Events for Children in NYC This Week

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Our guide to cultural events in New York City for families with children and teenagers.

COMMUNITY DAY OPEN STUDIO at the Noguchi Museum (July 2, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.). Some works by the sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904-88) were as much about water as they were about stone. In this workshop, children 2 through 11 are invited to learn suminagashi, a form of paper marbling whose name in Japanese means “floating ink.” Participants will first look at natural patterns, particularly those involving water, in Noguchi’s sculptures, then use water and ink to make their own marbled papers. Visitors 12 and older may also want to take part in a 2 p.m. informal tour of the highlights of this Queens museum’s collection.
718-204-7088, noguchi.org

FAMILY ART WORKSHOP: WATERCOLOR LANDSCAPES at the Staten Island Museum (July 1, 1-3 p.m.). The approaching Fourth of July holiday may make you think of your own corner of America the Beautiful. That’s the idea behind the latest version of “Staten Island SEEN,” the museum’s show featuring both historical and contemporary artworks portraying the borough. Inspired by the exhibition, this drop-in workshop invites children to use watercolors and a range of techniques to make their own landscapes of places real or imaginary.
718-727-1135, statenislandmuseum.org

‘LIVING HISTORY’ and ‘CELEBRATING AMERICAN IDENTITIES’ at the New-York Historical Society (July 1-2, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; July 4, 10 a.m.). Independence Day tends to be all about the founding fathers, but this museum plans also to honor founding mothers and brave but lesser-known patriots. The fun begins Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with “Living History,” when children can meet re-enactors portraying washerwomen and female cooks and camp followers, as well as practice drills with men playing members of the Continental Army’s Third New Jersey Regiment. On Tuesday those mock soldiers will appear again as part of “Celebrating American Identities,” along with African-Americans recreating the First Rhode Island Regiment, a unit that accepted blacks. (A 1778 local law that was briefly in effect promised that colony’s slaves freedom if they enlisted.) Tuesday will also offer Independence-themed crafts, a Revolutionary trivia quiz for family teams (2 and 4 p.m.), and a chance to post notes on a wall reflecting on the meaning of the Constitution’s words “We the People.” Finally, the Hudson River Ramblers will perform three shows of Revolutionary songs and stories, including that of Sybil Ludington (1761-1839), who, at 16, is said to have ridden longer than Paul Revere to warn patriots about British troops.
212-873-3400, nyhistory.org

MAD. SQ. KIDS: JOANIE LEEDS & THE NIGHTLIGHTS on Farragut Lawn, Madison Square Park (July 6, 10:30 a.m.; rain location, Farragut Monument). This free show may take place in Manhattan, but its heart lies deep in Brooklyn: It will celebrate the release of “Brooklyn Baby!,” this band’s eighth album, which caps Ms. Leeds’s own journey from a childless life on the Upper West Side to parenthood in Williamsburg. She has always, however, been in tune with the young, having specialized in child-friendly versions of folk, rock, pop, hip-hop and even punk. Part of the Madison Square Park Conservancy’s Mad. Sq. Kids summer series of Thursday morning concerts, this song fest is likely to feature odes to urban transportation (“Subway,” “Ferry Nice”), food (“Pizza”) and education (“Library Book”).
212-538-4071, madisonsquarepark.org/kids

OH SAY CAN YOU SING?! at ShapeShifter Lab (July 1, 10:30 a.m.). Don’t worry if you can’t — all voices, on key and not, are invited to join this rousing family celebration of Americana. The concert will feature two groups that draw on history for their material: the married folk-rock duo Red Yarn, from Portland, Ore., known for performing with beguiling puppets as well as with instruments; and the Deedle Deedle Dees, the Brooklyn-based rocking trio led by the songwriter and educator Lloyd H. Miller. Red Yarn’s new album, “Born in the Deep Woods,” features both original and roots music, while the Deedle Deedle Dees’ latest, “Sing-a-Long History Volume II: The Rocket Went Up!” focuses on scientists and explorers, male and female. Together in Brooklyn, they’ll salute the United States’ birthday.
646-820-9452, shapeshifterlab.com

STORIES AT THE STATUE OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN in Central Park (July 1, 11 a.m.). Along with pickup games and live music, some of the best free summer fun in the park comes in the form of stories. Every Saturday morning through September, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, the Central Park Conservancy and the Hans Christian Andersen Storytelling Center bring narrative performers to this beloved statue. And you’ll encounter far more than Andersen’s tales here. This Saturday Megan Hicks will tell “King Thrushbeard,” a little-known Brothers Grimm work about a selfish princess’s comeuppance, and Navida Stein will offer “Old Woman and the Pumpkin,” a sort of “Little Red Riding Hood” in reverse, from India. Here it’s the elderly title character who outsmarts some hungry beasts on her way to and from her daughter’s house in the forest.
hcastorycenter.org

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