? Neighborhood kids are definitely in for a treat as guitarist Adam Blotner plays some of his favorite tunes.
How much: Free, but tickets are required for entry (one per family), so be sure to arrive early to score your ticket.

Discovery Days at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
When: Wednesday, February 18 from 11am-1pm
Where: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 990 Washington Avenue
What: Kids of all ages are invited to explore exotic habitats from around the world and have some hands-on science fun at the Botanic Garden’s Steinhardt Conservatory. Activities, including scavenger hunts and story-telling, are the same each day, but you’re welcome to come for a repeat visit.
Cost: Free

Winter break fun at Prospect Park
When: Daily through Friday, February 20
Where: Prospect Park Audubon Center and Lefferts Historic House
What: From Tuesday through Friday, “Winter in the Wild” will be held at the Audubon Center from 12-3pm, when you can join educators to discover the winter survival strategies of animals that live in Prospect Park. On the same days, from 3-4pm, you can join Prospect Park Alliance naturalists to track North American bird populations. From Tuesday through Friday, you can go to the Lefferts Historic House from 1-4pm to play the historic board game Nine-Man Morris and make your very own playing board to take home.
Cost: Audubon Center events are free; $3 suggested donation at the Lefferts Historic House

Very Very Verrazano at the New York Transit Museum
When: Daily through Friday, February 20 at 1:30pm
Where: New York Transit Museum, located at the corner of Boerum Place and Schermerhorn Street
What: Children ages 5 and up are invited to work together to build a giant-sized model of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge at the museum’s education center. While you build, you can learn about he towers, anchorages, cables and deck that makes this suspension bridge an engineering marvel.
Cost: Free with museum admission ($7 for adults and $5 for children ages 2-17)

Ezra Jack Keats bedtime stories
When: Thursday, February 19 from 7-7:30pm
Where: Central Brooklyn Public Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza
What: Librarians will read aloud bedtime stories by Ezra Jack Keats, as well as lead singing, rhyming and playing activities related to the themes and images of the book. At the end of the evening, every child will be given a free copy of one of Mr. Keats’ books to keep.
Cost: Free

Ice skating and hot chocolate in Coney Island
When: Friday, February 20 from 9am-11:30am
Where: Abe Stark Skating Rink, 1902 W. 19th Street
What: A quick shot down the B/Q to Coney Island and you’ll get to this free family ice skating event sponsored by Councilman Mark Treyger — and you’ll also be able to sip on free hot chocolate, thanks to Peggy O’Neill’s.
Cost: Free

See The Birmingham Children’s March: An interactive theater experience
When: Friday, February 20 at 11am
Where: The Dweck Center at the Central Brooklyn Public Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza
What: School-aged children will discover inner strength and courage during this interactive dramatization of the 1963 events in Birmingham, Alabama when children and teenagers were enlisted to revive a faltering civil rights campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Cost: Free

Learn how to play the guitar at the Park Slope Library
When: Saturday, February 21 from 11am-12pm
Where: Park Slope Library, 431 6th Avenue at 9th Street
What: Anyone over the age of 7 (adults included!) are welcome to learn the fundamentals of guitar playing, including proper fingering technique, chords, and blues scales. Please bring your own instrument – both electric and acoustic guitars can be used. If you are an intermediate player please feel free to join the class and we can work out a lesson for you as well.
Cost: Free

Celebrate Chinese New Year
When: Saturday, February 21 at 1pm
Where: The Dweck Center at the Central Brooklyn Public Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza
What: Chinese Theatre Works’ Four Treasure traditional performing arts variety programs present well-known traditional pieces, including Fan Dance from Kun Opera Peony Pavilion and Double Sword Dance, but also folk dance pieces representing different cultures of many minority peoples of China.
Cost: Free

Watch the critically-acclaimed documentary ‘Brooklyn Boheme’
When: Sunday, February 22 at 2pm
Where: Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street
What: In honor of Black History Month, BHS is screening the documentary “Brooklyn Boheme” every Sunday in February. Narrated and written by Fort Greene resident Nelson George, this feature length film celebrates the vibrant African American artistic community that thrived in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill during the 1980s and 90s and includes interviews with some of the artists who called these neighborhoods home, including Spike Lee, Chris Rock, and more.
Cost: Free with museum admission (Museum admission is free for children under the age of 12 and for students over the age of 12 who have identification. Adults are $10 and teachers and seniors are $6.)