July is a great month to be in Connecticut with kids. You'll  find great summer activities this week including free jazz, butterflies and tin making.  There are also lots of free events at the libraries which you can read more about in our event calendar.  Have a great week full of summer fun!

Summer is heating up, so head over to Cold Spring Harbor for some water play. Little athletes can enjoy a free baseball clinic in Sag Harbor, animal lovers can meet some furry friends in Lloyd Harbor and families can enjoy an outdoor movie in Eisenhower Park.

These are just a few of the things on our jam-packed events calendar so be sure to check back regularly. And if you're spending any time on the East End, visit our Hamptons & North Fork Family Guide.

The height of summer is also the height of activity, as there are numerous fun events on tap for Westchester families. Unique to summer is the Annual Firefly Festival, and summer is a great time to learn a new skill like Animation Design. Kids can also enjoy a meet-and-greet with animals—ranging from bunnies to hedgehogs to toads and even worms.

Below are our top picks for Monday through Friday--but don't stop there! There are many more options to choose from on our Event Calendar; review them all to avoid missing out.

One of the main reasons we're willing to deal with the challenges of raising kids in NYC (the crazy rents, the stressful school searches, the closets for apartments) is our easy access to enriching activities like theater, museums and music. But when your kids would rather bask in the view from the top of a tree than from One World Observatory, or hop on a horse instead of the subway, there's no need to scramble to find a car for a day trip. Our urban jungle is home to lots of bucolic destinations where NYC kids can get their knees dirty and let their spirits soar with a range of outdoor adventures, from laid-back to heart-pumping.

My kids and I had a blast putting together this list of our top 25 things to do outdoors throughout the five boroughs. You may not even realize that some of these activities are doable in NYC! From camping under the stars to surfing to fishing to zip-lining, here are exciting ways to escape the urban grind as a family. Most locations are accessible by public transportation, and many of them are FREE.

Many stories originally aimed at young adults end up appealing to people of all ages. Countless grown-ups have been sucked into the worlds of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, consuming the books and the movies with the same zeal as their kids. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins' best-selling YA trilogy, is no exception. I devoured the books in less than a week, and thoroughly enjoyed the blockbuster films based on them. To say I was excited to see the new multimedia installation The Hunger Games: The Exhibition at Discovery Times Square is an understatement.

The exhibit invites visitors to explore the fictional world of Panem, following the saga's heroine, Katniss Everdeen, as she moves from reluctant tribute to the face of the rebellion. Since my son just turned 10, he's only now old enough to start delving into the dystopian series, so I worried that he might find the exhibit confusing or, worse, boring. While The Hunger Games: The Exhibition is a must-see for fans, is it good for kids and parents who are new to the series?

Kids are natural explorers and scientists, investigating and trying to understand the world around them, and nature makes a perfect laboratory. For budding naturalists, we previously told you about some of Westchester County’s wonderful nature centers and covered kid-friendly hiking trails in the Hudson Valley area. Now we are heading to Orange County to explore the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum in Cornwall. I recently visited the museum’s Outdoor Discovery Center with my two sons (ages 4 and 8). We had a great time and plan on visiting again. So what does the this nature museum offer, and is it worth the drive?  

My daughter is constantly putting on tap routines after dinner and showing off her latest moves for anyone who makes eye contact on the subway. So dance classes are something my family knows a lot about. When we moved to Brooklyn last fall, the thought of trekking into Manhattan for dance lessons seemed daunting. But after a little research, I found that we wouldn't need to leave the borough to find quality dance schools.

While we ended up going with a studio near our Bay Ridge home, there are plenty of fantastic options to choose from in Brooklyn. Bonus: The schools tend to be fairly reasonable in terms of price (especially when compared to Manhattan) but many also set aside money for financial aid, so it's worth inquiring about scholarships and sliding-scale tuition. Here are 11 great Brooklyn dance schools that offer classes for kids and teens who are serious about ballet, tap, modern and other dance styles.

Find more NYC classes in our Classes Guide and Directory Listings.

When my oldest son was 8, he said his ambition in life was to sell his art on the street. So it's no surprise that at age 13 he's set his sights on getting into Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.

Like other specialized art high schools, including the High School of Fashion Industries, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, and the High School of Art & Design, LaGuardia requires applicants to submit portfolios of their work. While talent is key, taking a professional portfolio preparation class can really give applicants a leg up on the competition. We've rounded up New York City programs that help tweens and young teens prepare their artwork to apply to these popular high schools.