If you're pining for the ocean and don't want to travel too far, consider taking a family vacation to the Delaware beaches—Bethany Beach, Rehoboth Beach, Fenwick Island, Lewes, and Dewey Beach—all of which made our list of great family-friendly beaches near DC. These beach towns are gorgeous, packed with family-friendly activities, and close to Ocean City, Maryland. The best part is, they're only about 2.5 hours from the DC area (depending on traffic)! 

For three summers now, my family has stayed at Sea Colony—a Bethany Beach tennis resort full of fun activities for kids—and we highly recommend it. But there are also plenty of other great options for where to stay at the Delaware beaches, from seaside hotels to vacation rental homes.

That first year of life is full of so many important moments—first bath, first smile, first teeth. (Put down those tissues...this is a fun list.) Grab the camera because we've come up with 30 fun, playful and even educational activities to do with Atlanta babies before they turn one—a baby bucket list, if you will. Luckily, Atlanta is a great place to grow up with tons of outdoor spaces, family-friendly attractions and plenty of free things to do.

Orlando is a prime location for over-the-top water parks, and the newest way of cooling off in Florida's warm weather are inflatable water parks. These bouncy aqua parks make for a great day of summer fun with school-age kids, as well as tweens and teens. Sometimes it's harder to entertain, or even hang with, teens, so we parents are usually willing to try any option—even if we seem a bit crazy out there on the ninja warrior course.  

Looking for more swimming and splashing spots for the kids near Orlando? Check out our guides to local splash pads, natural spring swimming holes, and nearby Florida beaches.

Among my favorite things to do in Portland, Maine, is to simply walk the cobblestone streets of the Old Port district, stopping into the boutiques for shopping and grabbing a coffee for a stroll along the waterfront. As a kid growing up in Maine, my family biked Back Cove, sledded down the Eastern Prom, and ice skated at Deering Oaks; as a teen, I went into "the city" for live music, the fantastic Portland restaurants, and the many art museums and festivals.

Portland, Maine, is a pretty port city less than two hours from Boston with a strong progressive bent, some might even call it a hippie streak. Now, as a tourist, I love returning with my own kids. It's home to a top-notch children's museum, crammed full of pretty parks and outdoor activities, culture, jaw-dropping coastal beauty, and truly great food. It's easy to day trip from Portland to the ski mountains in the winter, or to a stunning Maine beach in the summer. 

Just as families are preparing to send kids back to school, the highly-contagious Delta variant is driving COVID-19 cases back up. Parents everywhere are wondering what these soaring numbers mean for their vaccinated and unvaccinated kids and how to keep them safe.

Coding, or the act of telling a computer what you want it to do, is exploding in popularity. While it may seem like a complicated endeavor, many local venues now offer coding classes for kids on Long Island.

Learning coding skills is a win-win for families. Kids can use their creativity and the latest tech to create their own video games. Parents can appreciate the STEM skills they're building, plus life skills like problem-solving that come from breaking down complex problems into smaller tasks. We've found eight local orgs that offer coding classes for kids, with a mix of virtual and in-person classes.

Find more enrichment activities in our guide to Classes and Activities for Long Island Kids.

Once our kids reach a certain age, it can often feel like we are spectators in their lives—shuttling them to and from school and extracurriculars, watching from the sidelines as they play sports., etc. But when kids are babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, most of their activities consist of Mommy & Me classes. These classes for kids and grown-ups are not only fun, but also a great way to bond with your little one during such a fleeting time in their lives.

Check out our list of great Mommy & Me classes near DC, from music and movement classes to swimming lessons and yoga. Bonus: We've also included cooking Mommy & Me classes for older children, which provide a rare opportunity for parents to bond with their big kids!

For more great kids classes, check out our Guide to Classes for Kids Near DC.

Whether you’ve been eager to introduce your little one to ballet or hip hop, or your ballerina or hip hop star is eager to hit the stage, there are plenty of options for dance classes in Westchester.

We’ve rounded up a number of dance classes in Westchester that offer both ballet and hip hop classes for toddler ages and older. Also cool? While all of these classes have in-person options, some provide private, at-home, or pod classes for families, along with several that have virtual classes, too. Plus, a number of the studios, including New York Performing Arts Center and Steffi Nossen, offer adaptive classes for kids with special needs.

For even more great kids' classes, check out our Westchester classes guide, and be sure to sign up for our newsletters to stay in-the-know on what’s new.