Weekly Wrap Up: Cool New Shows and Exhibits, Muppet Mania, Where to Play on the Upper West Side

11/17/11 - By Raven Snook

It's been a busy week for us! Over the past seven days, we've reviewed two must-see shows, explored three fabulous new exhibits and rounded up 21 places to play on the Upper West Side. After all of this running around, we're definitely looking forward to resting a bit over the Thanksgiving break next week—once we finish cooking the turkey, of course.

Thanksgiving and the holidays are what's on everyone's minds, so we're furiously overhauling our Holiday Guide with updated info about Christmas tree and menorah lightings, offbeat celebrations and other seasonal fun. We also launched our brand-new, locally focused Holiday Gift Guide this week. We'll be adding a lot of info to both of these guides, so be sure to check back throughout the season.

And that's just a bit of what's going on. Here's what we covered this week on Mommy Poppins in NYC, New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut, as well as selected stories from our sites in Boston and Los Angeles.

OUR LATEST VIDEOS

New York City

We saw two wonderful shows this week: Dream Big by the Big Apple Circus, which happens to be Grandma the Clown's final show with the troupe; and Untapped!, a tap-dance-hip-hop hybrid at the New Victory Theater.

We also wrote about two awesome new interactive exhibits: CMOM's healthy living installation Eat Sleep Play and AMNH's out-of-this-world Beyond Planet Earth.

Plus, we toured the New York Historical Society's groundbreaking Children's History Museum, which is a great destination for tweens and tweens.

Are you as excited about The Muppets movie as we are? Then you'll love our roundup of eight ways to get your Muppet on in NYC—besides the seeing the film.

We continued our series of posts about the Upper West Side with our top 21 places to play in the neighborhood.

We also published our second Little Lions post featuring book lists compiled by NYPL librarians. In honor of Thanksgiving, these children's titles are all about gratitude and generosity.   

Best bets for the weekend include the opening of the New York Botanical Garden's annual Holiday Train Show, Icky Fest at the Brooklyn Children's Museum and the Children's Book Fair at the Brooklyn Museum.
 

New Jersey

Across the Hudson, we've got tips on how to plan your Thanksgiving meal.

Get into the holiday spirit a little early with the seasonal kids' show The Toymaker’s Apprentice.

Things to do this weekend include a screening of the classic TV-special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving in Summit and a gingerbread house workshop in Hamilton.
 

Long Island

On Long Island, you can get a really fresh bird for your Thanksgiving feast at one of many turkey farms

Weekend highlights include the annual Winter Festival and Tree Lighting in Deer Park, the traveling holiday stage show Who Took Tom Turkey? and the Huntington Holiday Fair.


Connecticut

Our CT bloggers are on fire! First up: A roundup of restaurants serving Thanksgiving dinner.

Continuing the theme, there's a list of Thanksgiving books and games.

Finally, there's a roundup of Thanksgiving events in Hartford County.

Not everything is about Thanksgiving, of course. Check out this rave review of Global Energy, the Musical.

If you're a yoga buff, you'll love this roundup of yoga classes for kids.

Los Angeles & Boston

Our Boston site is also getting ready for the season with roundups of holiday fairs and productions of The Nutcracker.

Out in LA, they've also got a roundup of Nutcrackers. There's no denying it, the holidays are basically here!
 

Giveaways

We've got three great giveaways this week at our regional sites.

NJ is giving away two sets of family four-packs to The Nutcracker at the South Orange Performing Arts Center.

Up in CT, you can enter to win a family four-pack to see the documentary Being Elmo about the man behind the furry red monster. (This movie is best for tweens and up. Don't want to ruin the magic of the Muppets for your preschooler!)

And finally, our Boston site is giving away a family four-pack to a Sing-Along Mary Poppins screening.