While the 85-acre, waterfront Brooklyn Bridge Park is certainly the biggest and best known green space in Brooklyn Heights, there are a handful of lovely little neighborhood playgrounds like Pierrepont, Harry Chapin and Squibb Park, which are all located on or near the Promenade. Plus there are some great indoor spots where kids can drop in and play, too, like the soon-to-be-overhauled local library and the New York Transit Museum, which has vintage buses and trains to explore.

We finish up our month-long focus on Brooklyn Heights with a roundup of our favorite places to play both indoors and out in the area.

With one weekend to go before Turkey Day, how about taking a break from cooking and cleaning for some quality family time? Grab your sweaters and head outdoors for a Fall Photo Scavenger Hunt at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum or take in a performance of Oliver! at the historic Paper Mill Playhouse. If you’re looking to keep the kids busy and out of the house, sign up for a Thanksgiving Baking Class at Classic Thyme or get a jump on holiday decorating with a Christmas Wreath Workshop at NJ Botanical Gardens. By the way, don't miss our great giveaway for a family-four packs tickets to Sahara Sam's Water Park! And remember, you can find a full list of weekend activities in our Event Calendar.

Our partner, the New Victory Theater, is well known for presenting unique shows for families from around the world. And Feet Don't Fail Me Now!, a tap-dance extravaganza by Minneapolis' Rhythmic Circus, is definitely one of its best. This one-of-a-kind production is an exciting mash-up of rock concert and vigorous dance production that you don't want to miss.

Rhythmic Circus is an 11-member performing arts troupe comprised of the incredibly talented Roots City Band and four amazing rhythm-style tap dancers. The plot-less Feet Don't Fail Me Now! is an hour-long party featuring 14 genre-busting numbers ranging in style from beat box, to a cappella, to salsa, to jazz, to funk, to rock. The dancers' fast-paced percussive tapping brings another level of rhythm to the pounding music.

A true must-see, my eight-year old son and I were blown away. It's one of the best things we've ever experienced at the New Victory Theater and that's quite a compliment considering how many shows we've seen there!

There are many old and charming small towns in the great state of New Jersey. With memorable beach towns, historic college towns and sleepy suburbs, the garden state represents small town USA from Sussex to Salem County. Here is another installment in our ongoing series on Mommy Poppins New Jersey, Great Small Towns in NJ. Check out our other posts on Cranford, Millburn, Chester and Sparta. Get out there and explore our great state in one of these wonderful small towns!

You're thinking about the turkey, the stuffing, the pies, the cranberry sauce, the rolls, the squash soup, the green beans, the wine, the sparkling cider, the linens, the extra chairs, that extra leaf for the table.  If you're going to be hosting the big day, feeding your flock is task enough.  If you get to just show up and eat, well hey, that's task enough, too.  None of you should have to figure out what to do with your fat and happy selves, so we've come up with a slew of ideas for you, across the state, including turkey trots, museum visits, nature outings and sporty activities.

Every year around the holidays, many readers ask about ways they can volunteer with their children. It's not as easy as you might think. Many charitable organizations have age minimums for their hands-on projects, and even when you do find family-friendly volunteering opportunities, they often book up weeks in advance. But local food pantries and shelters are always in need at this time of year, and you can go through your own kitchen cabinet or closet, or shop your local supermarket, to collect a few extra items for families in need.  

With Thanksgiving coming up this month, we wanted to highlight some great ways Hamptons kids and their parents can help those in need. While kids may not be able to work in a soup kitchen, they can certainly help the homeless and hungry in other meaningful ways. Here are some family-friendly ways to put the "giving" in your Thanksgiving.

In our Poppins Parents series, we’ve featured the founder of a local nonprofit organization, a Boston Marathon runner who raises money for homeless children, a passionate advocate for getting kids outdoors, a musician who helps kids sing their way through cancer, and a yogi whose parenting blog provides reassurance that we're all in this together. It’s a diverse group of people with something in common: They are all local parents who make a difference in the lives of Boston families.

Our newest Poppins Parent hasn’t lived in the Boston area for long, but she’s already made quite an impact. She is a writer, an avid proponent for Boston’s many talented children’s musicians, and the creator of WonderBaby.org, an invaluable resource for parents of children with special needs.

Meet Amber Bobnar; find out what drew her from Hawai‘i to Boston, discover what's on her list of Boston's best venues for children's music, and learn which local resources she has found most helpful for raising a child with special needs.