This Week: Free Fall Harvest Festivals, Best New Museum Exhibits for NYC Kids, Queens' New Destination Playground

9/12/13 - By Raven Snook

After less than a week at school, my daughter says she feels like she never left. Not that she's complaining. Going back-to-school means seeing old friends and after-school playground playdates and a break from me constantly demanding, "Go clean your room!" It also means our big back-to-school giveaway is soon coming to a close. There are still a few excellent prizes up for grabs, including boys' and girls' Schwinn bikes, and KRE-O CityVille Invasion building sets from Hasbro. Be sure to enter before they end.

Beyond school, fall brings all kinds of cool seasonal fun like apple picking and harvest celebrations. This week, we added posts about pick-your-own orchards in Westchester and Rockland Counties and organic apple picking in New Jersey to our Farm Guide. We also rounded up a bunch of harvest festivals, pumpkin patches and corn mazes right here in NYC.

Planning your next big family vacation? (Hey, holiday break will be here before you know it.) Our Travel site has a post about the best things to do with kids in Bath, England that will make you want to book your tickets pronto. And of course our regional sites are filled with wonderful day trip destinations like Saugerties in Ulster County, NY, Chester Township, NJ and the Trash Museum in Hartford, CT.

Here's what else we covered on the NYC site this week:

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Queens has a fabulous new Destination Playground: the waterfront Hunters Point Park South in Long Island City featuring a state-of-the-art playground, a High Line-style rail bed garden and amazing views of Manhattan.

Buying a birthday present? Consider getting a gift that gives back at these local children's stores that donate a portion of their proceeds to charity.

Free food: We rounded up local restaurants that offer no-cost kids' meals as well as national chains with kids eat free deals

Still shopping around for extracurricular classes? We shared eight great deals on fall classes including art, language and golf lessons.

Best bets for the weekend include two September Go List picks: the Feast of San Gennaro and the Morningside Lights lantern-making workshops, plus the FREE Brooklyn Kite Festival in Brooklyn Bridge Park.