Photograph: Luciana Golcman
Photograph: Luciana Golcman

Governors Island Opening Day Family Festival

Memorial Day events and activities for New York City kids 2014

Celebrate the unofficial start of summer with Memorial Day events like outdoor concerts, new exhibits and ceremonies to honor those in the armed services.

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More than just high time for buying white shoes, Memorial Day weekend means three full days of activities with the family. With the openings of some of our favorite summer attractions like city beachesGovernors Island (celebrate by hitting up Saturday’s family festival), the Front Row Cinema Series, the Bronx Zoo’s Dinosaur Safari, and the Coney Island Museum (reopening after 18 months of renovations!), this weekend looks to be action-packed with Memorial Day events and activities. Enjoy all the fun happenings the city has to offer, and make sure to say “thank you” to the soldiers and veterans at home and abroad at one of the city's special Memorial Day events. Scroll through our picks for each day of the long weekend and have a wonderful Memorial Day for kids!

Hop on board the ferry to Governors Island, where CMA will be hosting free family art workshops led by in-house teaching artists all summer long. This season's activities will be inspired by the island itself, with projects showing the importance of nature and parks. Get ready to track down natural and recyclable materials, add to installations and interact with the environment. Meet outside Building 14 in Nolan Park. Ages 1 to 12.

Liberty Science Center is feting the 40-year anniversary of the Rubik's Cube with an interactive, 7,000-square-foot installation where kids can play with the 26-foot-tall Groovik's Cube, which is so big you need three people to work it; check out robots that solve the puzzle faster than people can; play a kid-friendly game called Cube Match; and contribute to a collaborative mural. They'll likely be inspired by the artifacts—rubber bands, paper clips and wood blocks—Hungarian-born Emo Rubik used to come up with the iconic 3-D invention in 1974. All ages.

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Dinosaur Safari, a guided wagon tour past life-like, animatronic dinosaur species, returns to the Bronx Zoo featuring our favorite prehistoric pals, plus nine new species. Accompanying the exhibit is a field site where tykes can dig up fossils, a paleontologist's tent complete with a fossil museum and an interactive robot dinosaur demonstrating how the animatronics work. All ages.

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Annual Kings County Fair
Annual Kings County Fair

Older kids can enjoy a bevvy of stomach-churning roller coasters, while little ones have fun on tamer rides. Other classic carnival treats include a Ferris wheel, cotton candy and funnel cakes. All ages.

This 40-minute 3D adventure takes the audience on a river rafting trip along the Colorado River with Robert F. Kennedy Junior and Wade Davis, accompanied by their daughters and led by Havasupi tribe member Shana Watahomigie. Learn how to make a difference as our planet runs out of clean, fresh water. The film is narrated by Robert Redford and features the music of Dave Matthews Band. Ages 8 and up.

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