Plenty of 'free' lists in New York quietly include a $12 pretzel and a $30 parking spot. This one has 15 places that cost nothing to enter, with the fine print stated, and about half of them are ones most visitors never get to.
The best free things to do in NYC with kids are the Staten Island Ferry (free every day), the High Line, Little Island, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Bronx Museum of the Arts and Queens County Farm Museum (free except on ticketed days). Wave Hill in the Bronx is free all day on Thursdays. Watch the fine print: skating at Bryant Park is free but skate rental is not.
Checked October 5, 2026. Free means free to get in. It does not always mean free to eat, park, rent skates or use the restroom without a $4 coffee, and where something has fine print I've said so.
New York is expensive in a way that makes British visitors do sums on a napkin. A family of four at a big attraction can spend serious money before anyone has seen anything, so the free things to do in NYC with kids are worth knowing properly, not as a throwaway list at the end of a $200 day. These 15 cost nothing to enter. Some are famous, and some are places I'd put ahead of the famous ones for a family with a six-year-old and a short temper.
The rule I'd apply to any free thing in this city: go early, bring snacks, find the restroom first. In that order.
Start here if you're short on time. Most are close to a subway stop, and most are good in any weather except the one that involves wind.
Arguably the best free boat ride in the world. NYC DOT says the ferry provides free service between Whitehall in Manhattan and St. George in Staten Island every day of the week, year-round. You get the Statue of Liberty and the harbor from the open decks, and children get a boat.
Hold small hands on the outer deck, because it's open water and it's windy. For a first trip with a five-year-old, I'd ride across and straight back, which is the whole point.
Practical
A park built on an old raised rail line on the West Side, free to enter. The park's page lists elevators at four locations, including 30th Street at Hudson Yards and 31st Street and Dyer Avenue at the Moynihan Connector, and shows winter hours of 7am to 8pm from December 1 to March 31. It closes in severe weather, so check on the day.
A stroller and a busy Saturday are an unhappy pair. I'd go on a weekday morning, when you can actually stop.
Practical
A park on a pier in the Hudson with rolling paths and hills, free to the public. Only performances in The Amph need a ticket. Hours at the time of writing: 6am to 11pm until November 13, then 6am to 9pm from November 14 to March 12. You enter from the South Bridge near 13th Street or the North Bridge near 14th Street.
The page lists closures for lightning within 10 miles, winds over 32 miles an hour, extreme heat and significant snow. In practice, that means it's a very good place on a calm day and a very bad one in a gale.
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Free to walk into, and a good indoor stop if it's wet. The terminal at 89 East 42nd Street is open daily from 5:15am to 2am, and it has a Dining Concourse for lunch. The terminal's site lists the Whispering Gallery, an acoustic feature, and it's the thing small children tend to like: one person whispers into a corner and another hears it across the arch.
The terminal is a commuter station at the busiest hours, so avoid rush hour with a stroller.
Practical
Free to enter at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, and fully accessible according to the library. The Polonsky Exhibition of the library's treasures is free with timed tickets, and the Rose Main Reading Room is open for quiet study with daily guided tours. Hours at the time of writing: Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm (until 8pm Tuesday and Wednesday), Sunday 1pm to 5pm.
The library says midtown renovation work on building systems may cause temporary disruptions. A quiet room is a hard sell for a six-year-old, so this suits older children best.
Practical
A little stone castle in the middle of Central Park at 79th Street, free to visit, open daily 10am to 5pm (the terrace closes at 4:55pm) except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. The Central Park Conservancy says you can climb to terraces for views, and it still measures temperature, wind and rainfall. Turtle Pond is next door.
No restrooms at the castle, so plan ahead.
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A Smithsonian museum in the old Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House at One Bowling Green, and its page says admission is always free, no tickets required. It has an imagiNATIONS Activity Center for hands-on learning and free audio guides through QR codes. It's open daily 10am to 5pm except December 25.
It's a free place to spend an hour on the way to or from the ferry, and the building itself is worth looking up at. Wheelchairs are available on request, and the ground floor and all exhibitions are accessible.
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Free playgrounds at the southern end of Brooklyn Bridge Park: Slide Mountain, Sandbox Village and Swing Valley, with views of New York Harbor. The park is open 6am to 1am daily, public restrooms are available, and the Water Lab is seasonal. The pier has a wood-fired pizzeria, which is not free, obviously.
The water is right there, so keep small children well back from the edge.
Practical
Free and fully accessible, at Grand Army Plaza next to Prospect Park, with a Youth Wing for children and a grand lobby worth the ride. Posted hours: Monday to Thursday 9am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 9am to 6pm, Sunday 1pm to 5pm. The library has been renovating in phases, so check the page for any closed areas.
A library is a strong free rainy-day plan, and your child will probably find a book they want.
Practical
A small historic house museum inside Prospect Park, free to enter, open Saturday and Sunday 12pm to 5pm and on school breaks from September to November. The park's page describes hands-on activities, performances and imaginative play, a working garden, and exhibits that explore the lives of the Lenape people and of enslaved Africans. It's a good short stop for children who have had enough of the playground.
It isn't open every day, so a weekday visit won't work.
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A 12-acre riverside park on the East River with views of the midtown skyline, free and open from dawn to dusk. There are playgrounds including a tot lot, a seasonal spray pad, a fishing pier, a mist fountain and the old industrial gantries that give it its name. The park hosts nature programs, art classes and fishing events, listed on its page.
The pier is right on the water. In my opinion it's the best free skyline view for a small child, because you can see the whole thing and still be near a slide.
Practical
A working farm at 73-50 Little Neck Parkway, free year-round except on ticketed admission days and for groups. It's open daily 10am to 5pm and has hens, steer, alpacas, sheep, goats and pigs in designated areas, plus a seasonal farmstand. Fall events include the Amazing Maize Maze and an agricultural fair in October, and hayrides run daily (1pm to 4pm on weekdays, 11am to 4pm on weekends, weather permitting). The page doesn't list this fall's event prices, so check the events calendar.
Strollers are allowed but there is no stroller storage. Street parking on Little Neck Parkway is free.
Practical
Admission to the museum and all of its exhibitions and events is, in its own words, always free for everyone. It's at 1040 Grand Concourse, open Wednesday to Sunday 11am to 6pm. The page lists public areas, galleries and restrooms as wheelchair accessible, with complimentary wheelchairs in the lobby.
The museum says it closes on federal holidays and during exhibition changeovers, so check the page before you go. It's the kind of art museum where your child can stand in front of a very big painting and say what they actually think, which is the right way to do it.
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Public gardens and an old estate above the Hudson, at 4900 Independence Avenue. The page says free admission is offered all day on Thursdays (not for organized groups). Other days are $10 for adults, $6 for students and seniors, and $4 for children aged 6 and up. The grounds are open Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 5:30pm, and parking is $13 for non-members, so take a bus or Metro-North and skip that.
It's a garden, not a playground, so it suits children who can look at things quietly and parents who can carry the ones who can't.
Practical
NYC's largest free-admission ice rink, per the park, October 28, 2026 to February 28, 2027. Free means free to skate. Skate rental runs $18.72 to $64.48 depending on date, so bring your own skates if you want it to be properly free. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.
The rink is the big draw, and the Winter Village shops around it are the trap. Decide on the shops before you walk in.
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See also Ice skating in NYC with kids, rink by rink →
See also Free playgrounds and sprinklers →
See also This week's free events in The New York Almanac →
See also Rainy day things to do in NYC with kids →
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The Staten Island Ferry, the High Line, Little Island, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Belvedere Castle in Central Park and Queens County Farm Museum are all free to enter.
Yes. NYC DOT says it provides free service between Whitehall in Manhattan and St. George in Staten Island every day of the week, year-round.
The National Museum of the American Indian and the Bronx Museum of the Arts are always free. Wave Hill is free to all visitors on Thursdays. Other museums offer pay-what-you-wish or free evenings that change, so check each one's page.
Skating at Bryant Park's Winter Village is free to enter (October 28, 2026 to February 28, 2027), but skate rental is not, at $18.72 to $64.48.
Grand Central Terminal, the Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library, the New York Public Library's main building and the National Museum of the American Indian are all free and indoors.
Admission is free year-round except on ticketed admission days and for groups. Hayrides and fall events can cost extra, and the page doesn't list this fall's prices.
Yes. Playgrounds, library story times and the Pier 6 playgrounds in Brooklyn Bridge Park are free, and the Staten Island Ferry is a good first boat ride.
Facts checked against 16 pages on Monday, October 5, 2026. Opening times and prices change, so confirm with the venue.
