This Week: NYC Winter Family Day Trips, Maple Sugaring Outings, New Summer Camps for NYC Kids, Last-chance February Break Fun

2/20/14 - By Raven Snook

From a blogging standpoint it's been a quiet week on Mommy Poppins. But personally we've all been super-busy spending quality time with our kids over February break. My daughter and I took advantage of the winter season by going sledding and ice-skating, kind of like our own much-less-graceful version of the Winter Olympics. Next up: A few museum outings, a second viewing of the awesome Lego Movie (our Boston site has a great review of the flick) and wonderful weekend fun like a screening of West Side Story introduced by Oscar-winning star Rita Moreno (I'm going to have to stop myself from screaming her Electric Company catchphrase, "HEY YOU GUYS!" And we may even try one or two of the WeeWork projects we've been posting. I am pathetically challenged when it comes to crafts, but my creative eight-year-old has promised to hold my hand to help me through.

With four more days of midwinter break to go, there's plenty of time to take a family day trip. Maple sugaring season has arrived and we have roundups of tri-state area spots where you can see how the sweet stuff is made in Westchester and upstate NY, New Jersey and on Long Island. Our Westchester site also has a list of 40 things to do with kids in the quaint Rivertowns that dot the eastern shore of the Hudson River, all accessible via public transportation. Or enjoy a multiday getaway in winter hot spot Lake Placid, NY, which offers a wide variety of cool seasonal activities like skiing, snowboarding and a toboggan chute.

Here's what else we covered on the NYC site this week:

OUR LATEST VIDEOS

We updated our maple sugaring day trips post for the season, which kicks off this weekend with sweet events on Long Island and in upstate NY.

Kids sick of the same old summer camps? We rounded up 10 brand-new programs set to debut this summer that sound particularly awesome, including three STEM-themed camps.

Our biweekly news post included details about a FREE summer camp for teenage girls who code, the soon-to-open Design Center at the New York Hall of Science and the closing of a veteran local Manhattan kids' boutique.

WeeWork posts included easy-to-make Sharpie tie-dye T-shirts and finger crochet friendship bracelets.

Best bets for the weekend include the 16th annual BAMkids Film Festival, a Culinary Kids Food Festival at the New York Botanical Garden and a Muppets trivia contest.