Houston KidsOutAndAbout Newsletter
May 14, 2026

Local in-person events this weekend

FREE events this weekend

Local in-person events next weekend

2026 Summer Camps

Fruit picking

Memorial Day

Local spring hikes

Baseball

Family Photographs

Post your organization and events to our site (It's all FREE!)

Sat, May 16: Grand Opening: Free Classes
Sat, May 30: International Festival
Fri, Jun 5: Parkour Party
Sat, Jun 6: 48th Annual Pride Houston® Celebration
Sat, Jun 13: Texas Blueberry Festival
Sat, Jun 20: Juneteenth Freedom Celebration
Sat, Jun 20: Dads, Dinos and Donuts Day 2026
Sun, Jun 28: Sesame Street Live
Sat, Jul 4: Red, White and Boom
Sat, Jul 18: Sea Center Shark Celebration
Sat, Jul 25: Brick Rodeo

Dear KidsOutAndAbout readers:
 

For 25 years, one of my core missions with KidsOutAndAbout has been to make invisible things visible, to celebrate what local communities offer families. Everyone is busy, and local treasures are easy to miss. Our job is to point, spotlight, nudge, and say Look here. Try this. Bring the kids.

But there’s another kind of invisibility worth fixing: The people who create these experiences rarely get to see their full impact. They track tickets sold and kids enrolled, but may never hear that your child talked about their field trip for six months, found courage on their stage, or simply felt welcome exactly when they needed it.

That’s why our annual Top 20 Places to Take Kids survey matters. Each summer, we ask readers to vote for their favorite local places to take kids. The results help families see what other families love. The ranking and comments help local organizations see that their work matters. So your three minutes becomes both a recommendation and a thank-you.

The survey is simple: Click on your three favorite local destinations. Then also, optionally, nominate favorites in special categories—like arts, sports, and STEM education—and leave comments that we’ll pass along to the people who make these experiences happen.

This year, we are excited to partner with Texas Lifestyle Magazine and DFW Motherhood on the survey... We'll all be shouting about the winners for 2026, so please make your voice heard all over Texas! Click here to vote in the 2026 edition of the survey. Help families find the places they’ll love, and help the people behind those places know they’re making a difference. The survey will be open until June 20.

—Debra Ross, publisher of KidsOutAndAbout.com, co-author of The Eclipse Effect: How to Seize Extraordinary Moments to Build Strong Communities

P.S. You can check out the 2025 list here to see who won last year.

KidsOutAndAbout.com: Discover more. Do more. Connect more.

If you like my publisher's column, you can easily scroll through past columns in the "Notes from Deb" section of our site.

• Toon Café - High Meadows Branch Library, 4500 Aldine Mail Route Road, Houston, TX 77039, Friday, May 15, 2026, 3-5 pm
• Summer Concert Series - Pine Market at Woodforest, Fish Creek Thoroughfare, Montgomery, TX, Friday, May 15, 2026, 7 pm
• Storytime in the Garden - 8210 Park Place Boulevard, Houston, TX, Friday, May 15, 2026, 10:30-11 am
• Family Movie Night - The Recreation Center at Rob Fleming Park, Creekside Forest Drive, The Woodlands, TX, Friday, May 15, 2026, 8 pm
• Sunset Cinema Presented by Williams Energy - Memorial Park Conservancy, 7575 North Picnic Lane, Houston, TX 77007, Friday, May 15, 2026, 7:30 - 9 pm
• Agritourism Days at Blackwood Farm 2026 - Blackwood Educational Land Institute, 27144 Rock Island Road, Hempstead, TX 77445, Saturday, May 16, 2026, 12-4 pm
• Public Run Days- Houston Area Live Steamers - Houston Area Live Steamers, Roberts Rd, Hockley, TX 77447, Saturday, May 16, 2026, see schedule
• Water Safety Festival presented by Houston Swim Club - Sugar Land Town Square Plaza, Saturday, May 16, 2026, 10:00AM - 1:00 PM
• Hangar Hang Out - Houston Wing of the Commerative Air Force, 18000 Groschke Road, Houston, TX 77084, Saturday, May 16, 2026, 10 am- 3 pm