Kids used to rule the streets of New York, filling the sidewalks with their games of jump rope and skully and the streets with stickball and kick the can. In contrast, these days it seems like letting your kids play outside is practically a crime. But, there seems to be a movement afoot to return to the kinds of activities that drew kids into the streets for active outdoor fun.

Nostalgic, old-fashioned kid games are becoming fashionable again. We recently wrote about The Dangerous Book for Boys and mentioned one organization that is working to put the play back in childhood. Then, yesterday the New York Times wrote an article about how street games are making a comeback.

A website, StreetPlay.com is run by a group dedicated to getting people back to playing street games like stoop and hopscotch. They will even come to schools or events to teach people the old games. (I might suggest this for our school next year since I know it's one thing parents are particularly concerned about.) They also have a wiki of street game rules.

You just can't think back to those days when the streets were our playgrounds without conjuring up the images of fire hydrants spewing forth water, creating the urban version of a water park. Nowadays that kind of behavior is seriously frowned upon, but just as groups are working to bring back street play of the dry kind, it's still possible to enjoy some good fire hydrant water fun legally.

New York City summers are not a pretty thing for the most part. Hot, humid, sticky and stinky. For many people the only way to survive them is to leave. For the rest of us, the best we can do is figure out how to stay cool and entertained. That's why we're posting all about summertime water fun for NYC kids every day this week.

We've already done an article on the best free and cheap swimming pools for kids in NYC. This week we'll be doing the best water parks and playgrounds, beaches, water sports, boats and more.

At the end of the month I always like to take a moment to take tabs on the site. I post up the most popular and best posts from this month and look for a little feedback from readers.

We had a good month on the site in June. Readership has been growing rapidly and I think it's mostly been due to lots of people finding the site through searches for summer activities and free activities for kids.

When we were looking for eCards for Father's Day, we discovered hoops and yoyo on Hallmark.com. Hoops and yoyo are an animated cat and bunny that sound like the kids from South Park and sport an edgy sense of humor. They have a bunch of funny eCards for different occasions, but now my kids just want to go back and watch the animations. Poking around their site we found these Manners Matter with hoops and yoyo animations.

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 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.

Celebrate Brooklyn is considered by many to be NYC's best summer festival. Located at the Prospect Park bandshell, Celebrate Brooklyn is a great venue with a diverse range of excellent performances. You'll find music, dance, films and more. We already wrote about the child friendly outdoor movies that are part of Celebrate Brooklyn. Another great kid event at Celebrate Brooklyn will be the Dan Zanes concert on July 22; sure to be packed with toddlers, children and adults alike rocking out to the king of kid rock.

Lower Manhattan's River to River Festival has hundreds of events including dozens of children's and family events. As part of the River to River Festival you'll find children's workshops, story times, fairs, singing and dancing and more. Check out the calendar for the full list of children's events.

Everyone is familiar with Central Park's Summer Stage. Many of the Summer Stage events will be enjoyed by children, but for sure kids will love the Summer Stage Global Family Day on July 15th. Led up by Hip Hop Harry, a Kangol cap bearing big yellow bear described as Barney "if he had lived in the South Bronx in the '80s." Hmmm. Well, there will also be a marionette show of Cinderella Samba, a performance by hip kid rockers, The Sippy Cups, a performance outlining the history of break dancing, and finally, some good 'ol Brooklyn barbecue from The Smoke Joint.

The NY Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks Festival travels to all five boroughs plus Long Island and New Jersey, making classical music from the oldest philharmonic in the United States available to all for free. While there are no children performances, classical music under the stars, followed by fireworks is sure to be enjoyed by the entire family. Or it's a least a good way to sneak a little classical music into your children's repertoire.

The last festival we were planning on featuring was the NYC Fringe Festival which has a series of FringeJR events designed for families. Unfortunately, they have not published their calendar yet and haven't yet replied to our inquiries. We'll keep you posted or you can check the Fringe NYC site.

One of the themes of this site is the wonderful riches of NYC for kids. We're not talking about investment bankers or bugaboo strollers. We're talking about the wealth of cultural institutions, the hidden gems, and the overall abundance of amazing opportunities for children in New York. Especially when these things can all be had for free.

Lincoln Center's summer programming is a perfect example of the richness of New York City's offering for children. Through Lincoln Center's many festivals and outdoor programming, children can experience an incredible range of high quality performances, all for free, from the world's leading performing arts center.

In addition to the free concerts and performances for kids in Madison Square Park, there is free programming at several other parks around Manhattan this summer. Union Square Park, Bryant Park and Washington Market Park all have free music and more to enjoy with the kids.

The Whitney Museum of American Art kind of slips your mind. "Oh, yeah that museum with the biennial." But, this summer The Whitney is going to be rocking for kids as they celebrate the 40th Anniversary of The Summer of Love. Check out the free WhitneyKids Rock Festival this weekend at the museum New York loves to forget.