Is everybody ready for spring break? We know your kids are. Public-school students are off from Saturday through Tuesday, April 26 and it's certainly an eventful time. Passover kicks off the evening of Monday, April 18, and Easter follows on Sunday, April 24. In between, we celebrate our planet on Earth Day, which falls on Friday, April 22. No need to wait until the official dates; you can hunt for eggs, munch on matzo and honor Mother Nature this weekend and all spring break long. 

There are lots of non-holiday activities too. We've rounded up awesome (and inexpensive) things to do over spring break as well as some cool camps. The Tribeca Film Festival is hosting free "drive-in" movies and there are exhibits to explore, concerts to rock out to, shows to see, fairs to attend and other spring fun.

Break is the perfect excuse to finally take a day or weekend trip, or just hit another borough or cross a nearby bridge. So read on to see what else we covered this week on Mommy Poppins in NYC, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Many Mommy Poppins writers absolutely adored Birdhouse Factory, the last show Cirque Mechanics brought to the New Victory Theater. So we were all really looking forward to the Las Vegas troupe’s new spectacle Boom Town. Of course high expectations can sometimes lead to disappointment.

So I’ll be honest: Not everyone here enjoyed Boom Town as much as my five-year-old daughter and I did. There’s no question that the Metropolis-esque Birdhouse Factory was more striking in terms of aesthetics, narrative and feats. But Boom Town, which is set in the Wild West during the Gold Rush days, has a lot of hokey charm, with silly clowns, impressive aerial and balancing acts, and lots of silly slapstick.

Here are seven reasons why I think circus lovers should book a trip to Boom Town.

We're very proud to announce the birth of our new Spring Fun Guide! Last year we launched guides for winter, summer and fall and now we're excited to highlight this special season, when NYC families wake up from their winter hibernation and start spending their days outdoors again.

Read on for a sampling of what you'll find in our Spring Fun Guide.

It's been a busy week at all of the Mommy Poppins sites! Must be the time of year: April brings Easter, Passover, spring break, Earth Day and a host of popular festivals like the Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair and Sakura Matsuri.

Don't worry: You won't need to try to cram all of those activities into one weekend. But since they're coming up, we wanted to give you a heads up, so you had time to mark your calendars.

Read on to see what else we covered this week on Mommy Poppins, in NYC, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Ever since my mom read me James and the Giant Peach, I’ve been a fan of Roald Dahl. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, Matilda, I loved his fantastical stories and dark humor, which were so different than the happy, candy-colored kid lit I was used to.

Although he died more than 20 years ago, Dahl’s sensibility seems amazingly contemporary, which is why his children’s books endure today. But did you know that he also wrote poems, many of them skewed takes on old-fashioned fairy tales?

I admit that I didn’t. But I do now thanks to Revolting Rhymes, a new 45-minute musical being mounted by Atlantic for Kids. Find out why this show will make you laugh—perhaps even more than your kids.

We’ve been very busy here at Mommy Poppins, birthing new sites for families in Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut, while still keeping up with all the cool things going on in New York City. We know you’re busy too, and may not have the time to visit multiple sites. So for your convenience, we’re compiling links to our best weekly posts into yet another post. Yes, we do see the irony in that. But we really don’t want you to miss a thing. There’s so much to do all over the tri-state area!

From special Easter train rides in New Jersey to egg hunts on Long Island (yes, already) to a roundup of spring festivals in NYC, here are the highlights from the world of Mommy Poppins.

It’s not just gardens that are blooming this season. NYC’s family theater scene is bursting with new, colorful stage productions. As a total theater geek who grew up going to Broadway spectacles (back when regular folk could afford to do that on a regular basis), I love taking my daughter to shows. Luckily in this town, the Great White Way isn’t the only option. There’s a ton of amazing Off-Off Broadway offerings for young audiences—and you don’t have to be a millionaire to afford the tickets.

While some shows play for a while, there are lots of worthwhile one-offs that come into town to play for a day, and then move on to another city. So be sure to look carefully at the dates when checking our recommendations.

From fractured fairy tales to page-to-stage adaptations of classic kid-lit to circus feats to cool original musicals, here are 11 shows to take your kids to this spring.

It's been a while since we've rounded up links to important news and interesting stories we've come across online. Since many of these articles are timely—especially the ones about pre-k and charter school admissions—we figured it was time to share.

We also found an amusing post about the top ten reasons to have a baby in NYC, a celebration of public-school lunches and a writer who offers an intriguing defense of that mom who's suing a preschool for dashing her daughter's Ivy League chances. Read on for the scoop.