A 5-day New York plan for families (kids ~6 & 9)

The newer Gilder Center adds a live butterfly vivarium and an insectarium, and for the first time lets you walk the whole 10-building campus without hitting a dead end, which matters when you're steering tired kids. Strollers are welcome throughout, except in the theaters, which have dedicated stroller parking.

Walk in and let the kids run; nobody needs a ticket for that.

The Central Park Zoo is small and walkable, and the sea lion and penguin feedings run on a schedule kids love to catch. In the Tisch Children's Zoo nearby, little ones get close to goats, sheep and pigs. Cap it with a ride on the vintage hand-carved Central Park Carousel, mid-park near 65th Street.

Heckscher Playground, the park's largest, near 7th Avenue and Central Park South, has separate areas for younger and older kids, restrooms on site and summer sprinklers: the place to burn the last hour.

The Staten Island Ferry is free, runs all day every day, and carries you 25 minutes past the Statue of Liberty and the Lower Manhattan skyline. No tickets and no fixed boarding time is exactly the low-stress setup you want with a 6- and 9-year-old. For the best Statue views, stand on the right leaving Manhattan and on the left coming back.

If a boat doesn't appeal, The Battery at Manhattan's southern tip has open waterfront, harbor views and room to roam without boarding anything.

Jane's Carousel, a restored 1922 carousel in a glass pavilion on the East River, is an inexpensive, low-key hit at this age. Around it, Brooklyn Bridge Park is free, with big playgrounds, open lawns and the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges overhead: the kind of view kids actually remember. The carousel runs a reduced off-season schedule and closes some weekdays, so check the day's hours.

If the carousel line is long or it's closed, the park's playgrounds and lawns are plenty on their own, and they cost nothing.

The High Line is an elevated park on an old rail line, mostly flat, with gardens, public art and city views from above the street. Its Pershing Square Beams section was redesigned for kids to climb and play, so they get a stop to move, not just stroll. Walk as much of the 1.5-mile path as they have in them, then exit at street level.

Little Island, the small park on pilings over the Hudson nearby, has paths, lawns and an amphitheater: a calm green place to land if the High Line feels too busy.