Families living near the pretty Nomahegan Park in Cranford, New Jersey, recently gained an exciting new playground. Living just a 15-minute drive away, my family couldn’t wait to check out the new addition to this popular Union County park.

The new playground area includes a separate toddler section, accessible swings and ramp, and a multi-tiered larger playground for ages 5 and up, which is loaded with climbing opportunities, twisty slides, a wobbly bridge, and plenty more to explore. The playground, which opened in late April, replaced a dated, much smaller playground.

The DuPage Children's Museum is once again open to the public and accepting reservations! Since the weather in Chicago can be hit or miss all year round, indoor play options can be lifesavers. The DuPage Children’s Museum is one of my very favorite spots to bring my kids. It's a fun, safe, indoor play space that has some major educational bonus points. With hands-on experiences for kids of all ages, this museum was made for tinkering, exploring, and letting creativity flow. Read on for tips and ideas for how to get the most out of a visit to the DuPage Children’s Museum.

A new rooftop planetarium is set to light up Long Island's East End. The Long Island Science Center recently announced plans for a significant expansion complete with a 42-foot domed planetarium, and we're betting your little astronomers are going to flip for this.

Once the project is complete, the nonprofit, one of our favorite science museums on Long Island, plans to occupy a 30,000-square-foot space in the brand new Riverhead town square. Read on for details on this impressive project.

After years of construction, the Houston Zoo has completed its brand-new exhibit: South America’s Pantanal. Among its many pandemic modifications, the zoo has managed to unveil this stunning next phase of its big centennial transformation. The Houston Zoo has always been a family favorite, but there's even more to love now that it has brought Brazil’s tropical wetlands and its inhabitants right to our backyard!

LA's donuts are legendary, and with good reason. It's tough to find a bad donut in this town! And if you know where to look, an everyday trip to the donut shop is even more than just a donut outing, it's a family adventure. There are drive-through donuts (where you actually drive through the donut), DIY donuts, VooDoo donuts, and more. We've rounded up the best donut shops that provide more than just a sugary treat —these worth the drive destinations are sure to make sweet memories.

Kids are naturally creative, so why not give them an outlet? Boston families have lots of options for kids art classes in the area, from a chance to study masters of painting at the Museum of Fine Arts to learning pottery in Somerville and fusing glass in Roxbury. If your little artist loves to doodle, try out a drawing class or see what masterpiece they can create at a kids painting class. For little Picassos, toddler classes offer ways to explore different mediums and get messy, while the older kids can learn techniques for painting and drawing or try out 3-D art classes, like woodworking and sewing. 

Explore our guide to the Best Kids' Classes and Activities in the Boston Area for even more kids programs, enrichment classes, and kids activities. 

Blessed as my family is to live in eastern Long Island with its many beaches, more than once a summer we cast an envious eye across the sound to Block Island. It appears as a little bit of Scotland, sitting off the Rhode Island coast.

You might not think so from its location on a map—middle of nowhere? Honestly, yes—but Block Island, with its ancient cliffs and towering lighthouses, offers children plenty to do. As long as they don't expect an amusement park. Entertainment on Block Island is a bit more primitive. Beach walks, bike rides, nature sanctuaries, and water activities dominate this Rhode Island getaway in the summer when the island swells in population with ferry passengers from New London, Newport, and Montauk.

But if you want to take your kids off the beaten path there are few places better equipped for the journey than Block Island. Here then are 20 things to do with kids in this most unique of New England destinations.

There are some family activities that seem to define summer: spending a day at the beach, camping out, and, of course, watching a movie under the stars! While you could always catch an outdoor movie from a picnic blanket in a local park, taking in a drive-in movie from the comfort of the family truckster is a special treat.

Read on for everything families need to know about a night at a drive-in movie theater around Boston. These are all favorite drive-in theaters in the region, and we have tips for enjoying the experience to the fullest. A few of them might be over an hour away, depending on where you live, but consider that a chance to pack PJs and send the kids off to dreamland on the drive home.