Got your costumes ready? It seems like all the kids are thinking or talking about these days is October 31. While there are certainly plenty of Halloween happenings throughout the month, we've been writing about lots of other things, too.

For example, the Little Orchestra Society kicks off its new season of classical concerts this weekend, the New Victory has a new show specifically aimed at preschoolers and, of course, you can always find fun at the library. Plus we're looking for a few good writers to join the Mommy Poppins team.

And that's just a bit of what's going on. Here's what we covered this week on Mommy Poppins in NYC, New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut, as well as selected stories from our brand-new sites in Boston and Los Angeles.

We’ve made some exciting additions to Mommy Poppins this fall. First, we launched our monthly neighborhood spotlight series, in which we run multiple posts about a chosen New York City area. For October, we decided to highlight one of our favorite places: Chinatown.

Now we’re excited to debut a new series of monthly posts featuring children's book recommendations by New York Public Library (NYPL) librarians. Because really, who better is there to suggest educational and engaging titles for our kids?

For this first NYPL post, we decided to combine our two new series. Stephanie Whelan, a librarian at the Seward Park Library near Chinatown, has compiled a wonderful roundup of nine children’s books that explore Chinatown, or Chinese culture and traditions.

This weekend's bounty of events involves a myriad of Halloween festivities, harvest festivals, hayrides and even a hula.  But if the hula or hauntings don't excite you, then there's a rodeo, a greenmarket or some competitive Scrabble. And we do love Scrabble here at Mommy Poppins. Yes, we're geeky that way. Have a great weekend!

What’s that seismic rumbling? The vibration of 10 million pumpkins rolling down the 405? No, (well maybe, but that’s not what we’re talking about here).  What you’re feeling is the pretend earthquake of the Great American Shakeout, a drill being held Thursday to help kids learn to drop, cover, and hold in the event of a genuine temblor. At 10:20AM schools, businesses, and community groups throughout the Southland are practicing what to do when the Big One (or a medium one) strikes.

Once the dust settles, you’ll find no shortage of things to do this weekend.  Halloween draws ever closer, and our calendar reflects that. The weekend is filled with pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins, two scary aquariums, and quite a few Día de los Muertos celebraciones. 

Here are some of our top choices for this weekend...

Boston families are treated to the opening of two great shows this week - Peter Pan, performed in the round, in City Hall Plaza, and The Phantom Tollbooth, Wheelock Family Theatre's musical adaptation of the classic book. These shows, plus pumpkin floats, a lantern parade, the annual Head of the Charles Regatta, and Boo at the Zoo, are just some of the many weekend options available. And be sure to check out our 20+ Free Halloween Activities for more ideas.

We’ve also launched our occasional series of preschools in the greater Boston area by highlighting five Boston nursery schools that represent different philosophies or approaches to education, plus a schedule of Open Houses that begin next week. We’d love your thoughts about other great schools to cover in our series; please drop me a line with your ideas.

Enjoy!

by Julie Marden

While the school year may still have a bit of a “back to school” feel to it, area preschools begin their open house season this month for parents trying to decide where to send their children next year. Recently, we launched our occasional series of preschools in the greater Boston area by highlighting five Boston nursery schools that represent different philosophies or approaches to education. Below is a calendar of these schools’ upcoming Open Houses and information on how to visit them. 

Being the weekend before Halloween, there's quite a bit listed on the events calendar. To make things easier for you, we've covered everything related to the holiday in a separate Halloween weekend post. You'll find family friendly events and great things to do including corn mazes and pumpkin picking.

For everything else that isn't scary or spooky this weekend read below for our family friendly picks. Fall foliage will be at its peak soon so make sure you take time out to enjoy it and there's still time for apple picking.  Feel like going to a museum in Fairfield County, we've got a few suggestions for you.  UniverSoul Circus is in town and the Danbury KidsFest is happening this Sunday.  Wishing you still had your speed skates? Take your kids to Ron A Roll for lessons on Saturday while you take a few rides around the rink yourself. This week is ADHD Awareness week and we posted great resources for anyone interested in the topic. Don't forget to like us on Facebook and Twitter where we update daily. Read more for this weekend's picks.

It's the second to last weekend before October 31, you know what that means: There's a ton of Halloween fun for New York City families, like free costume parades, no-cost festivals and more school fairs than we could ever list. There are also big annual Halloween events like the Queens Museum of Art's Boo! Spooktacular, the New York City Police Museum's Halloween Party and Central Park's Parade and Pumpkin Sail at the Harlem Meer.

If you're already feeling Halloween fatigue, there are plenty of other cool things to do this weekend that have nothing to do with ghosts, goblins or ghouls. Families can celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights at Asia Society, or head to Flushing Town Hall for a day of Colombian culture, art, music and food. The are also a bunch of cool concerts for kids, including the Little Orchestra Society's new season of classical performances, the retro R&B stylings of Shine & the Moonbeam's, Moey's power pop and the Dirty Sock Funtime Band.

And that's just a few of the great things going on this weekend. Read on for all of our picks and remember, you can find additional options in our Event Calendar and our Halloween Fun Guide.