Long Island Kids' Activities April 20 & 21: Chick-A-Palooza Festival, Celebrate Earth Day, Build A Biome

This weekend, get ready for Earth Day with some great events!  Head on over to the Garden of Eve Organic Farm & Market in Riverhead for their Chick-A-Palooza: Backyard Homesteading Festival, where you’ll partake in workshops on chicken-keeping, beekeeping, and gardening, along with farm tours, fiber arts, sheep shearing, and cooking demos.  The Long Island Children’s Museum in Garden City is presenting Our Changing World - Earth Day Celebration, where you’ll honor and find out how you can help more than 41,000 plants and animals that are on the brink of extinction.  Celebrate Earth Day at the Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn Harbor where you’ll help create a gigantic group sculpture using recycled materials with artists from the NYC based art collective Free Style Arts Association.  Super Science Focus: Build A Biome To Celebrate Earth Day is taking place at the Maritime Explorium in Port Jefferson, where you can create a habitat of your own using recycled water bottles.  Also on tap: Wacky Wednesday and The Diary of Anne Frank at Theatre Three Productions in Port Jefferson.  As always, check out our events calendar every day for fun activities for the family!

Free & Fun Things to Do this Weekend with NYC Kids: Spring Festivals, Earth Day, Family Theater April 20-21

It's a great weekend for family theater, music and outdoor festivals. Lots of notable kids' shows debut this weekend, including two picks from our April NYC Go List: Wanda's Monster the Musical featuring songs by Laurie Berkner and TADA! Youth Theater's Adventures from Ezra Jack Keats, along with the kickoff of the second annual New York Children's Theater Festival.

There are also a slew of FREE Earth Day-themed festivals, like the art-filled St. George Day Festival on Staten Island, plus celebrations in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park and Union Square.

On a somber note, our thoughts and hearts are still with our friends, family and colleagues in Boston as they recover from Monday's attack. Sunday is Family Day at NYC's 9/11 Memorial and we suspect the organizers will do something special to honor the victims and survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings.

All of our best bets for the weekend are below. Remember, you can find additional ideas in our Event Calendar and our Spring Fun Guide.

Marathon Inspired: 8 Family-Friendly Spring Races in Massachusetts

On Monday afternoon, inspired by the runners in the Boston Marathon, I started a Couch to 5K running program. When I got home after my first training session, I heard the terrible news of the tragedy at the marathon. At first, I thought about giving up on the 5K program. But then I made a completely different decision: Although I am in the worst shape of my life – I can’t even run a mile (seriously, but please don't judge) – I am going to start with a 5K, and then keep going all the way to next year’s Boston Marathon. Every race I run will be for all the people who are no longer able.

Races have always been a family affair for us. Over the years, my kids have done several fun runs and kids races  while one of the adults in the family runs the “big race”. I plan to continue our tradition. If you’d like to give a race a try, either just for fun, or in honor of the Boston Marathon runners and their loved ones, take a look at my round up of upcoming family-friendly races in Massachusetts this spring. 

DJ Classes for NYC Kids: Learn Scratching, Mixing and Digital Music Making

In the age of digital everything you might think old-school DJing with those shiny black things we called records would be dead and gone. But not so. There are a number of DJ schools in NYC that teach retro turntable action as well as digital music mixing via state-of-the-art technology.

While most of these programs are primarily aimed at adults, three Manhattan schools also offer classes for junior DJs. Mixing, blending, scratching and beats are just some of what participants learn, and by the end they have their own professionally recorded demos. (Too bad they'll need to wait until they're 21 to actually spin at a club.) Here are the top DJ classes for tweens and teens in New York City.

Mostly Free & Fun Things To Do With NJ Kids This Weekend April 20-21: Earth Day, Woodland Walk, The Wizard of Oz & More!

Springtime is full steam ahead and New Jersey has plenty to keep families busy this time of year. Celebrate Earth Day with a festival at the NJ State Botanical Garden or a Native American craft at the Newark Museum. If you’re looking to introduce the kids to a classic, take in a performance of Charlotte’s Web or The Wizard of Oz. Read on for our top picks and find a listing of all NJ activities in our Event Calendar.

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