It can be a challenge to find new and exciting places to hold your child's birthday party. So break the birthday party mold and check out these out of the box places and spaces to keep kiddies energized and entertained. Guests will be wowed and your birthday boy/girl will be uber grateful. And for more ideas, check out our Long Island Party Guide.

They've been working on the railroad—all the livelong decade, it feels like. There are kids in high school who have heard all their lives about the light rail someday reaching the sea. Well, this weekend, on May 20, 2016 to be exact, the Santa Monica extension of the Expo Line finally opens up, and people will be able to travel between the Pier and DTLA without touching their car keys. Los Angeles Metro is celebrating the much anticipated event with parties and free rides for everyone. In all, 7 new stations are opening up, so that's 7 parties with live music, food trucks, bounce houses, and other entertainment from Culver City to Santa Monica. Hop on a train, and pretty much anywhere you hop off, there'll be a party going on. Yes, that's how novel public transport is to people on the Westside of LA.

The free rides are on offer from noon on Friday through the end of Saturday. After that, riders need to have a TAP card ($1 in vending machines, $2 on buses or at retail locations) loaded up with enough credit for travel; each journey costs $1.75 ($1 for kids in grades K-12), including transfers. And the good news is that several new Big Blue Bus routes have been added to meet the train—as well as a few other creative ways to get to and from the station.

If we were giving out rewards to “most improved” NYC park, surely Governors Island would blow the competition away. The trust that operates 150-acres of the island under the direction of the city continues to open new parklands, add more kid-friendly features and expand hours, making it a must-do on every New Yorker’s summer bucket list.

Summer 2016 will see the addition of an entire hill of slides, including one that will reportedly be the longest in the city at 57-feet-long, a brand-new treehouse and the debut of the city’s only “adventure playground,” a free-for-all, kids-only build and destroy space. Oh, and it is all FREE, our favorite kind of summer fun.

Governors Island opens for the season on Saturday, May 28, Memorial Day weekend and hosts its annual Family Fun Day that Sunday. Not all the features will be ready for opening day, but some will.

Here’s a breakdown on what’s new and when it will be available for family fun on this car-less isle.

One of the coolest things about living in the city is the block parties. This quintessential celebration of summer can be a huge extravaganza or just a great day filled with a strong sense of community, great food and good fun. It's a great tradition you can have with your kids in the summer year after year. 

You've walked into Boston's Public Garden and taken the kids for a ride on the Swan Boats. You can check that off your list of things to do with kids in Boston before they grow up,  but now what? Well, there's good news: Families can actually enjoy a lot more in the Public Garden. The 24-acre park – which lies between Arlington and Charles Streets, and across from Boston Common – is a stroller's delight, with winding paths among tremendous horticultural sights. 

Whether your toddler already speaks a second (or third) language at home, or if you’re simply hoping to give your monolingual child the gift of another language, there are plenty of great preschools where NYC kids may begin, or continue, learning another language. 

As with mastering any new skill, regular (and fun) practice makes a big difference in how quickly a child becomes comfortable speaking another language. We previously rounded up great Spanish language learning centers for school-aged kids, as well as Spanish sing-alongs for toddlers. Now, we're turning our attention to the preschool set, pulling together a sampling of immersion and dual-language preschool programs available in Manhattan. All our picks accept a mix of children at different levels of language proficiency, including absolute beginners.

Read on to find out where your tot can learn German, French, Mandarin and Spanish, and be sure to look through our NYC Preschool Listings and Directory for even more options, including dual-language playgroups and preschool alternatives. 

Ever since we moved to southern Brooklyn from the Upper West Side, I've been on the hunt to replace all of the amazing special needs activities we had access to in Manhattan with only limited success. That's why I was really excited to stumble across the FREE Inclusive Services at the Brooklyn Public Library program.

The program, formerly known as The Child's Places, takes place at five borough branches and is a lot more than books. The activities, geared toward children with special needs ages newborn to teen, include reading, playing and clubs where participants engage in a variety of enriching hands-on activities. True to their name, the offerings are inclusive, which means you can bring siblings of all abilities. So no more schlepping to Manhattan when looking for FREE fun for my special needs tween.

Kids can be little trendsetters and fashionistas, and when it comes to their wardrobe, they definitely what they like and don't like. If your child has a keen interest in fashion and sewing, and vows to attend a fashion-oriented college someday, perhaps they'd be interested in one of New Jersey's kid-friendly fashion design classes. Here's a list of the top programs that your budding Rachel Roy or Zac Posen (Hey, you never know, right?!) may find engaging and informative. It's fun for kids to tap into their creativity-- and they can get their paint on, too!