Pinocchio - Concord Youth Theatre, Concord
Opens Friday, March 1; weekends through Sunday, March 10
Tickets: $13        

Concord Youth Theatre presents a funky, musical retelling of the classic tale of what it takes to be real. Performances are Fri 7:30pm; Sat 2:30pm & 7:30pm; Sun 2:30pm

Boston Inventgenuity Festival - Arlington Center for the Arts, Arlington
Saturday, March 2 - ,Sunday, March 3
FREE Admission; materials fees apply; advance sign up required

Kids are encouraged to take the place apart piece by piece, and, as a celebration of design, building, reuse and art, they’ll also put it back together again in imaginative ways. The 2013 Inventgenuity Festival is led by Beam Center’s faculty of artists, engineers and big thinkers, and kids will playfully and productively investigate what digital technology and manual mechanisms have in common. In two days of hands-on workshops and on-going collective projects led by expert makers and manipulators of sound, image, electricity, and motion kids will explore this year’s theme, DIGITAL BY HAND.

In the Festival’s big Project, “Physical Video Processing Unit,” kids become the bits and bytes of a room-sized video machine using physical materials to edit and transform video.

French Festival: Voyages en Francophonie - Newton Cultural Center, Newton
Saturday, March 2
Admission: Bring a non-perishable food item for the Newton Food Pantries

Eat, read, talk, listen, play in French. Food, art exhibits, dancing, readings, games, meetings with artists and chefs, countries stalls, giving tree, concerts and more.

Ben Rudnick & Friends Concert & Family Works Event - TiCO, Boston
Saturday, March 2
Concert & Family Works Event Free (please bring new socks for donation); Optional: Brunch (regular prices apply)

Good tunes and doing good in one morning!

Family Works! Project, from 10am-11am: Catching Joy! leads an activity table where kids can use crayons, creativity and care to make cards of love and hope to go along with the donations (please bring new socks!). Benefits Friends of Boston's Homeless, helping homeless individuals gain independence through education, employment, life skills development, and permanent housing.

TICO Brunch follows. Note that the only charge today is for brunch if you choose to order it.

Vanessa Trien & the Jumping Monkeys - St. Joseph's Parish, Belmont
Saturday, March 2
Tickets: $5/person, $20 family maximum (purchase at door)

Vanessa Trien and the Jumping Monkeys offer a fun, family concert. Plus, there is a silent auction, balloon raffle, and pizza, snacks and baked goods for sale. All proceeds from the event benefit the Belmont Cooperative Nursery School's need-based scholarship fund.

Kids' Shows: Little Groove - Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline
Saturday, March 2
Tickets: $8 children, $10 adults        

Little Groove is quality, groovy, fun, educational, well-produced music for children that adults can listen to over and over again!

The Tapping of the Trees! - Middlesex Fells, Stoneham
Saturday, March 2
FREE

Come to the Fells ‘sugar bush’ to tap maple trees for the upcoming Maple Sugarin’ event at Breakheart Reservation. Meet at the Bothume House visitor center. The visitor center is located at on Spot Pond.

Rolie Polie Guacamole Family Concert - Bakalar Recital Hall, Brookline School of Music, Brookline
Sunday, March 3
Tickets: $5; cash or checks only        

Rolie Polie Guacamole, the hip children's band from Brooklyn, NY, plays songs that are a mix of high energy rock, funk and folk music in a show that is lively and interactive.

Family Art Together: Paper Layered Lilies - New Art Center, Newtonville
Sunday, March 3
Admission $10

Let’s bring color to the winter! Inspired by Monet’s famous water lilies paintings, with vibrant colored tissue paper and 3D techniques create beautiful artwork with lily pads and lily flowers.

Alexander the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center, Newton
Sunday, March 3
Tickets: $10-$13

Children can laugh and sing along with Alexander's misadventures in this hilarious musical, featuring book and lyrics by Judith Viorst, author of the bestselling classic book. Kids discover, along with Alexander, that sometimes, everyone has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.