Things to do / Travel Guide
Parents looking for vacation ideas that they hope will also please their kids can rely on Long Island to deliver the goods. Ideas for summer sun and sand recreation are seemingly limitless on Long Island. Miles and miles of sandy shorelines particularly along Shelter Island and the South Shore await transformation into sandcastles and imaginative sand creatures, and for children who you still need to keep an eye on there's the Meschutt Beach County Park, located on Great Peconic Bay, has a still-water, supervised bathing beach. Young children's interest may spark when they discover Fire Island's wagoning tradition - local youth transport willing customers around in their wagons to earn an extra buck. Fire Island also has nearly 30 miles of beaches covered with shells, good for starting a collection. Long Island's numerous state parks and wildlife preserves provide hours of plant, bird, and animal observation opportunities for your beloved neophyte naturalists. Children particularly enjoy learning about the plants and animal habitats located along the trails of Sands Point Preserve. If you're all feeling a bit zoo-ey anyway, better to just succumb to the vibe and head to one of Long Island's zoos. The Long Island Game Farm Wildlife Park in Manorville is Long Island's largest zoo with domestic and exotic animals. The interactive programs of the Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery & Aquarium will make your kids googly-eyed over fish, and you'll have big fun spotting big fins on Montauk Harbor, Riverhead, and Oyster Bay whale-watching tours.
In the summer, children can try their hand (or foot) at clamming. When you head to the beaches of Shelter Island or Fire Island, children can stick their toes in the sand and pull up the live creatures. Fruit is always sweeter when you pick it yourself, so seafood-phobic kids may prefer some fun rural recreation picking fresh Long Island produce at one of the region's many U-Pick programs. Visiting Long Island in the winter? Don't despair! Sledding turns Long Island into a winter wonderland - while it is best at Bald Hill in Farmingville, sensational sledding is available in many Long Island communities, weather-permitting, of course.
Hempstead Lake State Park in Hempstead has a 1925, hand-carved wooden carousel that is fully operational. The Long Island Children's Museum has a wide variety of hands-on, interactive exhibits that will delight kids of all ages. The fossil dig at the new Dinosaur Walk Museum in Riverhead will be a hit of mammoth proportions. You can let your children practice flying the roost at the Cradle of Aviation Museum (East Garden City), where flight and aircraft exhibits include the hands-on mock cockpit of a WWI fighter. Buy penny candy and give your children a taste of the past at St. James General Store on the North Shore. Built in 1857, St. James General Store is the United States' oldest, continuously operating general store, and now features 19th century merchandise and unique handcrafts. And for further forays into the fray of what-was, head to the historic Stony Brook Village and Old Bethpage Restoration Village and spend the day immersed in an old-fashioned way of life.
Family Vacation Ideas in Long Island, the Hamptons, Montauk, Fire Island
Family-Vacation-Ideas
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