The Philadelphia area is a hub for the arts and sciences for kids and grown-ups alike. Not only do the city’s museums provide a great opportunity for educational fun, they also provide relief from inclement weather during any season. The Academy of Natural Sciences is one such venue. I brought my family for a visit during one of the hottest months of the year, and it was certainly worth the drive from the suburbs.

Fall is upon us and Westchester is blooming with new facilities that cater to families and a slew of new class options for all ages. Even established facilities are sprouting up with novel course offerings. Not sure where to start? We've rounded up new clsses throughout Westchester, to help keep you in the know. 

While some are traditional offerings like music and painting, we've also found an eclectic assortment including toy design, special-needs yoga and gaga. Several options are even tailored to infants as young as three weeks!

Read on to learn more about these and other new classes for kids in Westchester this fall! Also consult our Event Calendar for additional class options that don’t require a multi-week commitment.

Autumn marks the start of a new theater season, but you don't need to shell out big bucks on Broadway shows to give your kids a memorable live entertainment experience in NYC. This fall, preschoolers will go gaga for engaging, page-to-stage adaptations of some of their favorite picture books like Goodnight Moon, The Velveteen Rabbit and Click, Clack, Moo, while school-age children can catch a show about the American Revolution, an avant-garde lineup of shorts and kid-friendly Shakespeare. There are even a pair of productions specifically created for children on the autism spectrum. Best of all, 10 of our picks are $20 or less per ticket.

New York City offers near limitless things for kids to do from some of the best children’s museums and theater options in the world to our libraries, parks and playgrounds. Even locals get overwhelmed with the amount to do here each day and weekend. So we've put together the ultimate one-day itinerary for a family trip to NYC, making sure you take in all the top kid-friendly sights and activities, including Central Park, Times Square and the American Museum of Natural History.

This ultimate NYC family bucket list is designed to be fun for kids of pretty much any age, but we think school-age children will likely get the most out of it. It offers park and food breaks along the way, and could easily be stretched over a weekend or done at a slower pace for toddlers and preschoolers. Read on for your very best day in NYC ever, and check out the Mommy Poppins Visitor's Guide for more tips on the best kid sights and things to do in Manhattan, as well as Brooklyn, Queens and elsewhere around the city.

Fall brings school, the harvest and, for New Yorkers, lots of cool new culture. Our city's world-class museums are debuting the latest exhibits, and we've rounded up seven that sound particularly engaging for kids. Some are interactive, others are eye-popping but all make for enriching family outings. Even the more grown-up exhibitions cater to younger children with complementary hands-on workshops.

School is mostly closed on Monday, in observance of the Jewish New Year. While we wish a happy day to those who will be in temple, many of us now have the luxury of a three day weekend, or the pleasant problem of figuring out what to do with this day off (which, though not unexpected, takes many of us by surprise every time). Although winding down for the season, the Annenberg Beach House has a pop-up pool day on Monday. This is not a discounted dollar day, but I think $10 per adult and $4 per kid is a worthwhile expense during this heat wave. And of course there are always water parks.

It’s mid-September, and before you know it, you’ll be budgeting for holiday shopping. Take advantage of all the fun freebies offered this week, including Chatham Library’s Fall Fruits, Barnes and Noble Monday Morning Storytime, Tykes Tuesday at Deptford Skating and Colts Neck Library’s Read to the Therapy Dogs. Celebrate the week’s end at St. Benedict Parish Carnival with free admission. And don’t forget to check out our Event Calendar for even more options!

Every year a mom at our school makes these fabulous Halloween cookies and I've always wanted to try them myself. They're such a simple, clever idea and I love that they're not overly sweet with lots frosting like most theme cookies are. Feel free to improvise on the recipe. Some people add a little green food coloring or paint the fingernails. You can also add red gel to the "severed" ends or put some strawberry jam under the fingernails. Get creative.