This Week: Spring Break Travel Deals, Best New NYC Camps, Diggerland Day Trip

3/12/15 - By Raven Snook

It's been an exhilarating week here in NYC. Now that winter has finally let go, my daughter and I took a long walk through our East Harlem neighborhood and spotted the first signs of spring: daffodil buds and Mister Softee trucks. And, like many of our fellow public school families, we participated in a citywide protest criticizing Governor Cuomo's controversial teacher evaluation proposal (glad we didn't have to do it in the snow).

With all that activity, the upcoming school recess can't come fast enough as far as we're concerned. Our Travel site has an enticing roundup of spring break family travel deals in case you're looking to take a full-fledged vacation to Florida, California or Mexico. Or check our regional sites for great seasonal day trips like New Jersey's seaside Jenkinson's Aquarium, the construction-themed amusement park Diggerland, which reopens this weekend, and the end of maple sugaring season in Westchester.

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

OUR LATEST VIDEOS

You have time to catch one of our top weekday event picks, a rock 'n' roll retelling of Pinocchio, which kicks off a two-weekend run this Friday.

Even with spring coming, it's important to have a go-to list of cool indoor activities for a rainy day. So you'll want to bookmark our roundup of four must-try laser tag arenas.

Williamsburg's Sketchbook Project is an under the radar art library filled with tens of thousands of eclectic sketchbooks.

Pregnant or just had a baby? Be sure to read our tried-and-true tips for riding the subway with very young children—your sanity and fellow passengers will thank you.

Summer camp-planning season is in full swing and we spotlighted nine brand-new NYC day camps worth considering for your kids.

Here's a no-brainer: Learn about neuroscience at a series of FREE interactive events at Brain Week, which begins this weekend.

Thinking about taking your princess-obsessed preschooler to Disney's brand-new live-action Cinderella? Our parent review tells you what to expect.

We continued our series of posts on Soho with a roundup of the cool and quirky kids' stores in the neighborhood.

This week's WeeWork crafts were the very springlike egg carton flowers and a tasty rainbow on a stick for St. Patrick's Day.

Best bets for the weekend include Passover and St. Patrick's Day celebrations, the Museum of Mathematics' Pi Day and Radio City Music Hall's New York Spring Spectacular.