I first learned about Good Day Play Cafe in Bayside, Queens from three friends who raved after its June 2016 opening. They had me at Stumptown coffee and cold brew, but after hearing about the Hinoki cypress wood cube sensory pit and indoor play area, I knew I had to check it out with my kids, ages 6, 4, and 9 months. The thoughtfully designed space features an engaging and unique play area and a cafe serving delicious eats, making it an ideal destination for families with young kids.

Fans of the Disney Junior television show Octonauts can now look beyond the small screen to find Captain Barnacles and his crew of deep-sea explorers. Debuting across the country, Octonauts Live! brings the TV show’s characters to the stage, encouraging kids and their parents to follow the Octonauts' motto: Explore! Rescue! Protect!

The New-York Historical Society's new exhibit, The Battle of Brooklyn, focuses on one of the earliest, largest, and closest-to-home battles of the Revolutionary War. Though not specifically designed with kids in mind, this exhibit offers a behind-the-scenes look at the American Revolution, with remnants of history still seen in today's Brooklyn. Older school-aged kids will enjoy exploring this immersive installation of the not-so-legendary skirmish that took place shortly after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Terror Behind the Walls is rated one of the best haunted attractions in the country, in part because of its authentic location, inside the Eastern State Penitentiary, a former prison which is now a historical site. But does the hype live up to the experience, and, more importantly, is this an experience that kids will enjoy? Here's what you need to know to decide if the kids are ready for this attraction.

Oh, those two wonderful words: no homework. The rare days when those words are uttered, children can play outside, and adults can plan satisfying family time. Wouldn't it be great if our kids' schools supported that sort of routine every day? If evenings could be spent reading together, playing games as a family, or even taking advantage of free museum nights instead of hovering over a pile of worksheets due tomorrow?

That’s where The Country School comes in— a progressive, project-based school in Valley Village that prioritizes the whole child and his or her creativity, compassion, and emotional intelligence. The mission of the school is to provide kids from preschool through eighth grade with a warm environment where they can approach learning in their own way. Instead of focusing on pop quizzes and worksheets, kids might be planting trees, making their own movies, creating maps, or learning to play instruments. The idea is that kids should be excited to tell their parents what they did at school that day.

LA really loves its Halloween. You can spook yourself silly just about anywhere: the aquarium, every last theme park, at pumpkin patches, farms, and railroads. So it makes sense that the Los Angeles Zoo and all of its party animals would want to get in on the action.

Unlike many other Halloween fests, Boo at the LA Zoo is not designed to scare the bejeebies out of you. Its haunts are played for fun, or to provoke amazement at animal oddities. The Zoo never loses sight of its greater mission: to inform kids about animals. So amidst the decorations and silliness, Halloween is presented through a lens of education and animal facts.

I’m thrilled to announce that Mommy Poppins is now in Houston! Our local Houston moms have been running all over town to get the inside scoop on the best attractions and activity ideas and share their tips with you. Already the Houston site has loads of information from 24 fun family fest in October to Houston restaurants where kids eat free, 25 splash pads for keeping cool, great advice for finding a local nanny, and so much more. And we’re already starting to load up our family event calendar and local business directories, too.

Newsletter subscribers will get our first weekly email with the top weekend activities this Thursday. If you’re not signed up, sign up now and tell your friends! Don’t forget to like Mommy Poppins Houston on Facebook, too, and make our page a favorite so you don’t miss out on the latest news, highlights, and giveaways.

We’re so excited about our new Houston community, but that’s not all we’ve had in the works. Those of you who are long-time readers know that we totally revamped our website in February. Boy, was that a lot of work! Since our launch we’ve continued to develop more improvements to make it easier to find what you are looking for in the vast amount of information we have. Apparently, it’s not that easy to build a website when you have over 20,000 articles, 5000 listings, and 450 guides to manage! I thought this might be a good time to quickly run through some of those changes that you might not have noticed yet.

Oktoberfest conjures up images of raucous crowds in beer halls, but Old World in Huntington Beach turns the fall tradition into a family event on Sunday afternoons with Kinderfest. This is a great thing to know if your personal limit on pumpkins, ghosts, and haunted houses is in danger of being met; adult fun with a childish (and canine!) twist is on offer all month in the OC.