[UPDATED: July 13, 2012]

Chess is becoming a more and more popular program for children both in school and out of school as parents and educators see how learning chess can help children develop critical thinking skills and other positive academic and non-academic abilities. I recently sat down with Fred Wilson, who has been teaching chess to kids in Manhattan for 18 years and runs the chess programs at NYC private schools such as Grace Church, Little Red School House, City and Country School, and the Village Community School (no wonder he's a legend in the Viilage), to pick his brain on all that he knows about learning to play chess for kids in NYC.

Find out how to know if chess is right for your child, ane asy way to know if they are ready to play chess, why kids should play in tournaments and how to find a good chess program for your child:

Last week I mentioned that the NYC Parks Department was having an open house this week, making all of their rec centers available for free. At the time I hadn't been able to confirm whether the swimming pools were going to be available or not, so I have some more information now that made this worth repeating. I also have some more free fitness deals to check out. Learn how to get free ice skating in Prospect Park and a week of free yoga too.

As the weather turns cold and the playground is no longer an option, classes seem like a great way to schedule some fun time indoors. You can check out our Classes Guide here for lots of ideas, but in the meantime you may want to try and sample some classes and see what you like. We've rounded up trial and demo classes from lots of programs all over the city. Plus, remember that many places will let you try any class for free once. Just call and ask.

When did I become the type of person that travels to another borough because she heard a new candy store opened up? I have no explanation, but that's just what we did yesterday after seeing wonderful pictures of this fantastic new sweetopia in Dumbo, Dewey's Candy.

We just awarded two lucky winners free Ice Skating Lessons from Battery Park City on Ice and for the next three weeks we'll be giving away a free Ice Skating Party each week. Since we know how much our readers love freebies, we're jumping right in to some more. We're giving away 25 free family passes to see a screening of the new Jackie Chan family flick. Also find out about free access to Parks Department Rec centers next week, how to get your kid's artwork in a museum or possibly win a scholarship. Lastly, find out what prominent New Yorkers think NY's resolutions should be this year. Read on for all these goodies:

Happy New Year! As a parent sometimes the outside world just seems like the ambient music to the milestones of our family's life. Luckily it's never too late to catch up. I've rounded up some great Top 10 lists from 2009 and the decade to help us catch up on the important events we might have been napping through—or just bring it back up from the depths of our sleep-deprived minds. From useful links and information to historic events and some stuff that's just for fun, here's the best of the top ten lists from 2009 and the decade:

This week, to wrap up 2009, we've been posting some great lists of your favorite places and ours. already we've posted 20 favorite family friendly restaurants and 30 fun places to play indoors. We did lots of great list posts this year and since they were some of our favorite posts this year, I though as part of our year-end round up I'd share the best ones. Of course our most popular list post, 100 Things to Do With Your Kids in NYC Before They Grow Up wasn't from this year, but it was still one of the most popular of this year. Here are the rest:

[UPDATED: JANUARY 7, 2013]

We recently asked readers to recommend some of their favorite places for families in New York City. This week we'll be posting some round-ups that include your favorite places and ours. We've already posted 20 favorite family-friendly restaurants and now we're sharing 30 fun spots for indoor play when the weather is too cold, hot or rainy. Make this your to-do list for the winter and you're guaranteed to keep busy and entertained, no matter how brutal the weather gets.

Got a favorite place that didn't make the list? Please add it to the comments below—we'd love to hear additional suggestions!