I would love for my kids to have a sleepaway camp experience, but food is an issue – a big one. We have multiple intolerances and allergies, including nuts and gluten. I’ve done some research and found a few sleepaway camps where kids with food allergies can have a traditional summer camp experience without food worries (or feeling out of place).  If you’re looking for peanut-, nut-, gluten-, or dairy- free camps, check out these places within a reasonable driving distance from Boston. Some of them also have Kosher, vegetarian, and vegan options too!

If the idea of sending your child to an overnight camp is still too daunting, take a look at our Camp Directory in the Boston Summer and Vacation Camps Guide -- you'll find an abundance of fun day camps in the Boston area. 

This weekend is all about shows!  Head on over to the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Greenvale to see Zoo Zoo Performed By Imago Theatre, a show about penguins playing musical chairs, a cat trapped in a giant paper bag, hippos with insomnia, and anteaters as waiters.  At the Showplace at Bellmore Movies in Bellmore catch Dora the Explorer Live, where you’ll see the Pirate Adventure on stage, and you’ll have the opportunity to meet the cast after the show. In Garden City at the Long Island Children's Museum, you won’t want to miss Brady Rymer Presents Jump Up, It’s a Good Day, where Rymer and the Little Band That Could perform high energy, interactive, and uplifting songs. The Arena Players Repertory Theatre Company Presents Treasure Island at the Vanderbilt Carriage House Theater in Centerport, where you’ll follow the adventures of Jamie who falls heir to a treasure map and sails to Treasure Island. Also on tap: Farmer for a Day at the Suffolk County Farm and Education Center in Yaphank, and Ocean Science Sunday: Most EGGS-Cellent Celebration at the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum in Cold Spring Harbor.  As always, check out our events calendar every day for fun activities for the family!

It's been about a year and a half since we launched our Boston, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut sites, and we added Family Travel last spring. We constantly work on improving our sites, filling our calendars with exceptional events and posting great content like our new Go Lists. Apparently, you've been enjoying it all, because I keep getting emails asking for more Mommy Poppins. Families from Westchester, who use our site to plan their trips into the city, have been clamoring for a site of their own. And our readers who spend their weekends or summer out on the North Fork and the Hamptons say they miss having Mommy Poppins as a guide when they are there. So we're expanding our Long Island coverage to add weekend activities and guides for the Hamptons and North Fork, and launching a new site just for Westchester. You can already sign up for these soon-to-start newsletters here.

But we need your help: We're looking for savvy local parents to help bring our readers the best activities and events in these areas. If you're interested in joining the Mommy Poppins team, read on to learn more about this editorial opportunity, or pass it on to friends who you think fit the bill.

Well, hello spring! Glad you finally decided to arrive! March was pretty darn dreary and I don’t know about your kiddos, but mine are ready to shed their coats and have fun. Get some fresh air at Alstede Farm Spring Fun Days or get familiar with amphibians at Cape May Park’s Frogfest. If you’re looking to kick back, take in Discovery Theatre’s modern twist on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or Casey Carle’s Bubblemania. Read on for our top picks and find a listing of all NJ activities in our Event Calendar.

Lots of cool family arts and culture news this week, including new open hours for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a call for kids' drawings to be used in the set of an Off-Broadway show and an offbeat exhibition of work by lauded children's book author/illustrator Oliver Jeffers. Plus, an Upper West Side rec center reopens after a revamp, a political action committee dedicated to NYC public school reform and a sad goodbye to a longtime Bronx Zoo resident.

Hurricane Sandy devastated our precious Jersey Shore. Beaches were battered, boardwalks destroyed and people displaced. The Star Jet roller coaster in Seaside Heights, which still sits in the Atlantic Ocean, is an eerie reminder of the landscape- and life-changing storm. It has taken some time, but the shore is rebuilding and coming back in a major way. Many businesses are open or beginning to open and most beaches plan on being open to the public by Memorial Day weekend. Here’s some information to help your NJ family plan for a spring and summer at the Jersey Shore plus resources on how to help. Let’s all lend a hand in “restoring the shore!”

I had the opportunity to visit Kidville of Wellesley with Paigely, my two-year-old, this week. I learned that Kidville was started by a mom in New York City who was sick of taking her child to classes with no kid-conveniences available, like a place to park a stroller. She dreamed of a one-stop shop that made the lives of families with young children easier. Hence, Kidville was born. Offering world-class development programs, birthday parties, shopping, indoor play-spaces, and a mini-salon; the NYC mom absolutely succeeded.

If you enjoyed our post on the farms of Long Island, you may be excited to hear that there are also farms in Westchester that you can visit with kids. Seriously, less than an hour from New York City your kids can be gamboling with sheep, rounding up chickens, and milking cows.