Free & Fun Things to this Weekend for NYC Kids: City of Water Day, New Museum Party, SummerStage Queens Family Day July 20-21

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Looks like the heat wave is going to break just in time for the weekend. And even if it rains that will be a relief! Regardless of what the weather brings, my family and I are excited to go on a FREE boat tour on Saturday as part of the City of Water Day festivities on Governors Island, and we plan to stick around to hit the rides at the awesome Fête Paradiso.

Other fabulous FREE fun this weekend includes the art-filled New Museum Block Party on the Lower East Side, top-notch entertainment at SummerStage Kids Queens Family Day in Long Island City and TheatreworksUSA's brand-new educational show The Civil War in the West Village.

All of our best bets for the weekend are below. You can find additional options in our Event Calendar and our Summer Fun Guide, including our favorite FREE places to cool off like public pools, beaches and water playgrounds. And if you're craving air conditioning, check out our Indoor Activity Guide for great ways to beat the heat.

Mostly Free & Fun Things To Do With NJ Kids This Weekend July 20-21: Ice Cream Fair, City of Water Day, Woodland Walk and More!

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We’re about at the halfway point of summer, so we’ve had some time to (hopefully) relax but there’s also a stretch of hot, lazy weekends ahead. What to do? Keep cool at the 11th Annual NJ Ice Cream Festival in Toms River or the City of Water Day at Liberty State Park. For outdoor fun, check out Buzz Into Action at the Essex County Environmental Center or the Burlington County Farm Fair in Springfield Township. And remember, you can find a full list of weekend activities in our Event Calendar.

Free Summer Culture: 8 New Public Art Installations NYC Kids Will Love

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The summer season is filled with all kinds of free fun—not just beaches and pools but no-cost culture, too. The best part? A lot of free kid-friendly concerts and performances are outside—you can even find cool alfresco art exhibits.

We've rounded up cool public art installations on view in Manhattan this summer that we think kids and grown-ups will love. Most of them are near parks, so you can check them out on your way to play or see them all in one day on a DIY public art tour. From colorful knotted ropes in Madison Square Park to steel monoliths on Park Avenue to reinvented NYC landmarks, here are eight public art displays to capture your imagination.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus: Still the Greatest Show on Earth?

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When we revisit the classic experiences of childhood, sometimes they lose their rose-tinted luster, while other times they are just as good, if not better than we remembered. The ice cream truck holds up well. Lemonade stands are still pretty darn neat, too. And, as it turns out, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus really does have a right to its boastful tagline, The Greatest Show on Earth.

Offbeat Summer Festivals in New Jersey

Submitted by Tracy on

July and August are prime festival months here in New Jersey. On any given weekend (and sometimes weekdays) you can find a town offering a craft fair, a 4-H festival perfect for children and adults, or some street party with a bounce house and grilled meat on a stick. If you're the kind of person who travels off the beaten path, however, you'll also find some other lesser known events that are pretty darn neat. Here are a few of our favorite "offbeat" summer festivals in NJ.

Swindler Cove at Sherman Creek Park: A Hidden Gem in Upper Manhattan

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Our month-long spotlight on Washington Heights and Inwood wouldn't be complete without a look at Swindler Cove at Sherman Creek Park, a true oasis that few outside the neighborhood know about. But you should. Formerly an illegal dumping site, this five-acre patch of green along the Harlem River underwent a multimillion-dollar transformation and now features lovely tree-lined wood-chip paths, a children's garden, a boathouse, a beach, wetlands, native plantings and a freshwater pond. Clean and meticulously maintained, Swindler Cove at Sherman Creek Park is a secret hideaway begging to be explored. It's a great place to commune with nature in the city and hosts a handful of special events for families. My son and I recently spent a day exploring all the green space has to offer.

Peaks Island, ME with Kids: 25 Things To Do for Families

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Peaks Island is located in Casco Bay, three miles from downtown Portland, ME. For such a small place (just 720 acres), the island has quite a story to tell - from its early days as a fishing village, to its era as the “Coney Island of Maine” in the late 19th century, to its time as a WWII outpost, when concrete bunkers and observation posts were set up to help protect Portland in case of German attacks, to its current role as a haven for day trippers and those looking to get away from it all for a week or the entire summer.

For New England families looking for a perfect summertime destination with kids, a 20-minute ferry ride is all that separates them from Peaks Island and the simple pleasures of island life - biking and walking, swimming, kayaking, sailing, beach combing, and even just relaxing.

Read on for our recommendations of the best things to do on Peaks Island.

Restaurants where Kids Eat Free in Fairfield County, CT

Submitted by Katie McKnight on

Wow…I had forgotten how summer eats into our savings.  Literally, eats into it.  My kids are so active all summer that their appetites are enormous…just like my grocery bills!  Our solution?  Well, we’re eating in a lot, planning our meals in advance, and, when we do go out, frequenting restaurants where kids eat free.  Yup, you read that right…there are a few area restaurants that offer free meals to kids with the purchase of adult meals. We've also made a list for Central CT. Bon appetit!

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