KidsOutAndAbout Weekly Newsletter |
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Tue, Apr 21: Hudson Valley Renegades- Home Game
Tue, Apr 21: Earth Week Engineering at Mid-Hudson Discovery Museum
Sat, Apr 25: The 10th Annual Newburgh Urban Farming Fair
Sun, Apr 26: World Cup Nursery School & Kindergarten Open House
Sun, Apr 26: Help A Horse Day Open House
Sat, May 2: The Pout-Pout Fish at Emelin Theatre
Sat, May 2: Catskill Flyer: Spring & Summertime Rides - Catskill Mountain Railroad
Sat, May 2: Hudson Children's Book Festival 2026
Sun, May 3:
International Leopard Day at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
Fri, May 15: Yorktown Stage presents Beetlejuice
Jr.
Mon, May 25: Colonial Cider Making at Westmoreland Sanctuary
Sat, Jun 6: Rhinebeck Crafts Festival
2026 |
Dear KidsOutAndAbout readers: When my kids were little, one of our favorite nature activities was also one of the simplest: We’d head out onto a trail, stop among the trees, and play the Listening Game. The rules were easy: Close your eyes. The first time you hear a sound, any sound at all, put up one finger. Then add another for each new sound you notice. After a minute or two, someone says, “Open your
eyes,” and everyone compares fingers and talks about what they heard. It’s a small exercise in attention, but it changes how kids experience the world. The invisible becomes visible... not to the eyes, exactly, but to the mind. Things that were just out of range suddenly move onto our radar. Nature is full of motion and music, and this game helps us tune ourselves to it. The free Merlin Bird ID app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology takes that magic one step further: Tap Sound ID, and suddenly the songs around you appear on your screen as a voiceprint and a bird name and an image that shows you what to look for. And what a moment ago was only background atmosphere becomes a Carolina Wren, or an Eastern Whip-poor-will, or the Common Yellowthroat pictured above,
singing his heart out for a girl with a camera. That’s one of the great tasks of childhood, and of the adults who love children: to help hidden things come into view. Before we know something, it is almost as if it isn’t there. But once it is named, we have a new way to see. There are suddenly new dimensions to our universe, helping us transform even more mysteries into things that are ours. And we never really experience the woods—or the field, or the river, or
the ocean, or the city, or our backyard—the same way again.
—Debra Ross, publisher of KidsOutAndAbout.com, co-author of The Eclipse Effect: How to Seize Extraordinary Moments to Build Strong Communities
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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. |
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Today, Thursday, April 16th, 2026, at 5:30 pm: Bring the whole family to the Family Partnership Center in Poughkeepsie for Hudson Valley Symphony Orchestra’s special family concert, A Trip to the Circus! Join conductor and host André Raphel and the HVSO for a lively, interactive musical adventure featuring works by Dvorak, Julius Fucik, and Saint-Saëns. Young audience members will even have the chance to “compose” their own piece as part of Matthias Bamert’s Circus Parade! With reduced ticket prices for seniors and students, free admission for children 5 and under, and group sales available, this is a delightful evening of music and fun for all ages.
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Get ready to race at this exclusive LEGO® F1® - themed ‘Build the Thrill Event’ only at LEGOLAND® Discovery Center Westchester from April 16 - May 25! Grab your drivers briefing and choose your team. Get hands-on with LEGO® bricks to create a minifigure driver and build an ultimate race car, before putting them through their paces! Will you take pole position?
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Join us on Sunday, April 19, from 12–5 PM for a family-friendly celebration of our beautiful planet! Earth Fest 2026 is a day of nature, music, and community, featuring outdoor activities, hands-on workshops, and inspiring organizations for earth lovers of all ages. Stay tuned for a full lineup of performances and activities as we get closer to the event.
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MHDM is open late and admission is FREE from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm on the THIRD Sunday of every month. Please note: this event is intended for families with children ages 0–12. Parent supervision is required at all times. Come play!
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Join our annual all-ages festival celebrating planet Earth with hands-on activities, science trivia, specimen Identification Stations, and more! EarthFest is part of the Milstein Discovery Series. EarthFest is generously supported by the Abel Shafer Public Program Fund, a fund created by the Arlene B. Coffey Trust to honor the memory of Abel Shafer. A portion of this program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
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Our Saturday afternoon series — made famous by conductor, composer, and educator Leonard Bernstein — inspires a lifelong love of music through multimedia, interactive performances of music ranging from timeless classics to World Premieres. This season, we explore through music how pioneering ideas and events from the past can help us understand our world today. Pre-Concert activities where kids can try out instruments, meet musicians, and craft with teaching artists and their fellow attendees begin at 1:00 PM for each concert. These concerts are perfect for kids ages 6-12.
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- Free Buddhist Temple Tours Upstate New York in Sullivan County Catskills - Kadampa Meditation Center New York, Sweeney Rd, Glen Spey, NY, Friday, April 17, 2026, 1:30 PM
- Free spring mini photo session with Shoott! - Hudson Valley - Shoott, Broadway, New York, NY, Saturday, April 18, 2026, See link for times
- Free Buddhist Temple Tours Upstate New York in Sullivan County Catskills - Kadampa Meditation Center New York, Sweeney Rd, Glen Spey, NY, Saturday, April 18, 2026, 1:30 PM
- Safe Harbors of the Hudson Newburgh Winter Farmers Market - Safe Harbors of the Hudson & The Cornerstone Residence, 111 Broadway, Newburgh, NY 12550, Saturday, April 18, 2026, 10 am - 2 pm
- EarthFest - American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West, New York, NY, Saturday, April 18, 2026, 11 am - 4 pm
- Earth Day Family
Event - Cross County Center, 8000 Mall Walk, Yonkers, NY 10704, Saturday, April 18, 2026, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
- Family Free Night at Mid-Hudson Discovery Museum - Mid-Hudson Discovery Museum, 75 North Water Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, Sunday, April 19, 2026, 5:30
pm - 7:30 pm
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The KidsOutAndAbout annual guide to summer camps in the Hudson Valley area is back! You can search by date, age, or categories like day/overnight, sports, drama, music, theatre, arts & crafts, technology, robotics, horseback riding, preschool, &
more. Our guide puts summer fun right at your…
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Parents have an abundance of choices when it comes to PreK and day care options in the Hudson Valley area! Use our Big List to help find the best one for your kiddos and check our events calendar to find Open Houses where you can meet teachers and tour the
schools.
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Looking for a thrilling family-friendly adventure in the Hudson Valley? Escape rooms are interactive, puzzle-packed experiences where you and your team work together to solve clues and complete your mission-all before time runs out! Whether you're escaping
a spooky cabin, cracking a high-stakes heist, or breaking a magical curse, escape rooms offer exciting, screen-free fun for kids, teens, and adults.
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Have a great weekend!
Debra Ross
Publisher, KidsOutAndAbout.com
Mom of Madison and Ella |
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