This is another one of those weekends when we wish we had the ability to clone ourselves: Three of our favorite FREE annual festivals are all happening at once. There's the super-interactive Dumbo Arts Festival, Brooklyn's largest street fair Atlantic Antic and Fort Tryon Park's Medieval Festival—and those are just our top picks.

Other FREE highlights include sneak peeks at Staten Island's in-progress Freshkills Park and Governors Island's redesigned parkland. Plus: no-cost admission to a host of NYC cultural institutions courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine's annual Museum Day and a big community block party in Battery Park City.

These are just a few of the great things going on this weekend. All of our best bets are below. You can find additional options in our Event Calendar and our Fall Fun Guide.

Thinking back to my first fall in Boston as a college student, one of my favorite memories is of a day spent outdoors exploring Boston Common, the Public Garden, and the Esplanade for the very first time. It was a perfect day, culminating in a They Might Be Giants concert at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade. That day, I fell madly in love. Not with my first college boyfriend (that was a couple of days later), but with the city of Boston in autumn.

Now I have kids in tow, and ironically, we would be just as likely to go to the Hatch Shell to see They Might Be Giants (since it's a band for kids now). And like that day a few (ahem) years ago, my idea of a perfect fall day in Boston means basking in the beauty of the city's great parks. Boston boasts other gorgeous green spaces like the Rose Kennedy Greenway and the Arnold Arboretum, but to me, there's nothing like strolling through the Public Garden and playing Frisbee on the Esplanade in the fall. Here are 20 of my favorite things to do on Boston Common, the Public Garden, and the Esplanade for a perfect fall day with kids in Beantown.

It’s already the last weekend in September and now’s the time to jump right in and enjoy some awesome fall weather and activities, if you haven’t already! Learn all about autumn animals at the Cora Hartshorn Arboretum’s Fall Festival, make your own family scarecrow at Leonard J. Buck Garden or kick back to some music and browse arts & crafts at the Hoboken Arts & Music Festival. And remember, you can find a full list of weekend activities in our Event Calendar.

So far this month, we've told you about the best museum exhibits for kids and family theater shows debuting this autumn. Now we wrap up our fall culture preview with a roundup of the top 12 kindie rock concerts to catch this season.

Sadly, due to the closing of 92YTribeca last summer, one of our favorite family music series, Bring Your Own Kids, is no more. But don't start singing the blues yet: There are still plenty of cool kids' groups playing NYC this fall, including Grammy nominee Justin Roberts, history-loving crooner Lloyd Miller of the Deedle Deedle Dees and bouncy bilingual band Moona Luna. Bonus: Most of the shows are inexpensive or FREE. In fact eight of our picks don't cost a penny. So put on your dancing shoes and shake your booty at a dozen super-fun family concerts this fall.

Local mom and “Outdoors with Kids Boston” guidebook author, Kim Foley MacKinnon, shares her best family outing tips and picks with you as part of our guest blog series with the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Kids Outdoors Boston free online community.

Lion, tigers and bears are all well and good, but sometimes all kids want to do is play like Old MacDonald and hang out with cows, pigs, and sheep. It makes sense, when you think about it: after all, among the first sounds and words we teach kids are moo, oink and baa. Countless books and songs feature life on the farm. Here are some great spots around New England to visit when the call of the barnyard beckons.

Discovering your child's food allergies can be a frightening experience—whether the reaction is anaphylaxis, projectile vomiting, hives, eczema, or asthma. You will visit doctors, get prescriptions, change your child's diet (and probably that of the whole family as well), work out new recipes and snacks, and finally get in the groove with a system. But every food allergy parent is faced with two situations that must be managed carefully: birthday parties and school. How can you keep your child safe? The severity of a child's allergy is key to the steps you take; but even a non-life-threatening allergy can result in missed school, doctor visits, medications, and embarrassment for your child—all of which you want to avoid.

Just like other Disney properties—errr, princesses before her, Ariel is taking a second swim around the cineplex. However, the current rerelease of The Little Mermaid has a controversial high-tech hook. Subtitled Second Screen Live, it's a two-screen moviegoing experience. You download an app to your iPad that syncs up to the flick and encourages you to engage in a variety of games and activities, from trivia to mazes to sing-alongs.

In parenting circles, the knee-jerk reaction to this concept seems to be overwhelmingly negative. And I get why. As conscientious moms and dads, we're always looking to cut down on our kids' screen time. Also, using mobile devices during movies is pretty much despised by everyone (except for all those rude people who do it! I'm sure you know one or ten). Plus, Second Screen Live is clearly another attempt by Disney to wring even more money out of its already super-lucrative franchises.

But as the mom of an eight-year-old who exclaimed, "That was awesome!" after a recent Little Mermaid Second Screen Live screening, I've got to tell you, I felt the same way. It was like Rocky Horror for families with a digital twist. (As you can see from the photo, my daughter even dressed up.) And since it's very interactive and requires kids to read directions and complete challenges, it's much more stimulating than your average cinema outing.

It's been a high-tech week here at Mommy Poppins NYC. We shared some of our favorite FREE coding websites for kids, rounded up Minecraft clubs in NYC, explored the American Museum of Natural History in a whole new way thanks to the History Hero app and tonight, my daughter and I are off to see the digitally interactive Little Mermaid Second Screen Live.

Lest you think HAL has taken over, we posted about some good old-fashioned analog activities, too, like great places to see autumn leaves in NYC and the top family shows opening this fall. Our regional sites are also chock-full of seasonal fun like fall harvest festivals in Westchester, New Jersey, Connecticut and on Long Island, and family-friendly apple and pumpkin-picking spots throughout the tri-state area.

This weekend brings some of our absolute favorite annual events in NYC, including Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science and the Queens County Fair. Plus, on Sunday Mommy Poppins is hosting a special eco-themed family cruise on Manhattan by Sail's Clipper City Tall Ship. Enjoy hands-on nature activities, sailor skills, face painting and stunning New York Harbor views. Tickets are selling fast so get yours today.

Here's what else we covered in NYC this week: