There's lots of indoor fun on tap this weekend (even though it's supposed to warm up there's rain on the way). Kids can get messy and gooey at the Brooklyn Children's Museum's annual IckyFest weekend, celebrate the Jewish New Year of Trees at the Museum at Eldridge Street and enjoy face time with a live wolf at the American Museum of Natural History.

There are some cool cultural activities, too, like the show DiNO-Light: A Glow-in-the-Dark Dinosaur Adventure at Symphony Space and a FREE Martin Luther King-inspired Robbi K & Friends concert. This is also the weekend to recycle your Christmas tree at the Parks Department's annual MulchFest and to enter the online lottery for FREE winter swimming lessons for kids at NYC Recreation Centers.

Those are just a few of the great things going on this weekend. All of our best bets are below. If you like planning ahead, be sure to check out our January Go List highlighting the best things to do with kids throughout the month, including our special Mommy Poppins Event: a performance of Still Awake Still! at the New Victory Theater with interactive pre- and post-show activities.

Here at Mommy Poppins Boston, we are always on a journey to find more wonderful ideas for family fun in Boston to share with you. Along the way, we often bump into great parent blogs. As we reflect on the roads we traveled last year, and look for new ways to spend meaningful time with our kids this year, we consider the blogs written by local moms and dads that inform us, help us to feel connected, change the way we see parenthood, or just make us laugh. So, (drum roll, please), here are our 13 favorite new (or new to us) parent blogs in 2013, covering everything from autism to umami, parenting in Boston on a budget to LGBT parenting adventures.  

January can be a tough time for people, especially with how dangerously frigid it has been. You might be thinking ahead to spring and wishing for warmer weather. But we've put together our January Go List, The Best Things to Do with Kids this Month that gives you ideas, so you can plan ahead and have things to look forward to. If you are looking for a weekend getaway that doesn't involve skiing, take a look at our review of our Foxwoods Resort Adventure. It's not only a play place for adults!

If you do like to ski, we have our post on Six Family Ski Resorts in CT: The Lowdown. Our CT Winter Fun Guide is also full of skiing, snow tubing, indoor play places and more. To get the most out of the site, be sure to follow us on Facebook (make sure Mommy Poppins CT shows up on your feed by including us in your "interests list." To put a page on your "interests list," hover over the "Like" button and you'll see a pull-down menu that offers an "add to your interests lists" choice).

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and be sure to get the weekend round up every Thursday in your inbox. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Pinterest in order to get updates on events, current contests and free giveaways. Our event calendar is updated constantly with fun activities around the state.

Here are some fun suggestions for the weekend.

We're major theater lovers at Mommy Poppins so of course we're big fans of the New Victory Theater and its amazing family shows from around the globe. We are thrilled to be partnering with the theater again to host a fun-packed Mommy Poppins Event at the New Vic on Saturday, January 18 at 3pm. At this exclusive gathering, Mommy Poppins readers can enjoy the kid-friendly cabaret-style musical Still Awake Still!, participate in an interactive preshow workshop, and stick around afterward to meet the performers and decorate a delicious handmade cookie compliments of our friends at Cookie Party.

Read on to find out more about this special Mommy Poppins event and how you can save 20% on tickets.

Hang in there Jersey! Though you probably can’t feel your toes (or nose or fingers) because of the bitter cold, milder temps are headed our way! If you’ve got a major case of cabin fever, you’ll be happy to know there are plenty of fun and educational outdoor events this weekend. Burn off some energy with the kids at the Winter Exploration Geocache at Stony Brook-Millstone Reserve or learn about maple syruping with hands-on demos at the Reeves-Reed Arboretum. If you’re looking to stay indoors, get pumped for the Super Bowl with the Gridiron Glory exhibit at Liberty Science Center or take in a performance of Fancy Nancy at the Mayo Performing Arts Center. And don't miss our great giveaway--a winter session at Kidville Montclair, valued at $400, so enter today!

You may be a fan of our list of 100 Things to Do Lists with LA Kids, and perhaps you've also checked out our 25 Things To Do lists in Culver City, Burbank, or Hollywood. Well, if you're ready to do some more exploring, how about the South Bay? Whether you're a local wanting to try something new or from farther afield looking to spend a day (or even a weekend) at the beach, Redondo Beach has plenty of options to keep families with kiddos entertained. TIme to get off the freeway and enjoy the fresh ocean breezes!

January is known for being the slowest, coldest month. But that doesn’t mean it still can’t be chock-full of family fun! Hopefully, you’ve finally decompressed from holiday festivities and can make time to catch some live shows in Jersey this month. Here’s a round-up of family-friendly shows for kids and if the theat-uh is not your thing, check out our Winter Fun Guide or January GO List for other fun 'n' frosty options.

All of NYC's a stage, and all the men and women (and especially children) merely players. Today's news roundup includes details on three awesome theater deals, including two-for-one tickets to Broadway shows, info on the brand-new playground in Fort Washington Park, a new aerial arts program for kids and the scoop on a soon-to-open board game lab in Park Slope. Plus, the end of an era for horse-drawn carriages in Central Park and a look back at all the small businesses that have closed in NYC since 2001.