Summer days are long, it's hot, and you can't just send your kids out to play in the streets. You need help. You need distractions. You need our Free Fun Summer Activity Planner. With a free activity for every single day of summer in July and August, it's like a do-it-yourself camp for New York City parents.

Free concerts, outdoor movies, museum programs, classes and workshops, story times, festivals, performances, events—the following list isn't just 62 activities, many of these events are recurring, so look out for the stars—which indicate an event occurs on additional dates.

*recurring daily

**recurring weekly

***Check for other dates

And don't forget to check out our Summer Fun Guide for more ideas on the best stuff to do in and around New York this summer.

JULY

July 1 Visit the Science Barge *

July 2 Free Wednesdays NY Botanical Garden **

July 3 Union Square Summer in the Square**—Astrograss

July 4 International African Arts Festival, July 3-6

July 5 Free First Saturday Programs Brooklyn Museum and New Museum

July 6 Central Park Clearing in the Forest Series**—The Dancing Bahilla, Middle Eastern dance performance and workshop

July 7 Lower Manhattan River to River Festival *— Sitelines Interactive Environmental Dance

July 8 Tragedy of MacBeth Performance and Family Workshop ***— Battery Park

July 9 Carroll Park Concert Series ***— Lloyd Miller and The Brooklyn Phone Book

July 10 Washington Market Park Concert Series **— Uncle Rock

July 11 NY Philharmonic Concert in the Park ***

July 12 City Parks Dance***—Rennie Harris Puremovement Ballet Int'l Africans

July 13 SummerStage ***— Global Family Day

July 14 The Paper Bag Players: On Top of Spaghetti — Bronx Library Center

July 15 Madison Square Kids Concert**— Audra Rox Concert

July 16 Stuyvesant Town Music on the Oval**— DJ Duane Harriot & Easy Star All-Stars

July 17 MoMA Sculpture Garden Story Time**

July18 Bryant Park Good Morning America Concert Series **— Miley Cyrus

July 19 Macy's Fishing Contest * — Prospect Park

July 20 daydream***— A Midsummer Night's Dream specially adapted for children and performed in Imagination Playground, Prospect Park

July 21 La Caperucita Roja*** — Bi-lingual, revisionist Little Red Riding Hood in Red Hook

July 22 Lucy Lortel Theater***—The Plant That Ate the Dirty Socks

July 23 Laura Vila at Book Culture —Interactive Book event

July 24 Movies with a View** — Curse of the Were Rabbit

July 25 Prospect Park Audubon Center Nestlings Nature Classes**

July 26 Solar One Family Day Environmental Festival

July 27 MoMA Family Program**—Closer Look for Kids

July 28 Kayaking on the Hudson*

July 29 Shakespeare in the Park*—Hair

July 30 Central Park Sandbox Series *— Music Performances, Art Classes, Story-Telling and Music Classes

July 31 Jefferson Market Library Toddler Time**

AUGUST

August 1 Children's Museum of Manhattan — Free First Friday

August 2 Celebrate Brooklyn* — Family Concert

August 3 Queens Museum of Art — Free First Sunday

August 4 Storytime at Babylicious **

August 5 Family Programs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art**— Start With Art

August 6 Outdoor Cinema Socrates Sculpture Park**— The Red Balloon and Persepolis

August 7 Summer on the Hudson*—Billy B., the Natural Science Song and Dance Man

August 8 SummerStarz**—Crafts, Music and Film in McCarren Park

August 9 International YoYo Open and Contest

August 10 Lefferts Historic House**— Early American Crafts

August 11 Rubin Museum of Art Museum Program*—Word Play (free with admission)

August 12 Story time at Giggle**

August 13 Plant 'N Play at Umoja Garden

August 14 CInderella Samba Riverside Park

August 15 RiverFlicks for Kids **— Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory

August 16 Lincoln Center Out of Doors* — Family Day

August 17 Barnes and Noble Union Square Story Time**

August 18 Bryant Park Summer Film Festival** — Superman

August 19 Tales on Tuesdays Carl Shurz Park

August 20 Wednesdays in Teardrop Park

August 21 Preschool Art Rockefeller Park **

August 22 RiverFlicks for Kids **—Shrek

August 23 Walk, bike or roll up car-free Summer Streets**

August 24 Blues and BBQ Festival Hudson River Park

August 25 Moxie Spot Story Time **

August 26 Discovery Tuesdays at Brooklyn Botanic Garden**

August 27 Free Story Time Yoga at Karma Kids **

August 28 Broadway in Bryant Park **

August 29 McNally Rand Baby Storytime **

August 30 Free Bike Rental in Manhattan*

August 31 Books of Wonder Story Time **

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Just cause the last time you sat down to read a newspaper was when "pooped out" still meant tired to you doesn't mean you can't stay up to date with what's going on. We've rounded up the top stories you don't want to miss from the NYC media this week.

Urban Farm.  Treehugger reports on this summer's PS1 courtyard installation.  It will have an urban vertical farm where they will be growing tomatoes and other veggies, a chicken coup with egg-laying chickens and a little river that looks perfect for toddlers.

Bananas.  Watch this NY Times video with Mark Bittman and a three year old fan as they make

Just in time for the Summer Solstice, our Summer Fun Guide is here! You won't find any other resource like this—with everything your family needs to have a great time in New York City this summer. The best pools, beaches, playgrounds, water theme parks, concerts, festivals, free programs, family travel tips and more. We've even got indoor activities to keep you cool on too hot or rainy days. There's over 30 articles, each one jam-packed with fun.

And be sure to check out our newly updated post on Story Times Around the City where you'll find 20 different story hour locations.

On Monday we'll be posting our famously popular free activity a day for the entire summer. Don't miss it! It's all you need to have a fun-filled summer without spending a dime. And we'll be adding more posts to our Summer Fun Guide so stay tuned for even more summer fun coming up.

Also check out our new events calendar. You can find all our picks for this weekend's and upcoming events there.

This weekend you won't want to miss:

Reader, Carmen, submitted this great indoor activity tip. Thanks, Carmen!

Take a trip back to the late 1700's without ever leaving Brooklyn. The Lefferts House is one of a very small number of farmhouses to survive from Brooklyn's Dutch settlement period, over 300 years ago. This family-friendly destination features hands-on craft activities, a gardening program and furnished rooms to reflect daily life in the 18th century.

What my daughter and I enjoy best is the child's room, just off the entrance. Here, young ones can dress as they did on days past, play 'I Spy', color a mural, and play with toys and games from that time.

You can now rent bicycles in Lower Manhattan for FREE! Perfect for families, you can even get bikes with baby seats or Tag-a-longs (those kid bike add-ons that turn a bike into a tandem perfect for young bikers to safely ride with a parent). They have wagons too!?

Bike Around Downtown is a new program that lets you borrow a bike for a two to three-hour window. You can register online and pick up your free bike at the South Street Seaport Bike and Roll booth. From there you can bike up the Greenway up the East or West sides, or even head over to Governor's Island. (By the way, I noticed that they are also renting-not for free- bikes on Governor's Island now, with tag-a-longs available there too.)

Wow! Who knew that so many NYC moms were harboring a deep, dark love of all things eighties. Watch out, friends, because it looks like ribbon barrettes and leg warmers are on their way back! Or at least for one night while our Big TIcket Giveaway winners, Jennifer M, who's still jonesing for Duran Duran, and Tamara, who believes that the only thing today's fashion needs is more flourescents and black rubber bracelets, go for FREE to see Xanadu! Congrats, Ladies.  The 80s awaits you in Xanadu!

For everybody else who would like to drink the neon-tinted waters of Xanadu, you might want to get tickets for Family Days at Xanadu which are Saturday, July 12th and August 9th.  Purchase a ticket to the 2PM show and get a free voucher to a post-show party at Dave & Busters, the Times Square arcade at 3:45.  The voucher includes a $10 gaming card and free gift bag with Xanadu memorabilia, they also have food and drinks there which you can purchase.  Use Code XUFAM65 at BroadwayOffers.com or 212-947-8844. *

The 80s passionate nostalgia from the moms was matched equally with some serious dinosaur love for those who entered to win tickets to Walking with Dinosaurs.

The great thing about New York City's outdoor festivals is that everyone can enjoy them. If it's kids music, at least the grown ups can enjoy being outdoors on a lovely day or evening, relaxing. And, generally kids will put up with an outdoor concert or performance if they can run around, dance, play and picnic while you enjoy a little grown up entertainment for once.

The following (mostly) free outdoor festivals are not specifically children's festivals, but they, for the most part, each have at least one kids performance and otherwise offer great performances in great outdoor environments around NYC, making a fun day or evening out with the kids either way.

Because our emails did not go out last week, we are extending our big ticket giveaway by one day to give everyone a chance to enter to win these great ticket prizes. All entries must be in by tonight at 8pm in order to qualify. We will announce the winner tomorrow, June 16th. Good Luck!

We would also like to announce that we have added classified ads to the site. You can post ads in many categories, including childcare, toys, gear and real estate for sale or wanted. Postings have already started even before we announced them. Find our classified listings in the green tab at the top of the page. It's totally free.