It's tough to find the right summer camp for any kid. But if your child has special needs, like autism or ADHD, sensory-motor challenges, social anxiety, or learning differences, choosing a program can be especially nerve-racking: we want our kids to enjoy a traditional summer-camp experience, complete with swimming and lanyards and new friendships, while also receiving the kind of individual attention they need and with the option to avoid activities that might cause undue stress.

We've rounded up a number of camps favored by NYC families for their kids with disabilities or other challenges. Camps outside of New York City and on Staten Island provide bussing, so don't be discouraged by the seemingly far-flung locations: it can be especially therapeutic for kids to get out of the city for the summer.

While most of these camps cater exclusively to special-needs children, other traditional summer camps often offer inclusion programs for those with mild special needs (a few are mentioned below). Please consult our Summer Camp Guide for NYC Kids for a list of our favorite summer camps across the city to see if there are any that might work for your child.

Miracle Mile is home to a variety of cultural excursions for the whole family, from storytime at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to the Page Museum and more. But there’s no place like the Petersen Automotive Museum for pint-sized car lovers—and the museum's latest, kid-friendly exhibit is more than enough fun to grab the interest of any visitor, car enthusiast or not.

Winter 2018 in New York City is loaded with cool theater for families, including the debut of three super buzzed-about Broadway productions: Disney's Frozen the Musical, Tina Fey's musicalization of her hit movie Mean Girls, and the two-part Harry Potter and the Cursed Child from London. But you don't need to shell out big bucks to give your kids a memorable live entertainment experience in NYC—plenty of engaging family productions are playing off Broadway for a lot less.

This winter there are wonderful options for toddlers to teens, including interactive shows created specifically for the preschool set (A Book of Hours and Waves, All That Glows Sees ), stage adaptations of popular picture books such as A Sick Day for Morris McGee and Owen & Mzee the Musical, and eye-popping spectacles for the whole family (Bromance and Marvel Universe Live!).

Best of all, most of these nearly two dozen shows cost $25 or under, so you can take the whole family for less than the price of one Broadway ticket.

It looks like New York City dads can no longer get out of diaper duty! Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a law Tuesday, January 9, requiring that new public buildings make diaper changing stations available to all New York City parents regardless of gender identification. That's right, baby changing stations will be coming to a men's room (or gender-neutral restroom) near you—and soon. As early as July, all new or recently-renovated public buildings in the five boroughs will need to provide this amenity to all parents or face fines of up to $1,600.

Generations of kids were firefighters, postal workers, grocery store clerks, construction workers, and doctors at the Jersey Shore Children's Museum, which closed down in December 31 due to a lack of funding. Founded in 1998 by two local teachers, the non-profit museum promoted learning through play and was a favorite indoor play spot in the community.

Once just a neighborhood of sprawling factories and warehouses, Long Island City, Queens, has transformed into a hot spot for young professionals and families. New things seem to open every day. We love the outdoor thrills at Gantry Plaza State Park and the rest of the waterfront to indoor romps at the Noguchi Museum and play spaces like City Owlets.  

But now there's a brand-new, distinctly unique creative environment in LIC: Playday. Is it an education center? Is it an art school? Is it a kids' crafting club? It’s all those things and more.

For some kids, math and science skills don't get much of a workout during the summer, unless it's counting underwater breaths in the swimming pool or adding up sports scores. For other kids, the end of school is met with sighs rather than cheers, and they would happily spend their days doing algebra or designing a robot. We've rounded up summer camps and programs that will hopefully not only send your kid back to school in September with sharper skills but also give them a new appreciation for math in the world around us.

Find more options in our Summer Camp Guide and Directory or NYC Classes Guide.

Trends in frozen desserts come and go in the balmy Southland (three words: charcoal ice cream), but new arrival on the scene Cauldron Ice Cream covers enough icy sweet trends under one roof to cater to anyone's passing fancy. After building a rabid fan base in Artesia and Santa Ana, Cauldron has set up its tanks of nitrogen and its puffle cone maker in Glendale, within walking distance of The Americana at Brand (already a pretty cool place to spend an afternoon with kids). Grown-ups with a taste for artisan ice cream may even want to do the responsible thing and try this place out alone first. Just to be fully informed, of course.