Looking for a gift that children will remember? Consider giving an experience gift this holiday season. Enjoy our list of fun activities in and around Westchester County with easy links to purchase and a complimentary gift idea for each adventure!
Crafts & Sensory Play
Ready to make potions, mix up some colors, or paint one of your favorite characters? Shake it Off in Scarsdale offers a variety of fun classes to let the creative juices flow. These hands-on sessions allow kids to work with various materials and create fun projects for all seasons! They also offer drop-in bounce and paint sessions and a variety of movement classes.
Complimentary Gift Idea: Grab a smock in a fun pattern to keep clothes clean while kids get their hands messy!
Sewing is a practical life skill that ignites boundless creativity in children. Sew Happy offers in-home sewing lessons and even brings along the sewing machines!
Complimentary Gift Idea: Children with all levels of sewing skills will adore this starter sewing kit.
Tiny Mess Club, located in Pleasantville and Fleetwood, lets kids ages one to five get messy while enjoying a creative sensory experience. Give a gift card for drop-in classes, class packs, or for a full semester of classes.
Complimentary Gift Idea: Continue the messy fun at home with one of these sensory packs with various themes.
Discover and Explore
Westchester Children’s Museum, located at Playland in Rye, offers various hands-on experiences for kids of all ages to learn and explore. Give a membership and watch the special child in your life discover their amazing exhibits and weekly programs (free to members).
Complimentary Gift Idea: Snag this magnifying glass to spark the imagination!
Foster the love of art, science, and history with a membership to the Hudson River Museum. The museum is conveniently located in Yonkers and offers a large art collection and an awe-inspiring planetarium.
Complimentary Gift Idea: Kids, young and old, adore astronaut ice cream!
Food
Zwilling Cooking Studio in Pleasantville offers cooking and baking classes for families and kids. This is the perfect gift for the child who loves to cook and wants to hone their culinary skills,
Complimentary Gift Idea: A set of children’s oven mitts will set the tone for fun!
Do you have an aspiring baker in your life? Nora’s Overworks has a calendar filled with baking classes for children and adults to experience together.
Complimentary Gift Idea: Every great baker needs a hat and apron. Available in ten colors, there is something for everyone.
Nature
Take a ride to Connecticut for an up-close view of life under the sea at the Maritime Aquarium! Featuring both saltwater and freshwater tanks, kids can watch the seals eat or pet a stingray or jellyfish! Catch a show in their 4D theater where you can learn more about marine life!
Complimentary Gift Idea: This book about aquariums will prepare them for a fun day of exploring!
Treat the child in your life to a day at the Bronx Zoo! One of the largest zoos in America, it is home to 843 animals and has 22 exhibits. There’s something for everyone to enjoy! Explore Tiger Mountain to see the big cats and learn about how the zoo works to protect them. Watch the lemurs swing from tree to tree, or spend some time watching the butterflies flutter around in the butterfly garden.
Complimentary Gift Idea: Kids won’t miss a thing with these binoculars.
Children intrigued by animals will love Greenburgh Nature Center’s annual membership. Members enjoy unlimited access to the indoor animal exhibits, where staff is always willing to ‘introduce’ their flock of friends. Members also receive discounts on special events like their holiday train show, the Easter Egg Hunt, and more!
Complimentary Gift Idea: These nature flipbooks will thrill many age groups.
Performance
Nothing ushers in the holidays quite like The Nutcracker. Enjoy this classical ballet at the Emelin Theater with professional dancers from Ballet des Amériques and additional roles performed by local talent.
Complimentary Gift Idea: Paint your own Nutcracker will be a lasting memory of a wonderful performance!
Play
Children of all ages enjoy Legoland! Legoland delivers hours of family fun, whether it’s the rides, 4D cinema, or even the factory tour. Check out the Legoland annual pass and score some holiday savings!
Complimentary Gift Idea: This adorable Christmas pack will thrill any Lego enthusiast.
The winter months can drag on indoors with a baby or toddler. Give an open play pass or monthly membership to Tig+Peach for little ones to enjoy a kid-safe space to slide and climb, explore the art room, magnetic walls, and even a pivoting wind tunnel! With locations in Pelham and Rye, you are never too far from the fun!
Complimentary Gift Idea: A hat and gloves will help mom bundle the kids up and get them out the door.
Treehouse Play Place, a new kids’ playhouse in Larchmont, is a place where children’s imaginations can run free! Children learn through imaginative play at the Treehouse, where they can be postal workers or firefighters, run a store, or climb into a tree house. Give the gift of an hour and a half of open play or, for a very special gift, a yearly membership.
Complimentary Gift Idea: Socks with grips are required, so grab a pair of these to keep kiddos safe while exploring and playing.
Sports
Can’t stop the kids from climbing on the furniture? Hapik, located in the Ridge Hill shopping center in Yonkers, is a climbing gym with over 10,000 square feet of fun, two ropes courses, and more than 150 routes across 50 climbing walls. Gift a climbing pass to help them get their energy out in the winter months!
Complimentary Gift Idea: This practice knot-tying kit will prepare kids for a climbing adventure!
Kids can jump their jiggles out at Air Riderz, a new trampoline park in Port Chester. 20,000 square feet of wall-to-wall trampolines, ninja warrior courses, and a signature Climb Zone will keep kids hopping. Buy a gift card and receive a free 30-minute jump pass or a 30-day membership for $100.
Complimentary Gift Idea: This high-flying bouncy ball will make you feel like it’s on a trampoline!
The Goldfish Swim School offers a wonderful opportunity for your tadpole to get in some practice over winter! With locations in Yorktown, New Rochelle, and a location opening soon in Yonkers, you don’t have to travel far to find a place to splash around. They offer a variety of holiday packages that vary by location, as well as gift cards that can be used for lessons.
Complimentary Gift Idea: These fun hooded towels keep the kids warm and dry after a long swim experience.
Technology
Think Space Studio offers middle and high school students a variety of classes on the fundamentals of computer programming in a casual and fun way. Tech-savvy teens will enjoy a high-energy, hands-on, small-group environment.
The Coder School has classes for students at any level who want to learn how to code or expand their capabilities using a custom project-building approach. With mini-camps like “Minecraft Madness” and “Nintendo Switch Smash,” your budding techie will surely find a class that fits their interests!
Complimentary Gift Idea: This board game will set the tone for coding fun!
