Fall Festivals & Fall Fairs For Long Island Kids

It’s fall festival time. It's time to paint pumpkins, feast on apples and roasted corn, drink cider, jump on bouncers, ride on carnival rides, and stock up on handmade crafts. All across Long Island, communities are celebrating the abundant harvest from local farms. There are festivals taking place until Halloween. Here is a roundup of the fairs and festivals that we found.

Mostly Free & Fun Things To Do With NJ Kids This Weekend September 21-22: Autumn Campfire, Moon Festival, Downtown Fair & More!

Is that a chill in the air? Cooler September evenings are upon us and some great autumn events are starting to pop up on our radar. Take a hay ride during Fall Family Weekends at Horse Sleigh Farm, cozy up to a campfire after an Autumn Night Hike at Tenafly Nature Center or learn about Chinese culture at the Mid Autumn Moon Festival at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum. And remember, you can find a full list of weekend activities in our Event Calendar.

Minecraft Clubs for NYC Kids

My son is mad about Minecraft, the video game that lets players break apart virtual blocks and use the cubes to build anything they can imagine. While normally I am a bit of a screen-time stickler, I don't mind him playing Minecraft. Unlike some other popular video games, it isn't gory or even realistic (the graphics are intentionally crude), and it's about creating not winning or losing.

Minecraft came out in 2011 and quickly became an obsession for many kids (and adults too—my husband plays all the time!). But as addictive video games go, it's pretty enriching. You need to read and use math to build these intricate virtual worlds, and collaborating with other players online encourages cooperation, teamwork and community. There are so many educational aspects to Minecraft that some teachers are using it in their classrooms.

While our suburban neighbors have lots of organized Minecraft clubs where kids can play together, surprisingly, there isn't a lot of that in NYC. But a few places are starting to host Minecraft events for kids like Brooklyn maker space Pixel Academy, Staten Island MakerSpace and RoboFun on the Upper West Side. We've got the scoop on where NYC kids can play Minecraft (besides your living room) and tips for forming your own Minecraft club.

News: The Little Mermaid Goes High Tech, Dinosaur Safari Extends at the Bronx Zoo, NYC is No. 1 and That's Not Good

In this edition of our biweekly links roundup, we've got the scoop on a brilliant new service aimed at the parents of Lego-obsessed kids, a new high-tech way to apply to kindergarten, the extension of a super-popular family attraction and why audiences will be leaving their iPads on at Disney's rerelease of The Little Mermaid. Plus, some improvements are coming to the South Street Seaport and Randall's Island, and why New York City's latest No. 1 status isn't a compliment.

Best Playgrounds In The Hamptons & North Fork

There's nothing better than letting kids run around and burn off some energy on a beautiful day. The Hamptons and North Fork offer great parks and beaches for nature hikes, but sometimes kids just want to climb, seesaw, and swing. Most towns on the East End have a playground tucked away along Main Street's local parks or beaches. Here's a list of some of the best recreational areas in the Hamptons and North Fork.

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