Halloween may be the star of the show this month, but there's plenty of other fun to be had in the days and weeks leading up to the big event. This month is jam-packed with fall fun, including harvest festivals and corn mazes, as well as live performances of kid favorites like The Rainbow Fish and The Wizard of Oz.
Also this month, you can meet the hard-shelled residents of Adventure Aquarium during the fourth annual Sea Turtle Awareness Weekend; dance the night away at Garden State Discovery Museum's Fairy Ball; and watch kites soar over the ocean at the LBI Fly International Kite Festival.
There are Halloween happenings aplenty, geared toward everyone from older kids to the littlest trick-or-treaters. Head down the shore for Boo at the Boardwalk, enjoy not-too-spooky fun at Goblins in the Garden in Camden, and don your black hat for Witch's Day Out in Smithville. Throughout the month, you can take the family for a ride on a Halloween train, check out a cool pumpkin display, and enjoy kid-friendly Halloween and fall fun at amusement parks like Diggerland and Storybook Land.
Read on for more than 20 of the best events this October for NJ kids. For even more ideas, check out our list of 40 Things We Can't Wait To Do with NJ Kids This Fall, and find fun that's just right for little ones in our roundup of the Best Fall Events for NJ Preschoolers. Be sure to check our Event Calendar often for new happenings added daily.
Help the kids ease their back-to-school blues with some excellent events happening throughout NJ in September. From early fall fun to awesome animal encounters, we've hand-picked more than 20 of our favorite things to do this month. You can visit African penguins or hang with friendly alpacas, sing along with princesses, ride a pumpkin train, have a sleepover on a farm, and so much more.
For even more September fun, look to our roundup of September Fairs and Festivals and the best places to pick your own apples, and find a great selection of after-school activities in our Guide to Classes and Enrichment Programs for NJ Kids. Don't forget to check out our Event Calendar for a complete listing of happenings this month and beyond.
Make the most of the final full month of summer with awesome August activities. There are tons of fairs and festivals on tap this month, from the Middlesex County Fair to the Canal Day Music & Craft Festival. You can picnic on the lawn at the Princeton University Art Museum, march in a Butterfly and Bug Parade at the annual Watershed Butterfly Festival in Pennington, and hang out with pirates at Seafarers' Weekend at Historic Cold Spring Village.
If you haven't made it down the shore yet or are looking for a new beach to visit, check out the Best Jersey Shore Beaches for Families, and find lots of other ways to stay cool and have a blast in our Summer Fun Guide. There's still time to squeeze in a super-fun summer day trip, or a visit to one of NJ's awesome amusement parks and water parks.
August is peach-picking season in NJ, so head to one of NJ's pick-your-own peach farms to sample some sweet summer fruit. Give your wallet a break and check out one of NJ's many free summer movies, or take part in lots of other free fun.
Read on to find out what we're most looking forward to this month. And don't forget to check our Event Calendar, updated daily with summer happenings across NJ.
July is all about barbecues and fireworks, sure—but that's just the start of the fun happening throughout the Garden State this month. You can take a ride with Thomas the Tank Engine, dig for dinosaur bones, and rock out at Maplewoodstock. Watch hot-air balloons take to the sky at the QuickChek Festival of Ballooning, and celebrate blueberry season at NJ's many pick-your-own farms and festivals.
But wait, there's more! July is packed with free summer movies and tons of family-friendly festivals. And of course, it's prime season for beaches, boardwalks, and water parks. Find all of this and more in our Summer Fun Guide, and don't forget to check our Event Calendar, updated daily with summer happenings across NJ.
Summer vacation may be staring you in the face, but there's no need to panic—several camps in and around New Jersey still have space. As of this publish date, all of the camps listed below are actually open for enrollment.
You can find even more camps in our NJ Summer Camp Guide, or in our NJ Summer Camp Directory.
The school year is winding down, and summer fun is heating up! Most of NJ's amusement and water parks are now open for the season, and Jersey Shore beaches are ready for summer revelers.
June also brings a fresh crop of fairs and festivals, along with strawberry picking, Father's Day fun, and the start of free summer movies. You can camp out by a lake, celebrate fireflies and fairies, and step back in time to the Italian Renaissance and the American Civil War.
Of course, you can always find more fun in our Event Calendar.
Read on for 15 of our favorite family events of the month. Enjoy the start of summer, and happy June!