Prospect Park: Does My Blog Need a New Name?

Charlie, Vivi, and me--and my 50-pound bag of snacks en route to Prospect Park

I am thinking of changing the name of my blog to “Eating Snacks in Different Places with My Kids”:

Here was what was on my list of things to do with Charlie and Vivi in Prospect Park:

• Chill out in the 90-acre Long Meadow
• Pedal boat on Brooklyn’s only freshwater lake
• Hike one of the park’s four nature trails
• Check out the sculpture of Peter from Ezra Jack Keats’ The Snowy Day at the Imagination Playground
• Visit the Audubon Center for their hands-on exhibits and family programs
• Ride the old-fashioned carousel
• Go back in time at Lefferts Historic House
• See some of the Zoo’s 400 animals

Here is what we actually did:

Discovered a pencil at the bottom of the Bailey Fountain in Grand Army Plaza and ate snacks

Paused to examine a sewer grate and ate snacks

Overturned rocks to look for centipedes and other assorted creepy-crawlies and ate snacks

Visited the Zoo for approximately eight minutes before starting to whine about lunch

Were riveted by the automatic beverage vending machine while eating lunch at the Zoo

Watered the garden at Lefferts Historic House in the hope of growing our own snack plants

Enjoyed ice cream after riding on what our three-year-old friend Alie called “the carous-wheel!”

Gathered extremely valuable treasures like broken glass (called, inexplicably, by Charlie, “super-glass”), a broken pair of eyeglasses, an empty beer can, assorted sticks of varying sizes, and the plastic top from a Wendy’s Frosty and polished off the last of the snacks on the way to the subway home

Prospect Park; Brooklyn; We took the 2/3 train to Grand Army Plaza station, but the park is also accessible via the F/Q/S/B trains; www.prospectpark.org; Open daily, sunrise to 1:00 AM; *Free* (Prospect Park Zoo is open daily from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM during the summer and is $7 for adults, $3 for children ages 3-12 and free for members of the Wildlife Conservation Society; The Carousel is open from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM Thursday-Sunday during June and is $2 per ride)

Bronx Zoo

First the good news: Wednesday is Free Day at the Bronx Zoo.

Now, the bad news: Wednesday is Free Day at the Bronx Zoo.

If you aren’t a member of the Bronx Zoo, you will benefit by going on pay-what-you-wish Wednesday and not having to fork over the full general admission fee ($15 for adults and $11 for children 3-12). If you do have a zoo membership, I would highly recommend going on any day except Wednesday. Although the people-watching may provide some entertainment value and lead one to wonder who really is looking at whom at the zoo, it is not enough to overcome the annoyingly long lines for everything from the restrooms to just hoping to catch a glimpse of the new lion cubs.

To avoid the crowds, we stuck mostly to the special rides and attractions, which still cost extra unless you are a member: The Bug Carousel, The Butterfly Garden, a new Dora & Diego 4D movie, the zoo shuttle, and the Children’s Zoo.

Each weekend through the end of June, the zoo is hosting Animal Tales Extravaganza, a series of readings, talks, and events designed to introduce young children to wildlife and children’s literature. The entire list of featured books can be found on the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers (NAIBA) website at http://www.naiba.com/files/zoo_flyer.pdf, but here are a few of our favorites:

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Book by Rod Campbell
• Bugs! By David T. Greenberg
• Birds by Kevin Henkes
• Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet by David McLimans
• Wild About Books by Judith Sierra, Marc Brown (Illustrator)
• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

Instead of riding a traditional carousel horse, kids can take their pick from ladybugs, praying mantises, grasshoppers, and fireflies on The Bug Carousel

The Butterfly Garden

The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Wild About Books by Judith Sierra, Marc Brown (Illustrator)

Rocking the 3D glasses for Dora & Diego’s 4D Adventure, a high-definition 3D movie combined with special wind, water, and lighting effects

Relaxing in the life-sized bird’s nest at the Children’s Zoo

Exploring a hollow log at the Children’s Zoo

Bronx Zoo, The Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460, www.bronxzoo.org; Open Monday to Friday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Weekends and Holidays 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM; General admission (does not include special rides and attractions): $15 for adults; $11 for children 3-12; Best value is a family membership for $124 a year, which includes free admission to not only the Bronx Zoo--including free passes to special rides and attractions and parking passes--but also to the New York Aquarium, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and Queens Zoo