This weekend is all about Halloween celebrations. Check out Henny the Clown at the Halloween Family Day at The Walt Whitman Birthplace. Go on a spooky trail walk at the Clark Botanic Garden. The Long Island Children's Museum serves up lots of ghostly fun at its annual gala. Learn about the plight of Ichabod Crane during the performance of the Legend Of Sleepy Hollow at the Sands Point Preserve. Head to the Sweetbriar Nature Center for a spooky spin on stories, crafts, and nature walks. Venture out east and head to the Fire Island Lighthouse to listen to eerie tales. As always, check our events calendar every day for fun activities for the family. Don't forget to check out our current giveaway: $150 worth of Target boys and girls clothing and a $100 gift card.

It's the final weekend before Halloween, and Boston families can enjoy a variety of weekend activities that run the gamut from the scary to the not-so-spooky. Check out our roundup of Halloween fun, including more than 20 mostly free events for kids and families. And read on for some great non-Halloween events happening this weekend, including the opening weekend of Wheelock Family Theatre’s The Hobbit, Play Date at the ICA, and more.

Also this week on Mommy Poppins Boston:

• If you have a family photo shoot coming up, professional photographer Korri Leigh Crowley has five tips for getting the most out of the experience, panic-free;
• Find Five Picks for Kid-Friendly Biking Trails in the latest post in our guest blog series with the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Kids Outdoors Boston free online community;
• Celeste shares six steps to organizing a Babysitting Co-op in your neighborhood; and
• Don't miss a chance to enter our Great Giveaway to win $150 of Target Boys and Girls clothes and a $100 Target gift card - now through Sunday.

Enjoy!

Halloween may officially fall on October 31 but many of New York City's best celebrations for families take place this weekend—and a bunch of them are FREE. Put on your costumes and head to Central Park's annual Pumpkin Fest, Prospect Park's Haunted Walk and Halloween Carnival, Battery Park City's Screamin' Green Halloween or one of the many kid-friendly Halloween parades taking place throughout NYC. There are also a handful of truly exceptional Halloween events worth paying for like the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Ghouls & Gourds fete, the ride-filled Children's Fall Festival at the Queens County Farm Museum and a spooky after-dark tour of the New York Botanical Garden's Haunted Pumpkin Garden.

Need a break from all the fearsome fun? There are actually some great non-Halloween events this weekend, too, like Pickle Day on the Lower East Side, a big anniversary celebration for Encyclopedia Brown at the main branch of the New York Public Library, and opening day at Wollman and Lasker Rinks in Central Park.

There's so much going on this Saturday and Sunday that it's easy to feel overwhelmed. (I actually had a couple of panic attacks while writing this post!) That's why we've done the work for you by highlighting the very best things to do with kids this jam-packed weekend, Halloween-themed and otherwise. Now all you need to do is go and enjoy!

As a parent, finding time for doctor's appointments, job interviews, or the much-coveted date night out can be challenging enough -- finding someone to watch the kids can be even more difficult. Turning to your virtual village to organize a childcare cooperative is a great, free alternative to costly babysitters or drop-off centers.

A babysitting co-op lets you trade time watching each other's kids for time to do real grown-up things like go to appointments, clean the house, or just take a break. Lots of parents do this informally in a "you get my back this time, I will get your's next time" approach, where the only reckoning of debts owed is karmic.  This works great among friends, but tends to involve only a small group of select people.  Creating a more formally organized cooperative allows parents to expand their network of willing sitters while accurate tracking keeps things fair and equitable. Here's how to get started:

'Tis the weekend before the main event and every ghost and goblin will be out in NJ, so grab your last chance at a pumpkin festival or do some Creepy Crawly Worm Dissection. And if you're aching for some non-spooky fun, try a overnight campout at a lovely arboretum or an enormous crafts festival with special activities for your junior craftsmen. Remember, you can find a full list of weekend activities in our Event Calendar and whatever you do, don't miss a chance to enter our great Giveaway to win $150 of Target Boys and Girls clothes and a $100 Target gift card. Happy Halloween!

During my previous monthly special needs posts, I've rounded up music classes and dance lessons for New York City children with special needs. Today, I'm highlighting adaptive art programs for children with different abilities, like my tween son.

Although my boy has participated in all kinds of special needs sports, and social groups, art has never been very high on his wish list. With his limited fine-motor skills, short attention span and tendency to get easily frustrated, it's understandable that it's not a favorite. But I really wanted to find a creative outlet for him that he would enjoy.

So I started to investigate the kinds of special needs art programs available around the city, and as usual I wasn't disappointed—but I was surprised. While there are only a handful of studios offering adaptive experiences, some of NYC's major museums have incredible special needs hands-on sessions, most of which are FREE. Here are five special needs art programs for families, as well as two others that sound interesting but are open only to schools.

A birthday party celebration in the Hamptons doesn't need to focus on the pool or the beach, and during the cooler months, you'll want to find a fun indoor activity. Whether you have a sporty kid, a princess, a future marine biologist or a budding artist, there are party venues for every interest area, age and budget.

So, you’ve found the perfect location for your family photo, and you’ve decided on a photographer. Great, but now you keep asking yourself questions (in a jittery voice): What will everyone wear? How will I get the kids to behave? What if the baby won’t stop drooling? No need to panic. Professional photographer Korri Leigh Crowley has five tips for getting the most out of your family photo shoot experience, panic-free.