Here we are in mid-October, when Halloween is just around the corner and fall fun peaks. In addition to all the big Halloween events recurring throughout October, there are also numerous local festivals celebrating autumn and Halloween, including the Children's Halloween Festival and Halloween Carnival and Ragamuffin Parade (see also our roundup of other ragamuffin parades happening in our area). Perhaps the granddaddy of all festivals this weekend is the two-day NY Sheep and Wool Festival, which features fiber-arts workshops and such eccentricities as llama acts.

This is also an exciting weekend for those who love dance, with the Krasnoyarsk National Dance Company of Siberia taking the stage and a unique museum Family Day program inviting the public to Celebrate Dancers Among Us. For more theatrical highlights this season, consult our hot-off-the-press guide to the best family fall performances in Westchester so you can claim the performances and seats you want.

Read on for our top weekend picks, visit our Event Calendar, and check out our October Go List for our top choices for the rest of the month!

Your kids may mean the sun, moon and stars to you, but how about teaching them about these orbiting planets around us as well? There are a few museums on Long Island offering an engaging learning experience that is simply out of this world. And for more enrichment programs, be sure to check out our Long Island Classes Guide.

Halloween is just around the corner and New Jersey is getting into the spirit in a big way! Check out glowing pumpkins during Brite Nites at Wagner Farm, head to Cape May’s Boo at the Zoo to trick or treat amongst the animals or take your little ones to a fun Halloween Story Time at Words Bookstore. And for more autumn outings to keep the whole gang entertained, celebrate New Jersey’s other famous fall fruit during The Chatsworth Cranberry Festival, sit back and watch glow-in-the-dark puppetry during a special performance of Goodnight Moon or take a break from all of the seasonal frenzy with a relaxing Family Woodland Hike at the Botanical Gardens. Whatever you decide to do this weekend, we hope you enjoy it with family and friends. For even more activity options, check out our Event Calendar.

There are many reasons not to take your kids out for traditional, around the neighborhood, nighttime trick-or-treating: Your little one is too young, you have a sensory-sensitive child who is not amused by cackling animatronic witches, you’re trying to move toward a more earth-friendly or less sugary Halloween, or you just want your kids to think more about giving than getting.

Whatever the reason, there’s no need to feel left out on Halloween. There are plenty of alternatives to traditional trick-or-treating for Boston area families, and they may be even better than the real thing!

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In between taking advantage of all the great outdoor activities the fall brings, Westchester is offering a multitude of enticing children’s shows sure to entertain not only the little ones, but their chaperoning adults alike. This fall's lineup includes returning family favorites like Click, Clack Moo, but also numerous novelties, like Black Violin and Krasnoyarsk National Dance Company of Siberia. An added twist on tradition is Olate Dogs - Winners of America's Got Talent.

Read on for our list of the best family shows and performances happening across Westchester this fall season. For even more fall fun, check our October GoList and Event Calendar for all of the other exciting activities for you and your family this season!

From King Kong to Batman, New York City is one of the most famous settings for countless movies and TV shows. Filming is so ubiquitous here that locals can barely make it down the block without tripping over a production crew. Still, there's a thrill in seeing such iconic movie sites in person—and not just for kids.

Families looking for an off-beat, outdoor adventure can DIY their way to these big (and small) screen "sets" for FREE with our list of top NYC movie spots, or hop onto one of the many bus and walking tours to narrate your way through the city's most famous locations like a certain Ghostbusters' downtown firehouse and a Smurf landing in Central Park.

This post is sponsored by La Escuelita.

Thanks to shows like Dora the Explorer and Ni Hao Kai -lan, kids are being exposed to foreign languages at a younger age today. The preschool years are prime time for language building. In fact, the traditional model in the US of waiting to acquire a second language until the adolescent years is flawed—research has shown that children's ability to distinguish between new sounds and accurately replicate them diminishes dramatically after age 12. The key is immersing a child in the second language as early as possible. Whether Mom and Dad speak another language or not, a language immersion preschool can help a child to become fluent in another language, while also readying him or her for elementary school.

La Escuelita was founded in 2003 by two mothers, both educators, who wanted a quality bilingual English/Spanish education for their children. The school is one of the first dual-language preschools in NYC, providing support for early bilingualism via playgroups for little ones aged 12 months to 6 years, as well as a preschool for children ages 2 to 5, an immersion afterschool program for children in grades K-3 and an immersion summer program.

Ghouls, goblins and scary get-ups are all the rage this time of year. On the East End of Long Island, there are as many ways to celebrate Halloween as there are seeds in a pumpkin. From the North Fork to the South, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorites just in time for the holiday. Here you’ll find haunted houses, spooky walks, parties and even trick-or-treating tips to keep your young ones in the spirit of the season.

And for more seasonal fun, check out our Long Island Halloween Guide.