New York City has opened applications for its Summer STEM Matters NYC program, which includes FREE STEAM summer camps for elementary school students and hands-on internships and classes for high schoolers. Don't delay: Applications for all programs are due Tuesday, April 19, 2022. The popular annual summer day camps are available to NYC kids entering kindergarten through ninth grade in September. Students entering grades 10-12 can apply for STEM courses and internships.

The programs occur at more than a dozen popular NYC institutions known for STEAM programming, including popular family-friendly spots like the Bronx Zoo, the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, the Queens Botanical Garden, and more museums, gardens, zoos, and maker spaces. Public, charter, and home school students in NYC may all apply.

Read on for all the details on the STEM Matters NYC program. Find more summer camps in New York City, including our picks for free and affordable summer camps, in our Summer Camp Guide and Camp Directory, where you can search for summer camps by type, age, and neighborhood.

The Magic of Lights returns to New Jersey’s PNC Bank Arts Center on Friday, November 19, and runs through the holiday season until January 2, 2022.

Desperate for some pandemic-era holiday merriment, my family tried out the Magic of Lights drive-thru in Holmdel for the first time last year. Naturally, our young kids (all under age 8) were antsy on the 40-minute drive south on the Garden State Parkway. But –– upon reaching the gates of this outdoor, drive-thru holiday village, they were beyond thrilled and dazzled by the seemingly millions of lights, dancing elves, cheery Santa figures, blinking holiday trees, sweet illuminated scenes, and the eye-popping tunnel of lights.

Find more seasonal fun in our Christmas and Holiday Guide for New Jersey Kids.

An escape to the Catskills is always a cozy retreat for my family. And while the Catskills towns closer to the Hudson River seem to attract all the splashy press (New Paltz! Woodstock!), there are quite a few hip little towns hiding out in the Sullivan County section of New York's Catskills, which leans up against the Delaware River.

Sullivan County towns like Narrowsburg, Callicoon, Cochecton, Roscoe, and Livingston Manor are filled with things for families to do on a quick weekend away, including adorable main streets and shops, great restaurants and breweries, family-friendly farms, rail trails for biking, and cozy boutique hotels with hiking trails and amazing taverns.