So far this week we’ve highlighted 16 cool concerts and 8 awesome museum exhibits that we’re excited to take our kids to this fall. Now we come to my personal favorite: theater.

Although a few of veteran children’s troupes, like TADA! Youth Theater and the Atlantic Company for Kids, won’t be debuting new productions until spring, there are still plenty of wonderful children’s shows hitting New York City stages this fall.

We’re skipping pricey Broadway musicals and familiar fairy tales in favor of more eclectic and inexpensive fare, like Eric Carle’s classic stories told through black-light puppetry, a multi-genre dance mash up and a lot of stage adaptations of beloved children’s books. Here are our top picks for children’s theater this autumn.

We’ve been avoiding writing about back-to-school anything. That’s because we’re always annoyed by all of the back-to-school craziness that seems to start sometime around the end of June, plus we don’t want to admit that summer really is coming to an end. But we can’t put off reality any longer: Come September 8, New York City public school students return to their classrooms, and some charter and private schools start even earlier.

If you’ve already stocked up on everything you need in terms of supplies and clothes—we envy you. But in case your family is like mine and you’re only now getting around to your back-to-school buying (meaning it’s too late to do it online), we figured we’d share our favorite local places to shop for inexpensive clothes and supplies year-round. We’re sure you’ve heard of some of these spots—is there a parent left in the U.S. who doesn’t know about The Children’s Place?—but sometimes one person’s “duh!” is another’s revelation. Plus, we’re giving away a Children’s Place gift card and we’ve got the scoop on a number of upcoming festivals where you can pick up free back-to-school supplies.

Much as we'd like to, we can't keep ignoring Hurricane Irene. (We'd also like to ignore all of our friends who think they're being clever by posting the "Rock You Like a Hurricane" video on Facebook.) Everyone's scrapping their vacation plans for the last weekend of August (my family's dream of heading to the Cape has been killed), and pretty much all of the events we recommended this weekend are already canceled.

While we hope this turns out to be much ado about nothing, chances are your family's going to be spending a lot of time at home this weekend. Right now you're in full prep mode. If you're wondering how best to secure your home, just turn on your local news (avoid the Weather Channel: They are freaking out!) or visit the official website of your town, city or state. New Yorkers can find info on potential flooding zones (there are many, not all along the water), emergency shelters, evacuation notices and more at nyc.gov. Mayor Bloomberg's even going to start shutting down subways and buses come Saturday at noon!

If you're heading out to buy toilet paper and snacks (we doubt even the most intrepid deliver guy will be on the streets on Sunday), think about stocking up on things to do, too. You can't watch TV all weekend (especially if the power goes out). But your family can try doing some fun crafts, cooking some kid-friendly dishes or playing a few cool analog games. And if you end up doing them by candlelight, just pretend it's 1811.

Here are creative ways to keep busy during Hurricane Irene.