This weekend is going to be great zoo weather. Nice and sunny and cool, but the big summer crowds are gone. We visited the Bronx Zoo and had a great time. It made us wonder why we don't go there all the time.

The impetus for our visit was the new Madagascar exhibit. (I can't imagine where I got that idea from). And it was definitely worth the trip. While Madagascar isn't as dramatic as the Congo exhibit with it's amazing gorillas, it was fun for everyone and I gathered some tips for visiting the Bronx Zoo along the way.

Sometimes it just seems too easy to give in to giving treats for after school snack; it's what your kids want and it's convenient. But we got many great suggestions from the comments of  our Cupcake Kids Back to School Snack Class giveaway that are sure inspire healthier and fun after school snacking.

Interestingly, the comments reinforce the proposition of Cupcake Kids' cooking classes, that if kids are involved in making their food, they will be more likely to eat healthy stuff. Most of these tips center around kids being involved in the preparation of the food or make eating into an activity.

Here's Top Ten Healthy After-school Snack Tips.  Plus, keep reading to find out the winner of the Cupcake Kids giveaway!

This week saw endless more talk of politics and the economy which is nearly impossible not to follow to the exclusion of all else so once again, I present you with the lighter side of the news this week!

Happy 5769. Yup, that's why there is no public school or alternate parking on Tuesday or Wednesday this week. The Daily News waxes poetic about using honey in your Rosh Hashanah recipes and includes a recipe for the perfect matzoh ball soup. And, if you haven't already seen it

In NYC, we love our homegrown kiddie music artists, and Moey, known as Melissa Levis to her grown-up friends, is one of New York's rising stars. After rocking out in Central Park's sandbox series all summer, she's now taking it indoors for her first full-length (1 hour) concert. MOEY LIVE: P is for Party will have you and the kids dancing and singing along with Moey, her irresistible tunes and her fun band of characters, while your kids accidentally learn phonics. The show is very interactive and your kids are sure to have a blast. A great way to get your Sunday morning jamming, especially if it's raining. Recommended for ages 1-7.

Moey loves Mommy Poppins too and is offering Mommy Poppins readers two free tickets. To enter, just leave a comment here by Monday , September 29th at 8pm and we'll pick one lucky winner at random, but there's no reason to wait. You can also buy Moey tickets with the Mommy Poppins special discount code and get $5 off on every ticket up to 6. Just use the code MOGNA21. For tickets call 212.239.6200 or buy online.

Unfortunately, it looks like it's going to be raining all weekend so here is your line-up of mostly free and mostly indoor activities to help motivate you to get out the door....

Celebrate Museum Day and get into participating museums for FREE on Saturday Sept 27. The long list of locations includes a lot of kid-favorites like the Children's Museum Of Manhattan, the NYC Fire Museum, the NY Transit Museum, and the Skyscraper Museum.  All you need to do is

I have the pleasure of introducing another new reader-turned-contributor to Mommy Poppins today. Karina Glaser hails from the North, no not Sarah Palin's North, Manhattan's. She has promised to keep us informed on the best stuff for kids and families going on in Washington Heights and Inwood. Check out her Washington Heights and Inwood post in our Neighborhood Guide. And here's a great event for this weekend I've heard many people rave about:

Do you have a finicky eater at home?  Studies show that getting your kids to cook with you in the kitchen is the best way to get them to try new foods.  Even Rachel Ray (who in my opinion lost some cred when she did those Dunkin' Donuts ads but that's another story) just came out with a book on cooking with kids.  Plus, even for good eaters, its just plain old fun.

OK, so you are convinced, you're going to let Junior touch the Le Creuset and here's a fun way to get started. Meet Jessi Walter, a former VP on Wall Street and Harvard graduate turned kid chef extraordinaire and founder of Cupcake Kids.  Her mission is to give kids hands-on cooking experiences so they can have fun in the kitchen while learning about food and building self-confidence and independence.  For this giveaway, two lucky readers will win spots in Jessi's Back to School Snack class.  That way, you can get your kids making their own healthy snacks rather than falling into the buy-a-cookie-after-school rut.

Keep reading for Jessi's great recipe for applesauce muffins, perfect after a day of apple picking and details on how to enter this giveaway.

Jodi Call wrote a great piece for us this summer with four excellent outings and I thought it was so great I invited Jodi to write for us more often. Jodi thought it was so great, she started her own blog; Pistols and Popcorn follows her amazing adventures around New York with her son, Roan. Here's, hopefully, one of many awesome posts from Jodi:

“What kind of thing do you want to do this week-end?” It’s the question I pose to my son, Roan. But we both know I’ve always got something in mind. This week he tried to trip me up with this: “I want to do nothing, but we can do it outside.” Oh brother, mister. You’ve no idea who you’re messing with.

This weekend is the 2008 Art Under the Bridge Festival. This is the 12^th year of the festival, and my 3^rd year as a devotee. After a summer full of orchestrated outings and a few weeks of structured school days, the timing couldn’t be better for an entire weekend of chaotic fun with your kids.