Adoptapalooza

This event presents an opportunity to make a new best friend, and these potential pals don’t care whether you’re cool or how you dress or how good you are at sports. They’re the many dogs, cats and rabbits, already vaccinated and neutered, at this pet-adoption celebration from the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals. In addition to a host of friendly creatures needing new homes, the day will include face painting, an emergency preparedness clinic for pet owners, dog training sessions and giveaways. While adoption fees vary, the event itself is free.

Bronx Zoo Children’s Zoo Grand Reopening

After a renovation, the Children’s Zoo at the Bronx Zoo is officially reopening this weekend, with lots of real animals — the new species include the giant anteater and the world’s smallest deer, the pudu — and one fictional one: Peppa Pig, star of the Nick Jr. television series that bears her name. Peppa will visit the opening celebration on both days at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., and small visitors can make Peppa masks. The weekend will also offer music and dance performances, guided tours of the remodeled Children’s Zoo (every half-hour from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), and appearances by Brendan Wenzel, the artist who did the exhibits’ new graphics, who will sign the latest book he’s illustrated, “Some Bugs.”

‘My City Park’

Joni Mitchell sang about the dangers of paving paradise and putting up a parking lot. In this free puppet musical from New York City Children’s Theater, developers are razing a city park and putting up a shopping mall. But Milo, the little boy at the heart of the show, written by Brooke Boertzel and Melissa Gordon for ages 3 through 7, isn’t just accepting it; he enlists the help of his best friends, Odessa the Owl and Bucky the Squirrel.

NatureFest

Lots of children, and not a few furry or scaly creatures, will enjoy the wilds of Staten Island at this 14th annual event. Presented by the Staten Island Museum, this free festival will welcome young naturalists with guided walks in the woods, recycling games, a mineral and rock display and opportunities to build fires as the Lenape Indians did. Participating organizations will include the Greenbelt Nature Center and the Metropolitan Herpetological Society.

‘Friday Night for Teens’

Adolescents love to congregate, but not necessarily under the watchful eye of parents. This free event gives them a safe space in which to play games (including foosball and table tennis), watch a movie, eat pizza and snacks and just relax. Responsible adults will be present, but they’ll be parks programming leaders who are there to facilitate the fun; moms and dads aren’t allowed.

World Science Festival

Journeys to the stars and intriguing pursuits on Earth are among the topics to be explored as the festival winds up this weekend. Events include “Space Exploration: Reaching New Heights,” a daylong program on Friday and Saturday at Pier 86, outside the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, where children can investigate infrared cameras, make seltzer-powered rockets and interact with NASA scientists. All three days, the space-obsessed can also visit the NASA Orbit Pavilion, a huge interactive and data-filled sculpture at Gould Plaza at New York University. “Night Lights, Big City,” May 30 from 7 to 11 p.m. at Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, offers a chance to observe constellations (telescopes will be provided), talk to astronomers and meet astronauts. “Cool Jobs,” on May 30 at 2 p.m. at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, gathers a wildlife handler, an astronaut, a marine biologist and others to discuss their careers. “Science and Storytime,” May 31 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the N.Y.U. Kimmel Center, features authors reading from, and signing, children’s books on science. “What Is Sleep?,” May 31 at 1 p.m. at the Skirball Center, seeks to answer that provocative question. Finally, the Ultimate Science Street Fair, on May 31 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, delivers an entire day of science exhibits and activities. Schedule and details are at http://ift.tt/17cYvnz; many events are free. 

Lyka’s Adventure at Children’s Museum of the Arts

Few robots could be described as cute and cuddly, but Lyka qualifies. A plush toy with a digital brain, she’ll visit the Children’s Museum of the Arts along with her creator, Lance Weiler, and his son, Dylan. Lyka’s story is that she’s trying to save her home planet and needs the help of Earth’s children. Interacting with her provides educational experiences, and young visitors can also record messages for her at the museum’s sound booth and recreate her journeys in its animation studio.

Memorial Day Weekend at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan

This museum is usually closed on Mondays, but it makes an exception for Memorial Day, when children are invited to join the national celebration. On both Sunday and Monday, they can honor the holiday in drop-in workshops to make poppies in the colors of the American flag. On Monday only, those 4 and younger will make art installations inspired by fireworks. On Sunday, the weekend will also offer a program for ages 5 and older (sign-up is required) in creating three-dimensional felt designs with the accessories designer Kate Cusack. There’s less sedentary fun, too: On Saturday, the Super Sprowtz, vegetable characters that try to dance their way into children’s hearts (and stomachs), will give performances about nutritious eating, and on Sunday, EXPG Boys, a hip-hop group from Japan, will demonstrate some sizzling moves. (Both events require tickets.)

Wave Hill Celebration Parade

Many parades will take place this holiday weekend, but this will be different from most: Children will create the floats and decorations, and they will not honor past sacrifices but two anniversaries: the 50th of Wave Hill, the public garden in the Bronx, and the 25th of the garden’s family art project, a weekend activity. On Saturday and Sunday, that project will entail making flower shakers and leafy costumes, and working with the visiting artist Virva Hinnemo to design nature-inspired wagon floats for a blossoming march through the grounds.

Teen Art Workshop: ‘Natalie Frank: The Brothers Grimm’

The Drawing Center’s series of free Teen Art Workshops welcomes visitors ages 13 through 17 to explore exhibitions and respond to them creatively. This Saturday the focus is “Natalie Frank: The Brothers Grimm,” a show in which Ms. Frank uses gouache, pastels and decoration to interpret Grimm fairy tales with a feminist slant and in all their original brutality. After lively investigation and discussion, the young visitors will illustrate these stories with their own drawings.

“Shonibare Summer’ Workshops

Yinka Shonibare, an artist with roots in England and Nigeria, has brought his work — which questions national, racial and class identity — to the Morris-Jumel Mansion. In conjunction with that site-specific exhibition, this historic house is holding workshops in which visitors can make investigative and artistic journeys of their own. On Saturday, it will offer two programs for families: the first, from 10 a.m. to noon, is for children with autism and will engage them in making soft sculpture. The second, from 1 to 3 p.m. and open to all, will deal with fashion plates, the illustrations that portrayed the height of style in the years before photography. Children will learn about these designs and create versions of them.

‘Birds in Flight’

The Bronx Zoo has plenty of birds, but this event focuses as much on the species that just pass through the zoo as on those that are its permanent residents. At 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., Animal Behavior & Conservation Connections will show examples of different species, local and global, that it has rescued and rehabilitated. Flight demonstrations will include a red-shouldered hawk, sun conures, a turkey vulture, a Eurasian eagle owl and scarlet- and green-winged macaws.

‘Totally Terrific Turtle Weekend’

Anyone who has read Aesop’s fables knows that you should never underestimate a tortoise — or a turtle. Wave Hill, the public garden in the Bronx, will be celebrating those creatures all weekend. On both Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the family art project, “Shield Me With a Turtle Shell,” will allow young visitors to transform themselves by creating wearable stuffed shells out of fabric and leather scraps. These little “turtles” can then take part in a slow parade through the grounds. They can also meet real turtles on Sunday only, at 1 p.m., when the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum presents “Let’s Talk Turtles,” a program about these animals and their fascinating lives.

‘Chuggington Live! The Great Rescue Adventure’

First came Thomas the Tank Engine and all his friends. Now we have Wilson, Brewster and Koko, the more modern trains in “Chuggington,” a preschool series on the Disney and Disney Jr. channels. These young locomotives are chugging onto the stage in this live musical adaptation of the television show, in which Wilson and Brewster have to use teamwork and skills to aid Koko, who’s run into trouble at Rocky Ridge Mine.

Muslim Arts Festival: ‘Design in the Community’

Many American children are exposed to only negative images of Islam. At this celebration, they can experience the rich cultural heritage of the Muslim world through activities like a virtual tour of mosque architecture (10 a.m.) and a reading of Hena Khan’s book ”Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns” (12:30 p.m.) The museum will also offer two sign-up workshops for ages 5 and older: On Saturday at 3 and 4 p.m., children can experiment with traditional Moroccan rug weaving with the designer Alia Kate, and on Sunday at 2 and 3:30 p.m., they can create costumes with the help of the designer Basil El Halwagy.

‘Revolution of the Eye’ Family Day

In the 20th century, art and television were young upstarts, and one profoundly influenced the other: That’s the message behind “Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television,” a new exhibition at the Jewish Museum. In this Family Day, children can tour the show and do activities based on its exhibits, including sketching superheroes and creating wearable art inspired by Andy Warhol. A special highlight will be drawing exercises based on the 1950s series “Winky Dink and You,” a pioneer in interactive children’s television. Gustafer Yellowgold, himself a multimedia performer, will also play concerts at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m.

‘Teens on Broadway’

Many young actors can only dream of appearing on Broadway. But Circle in the Square Theater School allows a lucky — and talented — group of adolescents to do that every year. Its Teens on Broadway program, which gives mentoring advice and career preparation to students in local performing arts high schools, presents a showcase of the participants’ best work from their schools each spring. Hosted by Christian Dante White, from the cast of “The Book of Mormon,” this year’s production will include students from four boroughs.

Carnegie Kids: ‘Songs for Unusual Creatures’

At this free program, recommended for ages 3 through 6, the composer and musician Michael Hearst will celebrate animals you may never have heard of on instruments you may never have heard. Drawn from his album “Songs for Unusual Creatures,” this presentation, part of the series Carnegie Kids, will playfully investigate species like the blobfish, the elephant shrew and the blue-footed booby, using instruments like the stylophone, the claviola and the theremin. Video imagery will allow young audience members to see these wild things, too.

‘The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley’

The earth may not be flat, but Stanley is. The boy hero of the book “Flat Stanley,” by Jeff Brown, Stanley loses his three-dimensionality when a bulletin board falls on him. But he just merrily mails himself around the world, having exotic adventures while searching for a way to regain his normal shape. He arrives in Brooklyn on Saturday in this musical adaptation from Dallas Children’s Theater.

Preservation Detectives: ‘Old-Time Street Games’

The Museum at Eldridge Street, the 1887 landmark synagogue where many Jewish immigrants worshiped, offers “Preservation Detectives” tours in which children 4 to 10 can view artifacts, investigate neighborhood lore and sleuth their way into the past. This month they’ll pursue history outside rather than in: “Old-Time Street Games” celebrates activities like stickball, stoop ball, hit the penny and potsy. Participants can try these and other old pastimes in Seward Park, followed by a traditional conclusion: a trip to the candy store.

New York Children’s Theater Festival

They may remind you of Harold and Maude, but these two are only friends: Howard is 8, and Lillian is 80. They’re the central characters in “Help Save the Monkey!,” the show that is playing in the third weekend of this year’s New York Children’s Theater Festival, a monthlong celebration whose productions — a new one each week — are chosen from submissions sent to a large group of theater professionals. Created by Liz Hara and Marta Mozelle MacRostie, the production deals with the pair’s efforts to rescue Lillian’s monkey, which is about to land from outer space.

Mother’s Day Weekend Festival

At this celebration, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan is inviting young visitors to salute their mothers in ways both homey and high-tech. Little ones 4 and younger can make and decorate oven mitts as gifts, while those over 5 can mix and mold soaps. Children of all ages will be able to enlist their mothers in building Lego robots at a drop-in workshop. And students from the Fashion Institute of Technology will help everyone create family portraits with disposable cameras.

Harlem Children’s Theater Festival

The City College of New York is one of the few institutions nationwide to offer a graduate program in educational theater, and once a year, local children can reap the benefits of that training. This free event, formerly called Family Arts Day, features activities and games devised by the students. Geared to ages 2 to 10, the day will include storytelling, play performances, singalongs and a raffle.

Yorkville Scavenger Hunt

The Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, a preservation organization, is challenging families to discover traces of old Germany in contemporary Manhattan. Participants in this scavenger hunt — they can come in teams or be assigned to them on arrival — will explore the Yorkville neighborhood and earn points by carrying out tasks like discovering a 150-year-old farmhouse or tracking down the world’s best apple strudel. Prizes, a reception and a deeper knowledge of local history will all follow. The event is free, but registration is required.

Bronx Zoo Birdathon

The Bronx Zoo has plenty of birds, but this event will focus as much on the species that just pass through the zoo as on those that are its permanent residents. Starting early in the morning, visitors will receive a checklist of migratory and local wild birds that might be glimpsed during a trip through the zoo. Participants who see the most birds on the checklist can win prizes; children’s activities will also include building feeders and nest boxes, trying out binoculars, dressing as favorite species and talking to zoo ornithologists. On both Saturday and Sunday at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., and again on May 16, 17, 23 and 24, the zoo will also hold demonstrations at which Animal Behavior & Conservation Connections show wild birds in flight.

New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concert: ‘Dance Transformed’

How many ways can you waltz? The Philharmonic will examine the evolution of this dance form in this final concert in the season’s Young People’s Concert series, Super Sonic Music Box. Alan Gilbert, the orchestra’s music director, will make his New York debut leading one of these programs. The bill will range from Johann Strauss II’s “On the Beautiful Blue Danube” to Bernstein’s “Mambo” from “West Side Story,” and, as usual, children arriving early can expect musical demonstrations and videos before the concert begins. (The Philharmonic and Uniqlo will also be conducting a clothing drive for the homeless; audience members can bring gently used garments to deposit in bins around the hall.)

‘The Bad Birthday’

A birthday really can be bad when everyone wants a piece of it — specifically, a piece of the cake that the young twins in this story can’t afford to bake for themselves. Presented by the World Voices Program of the New Perspectives Theater Company, “The Bad Birthday” chronicles the children’s efforts to obtain ingredients with the help of their neighbors, who demand cake in return, leaving the twins with the prospect of none. Actors and puppets both have roles in Rick Balian’s script, which is based on a Mexican folk tale and shows how the birthday kids manage to have their cake and eat it, too.

Family Programs at the Rubin Museum of Art

It’s time to explore the Himalayas. That region is the specialty of the Rubin Museum of Art, and children can investigate it in two programs this weekend. On Saturday, from 2 to 4 p.m., Family Art Lab will present “Magical Masks,” a workshop to invent creative disguises. Young participants will use the museum’s show “Becoming Another: The Power of Masks” as a springboard. On Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m., the museum will host its continuing Family Sundays program, a series consisting of gallery exploration and art making. May’s theme is origami, a craft thought to have beneficial effects on the practitioner.

‘Meet the Fledglings With the Wild Bird Fund’

The Wild Bird Fund is like an E.R. for animals: Injured wildlife, especially the winged variety, is taken there every day for treatment. In conjunction with the “Audubon’s Aviary” exhibition at the New-York Historical Society, the Fund will visit the Society’s DiMenna Children’s History Museum in a program for visitors 5 and older. Children will learn about New York bird species and their rehabilitation, make nests for the fund’s “patients” and not only meet  baby birds, but also feed them. (Only children at least 5 can take part in this activity.)

‘Hatched’

Field trips sometimes take city children to farms, but this piece will take the farm to the children. Written by Mara McEwin and presented by the troupe Treehouse Shakers, this production for the youngest theatergoers — infants to 6-year-olds — uses dance, storytelling and handmade puppets to recreate the experience of a chick breaking out of its shell and encountering other animals, including a rooster, a calf, a lamb and baby birds.

‘Hello From Japan!’

Japanese culture comprises both unbridled whimsy and serene seriousness. Young visitors can get acquainted with these two sides at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, which recreates different aspects of Tokyo in this new exhibition. One-half of the show, Kawaii Central, captures the fun of the city’s Harajuku district with the opportunity to sing karaoke, serve a Japanese meal and create cute, cartoonlike family mascots. The exhibition’s other half includes a Shinto shrine park, where young visitors can build a bridge, meet kami (spirits) and express their desires at a wishing tree. Programs, free with museum admission, accompany the show.

‘The Gazillion Bubble Show: The Next Generation’

Children love bubbles, and this interactive show promises not just a gazillion but also some of the largest ever blown, along with light effects and lasers. The stars are the members of the Yang family: Fan and Ana Yang and their son Deni and others, who rotate as M.C.s for the production. Audience members may even find themselves in bubbles of their own.

‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’

If the children of the Pevensie family could travel to the magical land of Narnia through something as simple as a wardrobe, why shouldn’t two hard-working actors be able to play them and all the characters found there? That’s what Abigail Taylor-Sansom and her husband, Rockford Sansom, are attempting in the Off Broadway Family Theater’s first production, le Clanché du Rand’s adaptation of C. S. Lewis’s classic novel. (The run is open-ended.)

Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower

This concert is a family affair. Elizabeth Mitchell, who specializes in creating children’s versions of classic folk tunes, will perform with her daughter, Storey, and her husband, Daniel Littleton, at the Jewish Museum. Joining them will be Ms. Mitchell’s band You Are My Flower and assorted guests. Young listeners 3 and older can expect to hear original music, too, from Ms. Mitchell’s albums “Catch the Moon” and “Blue Clouds.”