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Belize is the perfect tropical vacation destination for families.
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Starface's star-shaped pimple patches make kids look and feel awesome while dealing with pimples.
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Grab your list and head out for a scavenger hunt with the kids!
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One top tip is getting kids involved from the planning stage, and they'll want to help cook! Photo by Brooke Lark, via Pexels
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When kids are bored, bored, bored, it's handy to have a whole list of fun things to do. Photo by Mommy Poppins
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Disney turns 100 and there will be celebrations from coast to coast. Photo courtesy of Disneyland
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It's easier than you'd think to turn a simple paper lunch bag into a festive piñata!
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Trader Joe's how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: for being inexpensive, gourmet and friendly.
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Screen time doesn't have to be a solo activity with these fun, free online games for kids to play with friends.
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Take a spin around the lazy river at Mandalay Bay.
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SingleCare offers major savings on more than 10,000 prescription drugs through its free app.
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The outdoors are a natural playground for curious kids.
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Revel in the dirty hands! Outdoor activities help kids sleep better and jumpstarts their imaginations.
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Rent a gorgeous backyard pool like this for your family for an hour or a day. Photo courtesy of Swimply
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Alphabet Soup. Photo courtesy of foodwithfeeling
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Gather 'round the campfire and sing some fun songs. Photo courtesy of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
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These funny jokes for kids will have them laughing in no time!
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Things like having a children's museum with a view like this make it easy to leave your heart in San Francisco. Photo courtesy of the Bay Area Discovery Museum
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Kids can give parents tickets if they forget to turn off the water to soap hands or brush teeth!
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Find a bare patch of soil to place your seed bomb. Spread them far and wide! Photo by the author
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The Outdoor Play Plaza at Greensboro Children's Museum in North Carolina.
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Enjoy stunning views of the Thames River.
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girl making apple pie courtesy of canva
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Suncatcher_Liz Baill @creativishmom
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This Week: Best Places to Cool Off in NYC & Beyond, New Staten Island Mini-Amusement Park, Awesome Day & Weekend Trip Ideas

7/10/14 - By Raven Snook

Cool ways to beat the heat seemed to be the theme across all of our sites this week. (Perhaps it had something to do with how much we've been shvitzing.) In NYC, we rounded up our top 50 places to cool off with kids, both indoors and out. Our Long Island site highlighted five water slides worth the day trip and did a whole post on Splish Splash Waterpark, which is just 90 minutes by car from NYC.

Connecticut, meanwhile, is filled with pristine public beaches to explore as well as many cool isles situated o the Long Island Sound. And in New Jersey, you can go swimming in lakes and watering holes.

If you're looking for more than just a day trip, our Travel site just wrapped up its series of posts about Richmond, Virginia with a list of the best outdoor activities for kids. Or you could hit the amusement park, waterpark and green spaces on Southern NJ's gorgeous Long Beach Island.

Whether you opt to go away this weekend or stick close to home, remember to share your family's playful pics on social media for a chance to win great prizes in our SUMMER OF PLAY CHALLENGE. We've been getting some amazing entries and we love seeing how our readers are enjoying themselves this summer.

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

OUR LATEST VIDEOS

We kicked off the week with a list of 50 ways to cool off with kids in NYC, from the best pools, beaches and water playgrounds, to indoor spots with water play or air conditioning.

Our Staten Island blogger, Nataki, took her kids to the just-opened mini-amusement park Fantasy Shore at Midland Beach, perfect for preschoolers.

Our SUMMER OF PLAY CHALLENGE continued with a roundup of fun do-it-yourself activities inspired by popular children's books.

Here's one to bookmark: a list of the top pediatric ERs in the outer boroughs, a companion piece to our Manhattan pediatric ER roundup.

Our biweekly news post has the scoop on Staten Island's newest carousel, Google's FREE virtual maker camp and the closure of Bowlmor Union Square.

Got a kid obsessed with model trains, planes or other old-school pastimes? Then check out our roundup of hobby shops in NYC—there are more than you might think.

Best bets for the weekend include many of our top family event picks for the month including City of Water Day on Governors Island, SummerStage Bronx Family Day and the Bastille Day Festival on the Upper East Side.