5 Nights in New York with an 11 year old

[WhatAtodododo]

I would be grateful if anyone who has been to New York has any good ideas of what to do (or possibly what not to do!) with an 11 year old. We have a show booked on Broadway, a couple of restaurants booked. Obviously I have been doing some research but was wondering people's opinions on what would be great to do with an 11 year old girl who loves animals, shopping, discovering new places, fun restaurants etc. We are staying in Times Square location wise. Thanks.

took my 12 and 13yo DD and DS last year - here are my recommendations i wrote up for a friend

here are my NYC notes/recommendations:
HighLine - https://www.thehighline.org/visit/ public park running through a chunk of lower west Manhattan, in a converted train track above the ground

Guggenheim museum - amazing building, art depends on the exhibitions showing at the time https://www.guggenheim.org/plan-your-visit/

The Met https://www.metmuseum.org/ - this was incredible, a combination of our British Museum & National Gallery. spent a morning there and saw about 5% of it!

American Museum of Natural History - great if you love dinosaurs. the rest of it was a bit meh.

The Circle Line - boat trip around Manhattan. amazing views - the tour guide drove us bananas however, he talked for 2.5hrs solid. https://www.circleline.com/

Exploring Chinatown / Little Italy / Soho - i did a walking tour which was very interesting, lots of history & gory mafia facts! https://www.getyourguide.com/new-york-city-l59/soho-little-italy-chinatown-tour-t46043/?rankinguuid=977e3273-baa9-4747-a49d-981b5413d0f6 probably not one for the whole family however, kids might get a bit bored. you can navigate around it yourself easily enough.

Koreatown - really just a couple of streets, but fun and great food

for any Ghostbusters fans - swing by Hook & Ladder 8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firehouse,Hook%26LadderCompany8 and the Central Park West building https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/55CentralParkWest

Broadway - great but expensive! we saw Aladdin and MJ the Musical.

Carnegie Hall - beautiful interior, if you enjoy concerts then worth checking what's on.

Apple Store - the big one nr Central Park/the Plaza. great fun for any young Apple product fans.

Times square is iconic, great for shopping and restaurants. I went a bit mad in the Hello Kitty shop but I was a bit older than your daughter. There maybe a walk you can do around locations of tv shows. I reallywanted to do the SATC walk with my Mum but we didn't have time, they do a Friends one too, though she is probably a bit young for that

We went to NY when DD was 11. She’s a big Harry Potter fan so loved shopping in the big HP store. We saw Cursed Child as well.
Id your DD likes Jellycats - as lots do - there’s the Jellycat diner at FAO Schwarz
Going up the Empire State building is a must, I would say and mine also loved riding the Staten Island ferry, which I think is still free??
She also loved a thing we did called Rise, which is a small museum about NY but ends with with one of these rides where it’s like your soaring above manhattan, which was really good fun