Bensonhurst, NY Indoor Activities

Founded by philosopher, playwright, and actor Johannes Galli, the Galli Theater celebrates childhood and strives to help its actors and audiences reveal their true selves with modern adaptations of fairy tales. Each year the nonprofit organization produces more than eight family-friendly productions designed to "help participants gain self-confidence, learn new languages and cultures, improve acting skills, and increase health and wellness," according to its website. With performances of well-known and widely loved titles such as Aladdin, The Princess and the Pea, and Snow White, both audiences and actors leave each show having learned valuable life lessons and different clapping styles.

Since 1952, this nonsectarian Jewish community center has entertained, strengthened, and educated community members with enriching programs and recreational services. Around 780 people a day lift weights, splash in the pool, or attend book readings. Children and teens absorb knowledge about scholastics, cooking, crafts, and drama during after-school programs and summer camps, while adults talk literature in book clubs, stretch out during yoga sessions, or unwind by meditating in a room filled with stacks of already-completed taxes. Seniors, meanwhile, can play a round of billiards or backgammon in a social club, learn basic computer skills, or take free, arthritis-friendly aerobics classes. The dedicated staff make a point of welcoming all community members by speaking Russian, Hebrew, Chinese, Spanish, and Upper East Side.

Change can be terrifying, but at The Exercise Studio, owner Millie Miraglia and her team of seven instructors help students of all levels face their fears as they transform their bodies with classes that combine the principles of yoga with effective cardio workouts. The Brooklyn-based studio, with a classroom on each of its two floors, has been opened for almost three decades and offers women-only Zumba and fitness sessions—including total-body workouts and body toning—and Hatha and Vinyasa-style yoga classes are open to both women and men. Offering small classes with one-on-one instruction, the Exercise Studio even goes one step further to ensure students learn how to lead healthy lives by providing regular workshops and courses that have included classes on restorative yoga and how to balance one's chakra using just a paper clip and a stick of gum.

As a cancer survivor, Millie knows firsthand how negative emotions can impact the healing process, which is why she created The Exercise Studio's Pathways to Healing. The noninvasive stress-management program is designed to help clients bring balance back to their mind and body by using a blend of restorative yoga, meditation, and reiki modalities.

The white walls, paper lanterns, and polished hardwood floors make up most of Studio Maya's austere space. During the week, lifelong dancer Maya Jocelyn hosts fitness classes for women and men, drawing on the conditioning techniques used by dancers and the modern science of sports medicine to draw up the blueprints of her own signature exercise routines. On weekends, when she's not sculpting bodies, she transforms the space into an artists' haven, inviting actors to rehearse, painters and photographers to exhibit their work, and mimes to overcome creative hurdles and learn to think outside the box.

An emporium of all things gamingfrom Magic: The Gathering to board games and computer games¬Kings Games entertains and delights visitors throughout the day. After perusing their vast selection of collectible card games, board games, and tabletop role-playing games, visitors can stroll upstairs to the game room or stop in the internet café. Printers and copiers take care of gamers' business needs, and the computers' preloaded video games pit players against each other over the local area network or online. Their gaming schedule is also packed to the brim with HeroClix and Magic tourneys.