Happy Weekend! Link up to an array of ideas for local fun: * Best Outdoors in the DC Area * Kid-Friendly Dining * Local Hikes with Kids * Indoor Action * Off-the-Beaten-Path Museums * The Great Indoors * Baltimore with Kids * Bike Rides * Stunning Spaces * Peaceful Places Tricks & Treats: Halloween Circus Show and Open House Where: Capital City Circus School | Navy Yard, DC When: Friday, 7pm & Saturday, 2pm & 7pm Admission: $15-20/youth, $30-40/adult, $60-70/all-access pass Treat the fam to a show with tons of cool tricks! The Capitol City Circus School’s staff performance troupe is thrilled to bring you an hour of delightfully spooky entertainment, featuring flying trapeze, aerial, and ground acts. Note that shows are Friday and Saturday at 7pm. Open House: On Saturday at 2pm, sample CCCS circus offerings, no experience required! With an All-Access Pass, try out mini-lessons in four different circus disciplines. All-access pass participants must be at least 7 years old. There’s no maximum age; this is for kids AND adults! You can also play games, make crafts, and enjoy food and drink with the community! Have a look around our circus school, and meet staff performers before they take to the stage. Pumpkin Chunkin’ Where: Great Country Farms | Bluemont, VA When: Saturday & Sunday, 9am – 5pm Admission: $14/adult, $12/child What to do with your jack-o-lantern now that Halloween is over? Take it to Great Country’s smashin’ session and let it fly! You have  options to do this:  The Silo Drop and the Zip Wire Sploosh let you do the smashin’ yourself, or bring your pumpkin to the Pumpkin Drop Zone and add it to the upside down “fireworks display” as the pumpkins are dropped from a 40-foot lift.  (We’ve had a blast doing this!) Smashings are given to the pigs and cows to eat and also composted. And along with the chunkin’, there’s a whole play area of farm fun, plus apple picking ops. First Saturday Where: National Gallery of Art | National Mall, DC When: Saturday, 10am – 3pm Admission: Free Join the National Gallery of Art for their monthly First Saturday, a special day-long affair that includes free programs for kids of all ages. This Saturday, immerse in the dynamic Parisian art scene during the emergence of Impressionism by exploring Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment.  Take little ones to story time, and kids of all ages to a Sketching Lab, Play-Space, and Pop-Up Library.  And get creative with Drop-in Artmaking to let your inner Impressionist shine! Underground Railroad Guided Hike Where: Woodlawn Manor | Sandy Spring, MD When: Saturday, 10am & 1pm Admission: $8 Join Montgomery Parks to celebrate Maryland’s Emancipation Day with a hike on what was part of the Underground Railroad. There will be other activities at Woodlawn Manor to commemorate the day.  Register in advance and read about the great hike in this KFDC post. More Fun at Moco Parks Where: MoCo Parks | Montgomery County, MD When: Throughout the weekend Admission: Varies by activity Montgomery Parks also presents loads of special activities for visitors of all ages. Enjoy Storytime in the Garden at Brookside Gardens.  Cast a Ballot for Nature at Meadowside Nature Center. Do some biking at South Germantown Recreational Park.  Find details on these activities and more! Autumn Flowers Where: DAR Museum | Downtown, DC When: Saturday, 10am – 2pm Admission: Free In this hands-on activity, kids will learn how to make a project to take home, based on the Sewn in America: Making – Meaning – Memory exhibition. Museum educators will guide them through the process, providing all the materials needed to create an autumn-themed fabric flower. Recommended for ages 7+. Registration requested. Open Studio: Material Matters Where: Hirshhorn Museum | National Mall, DC When: Saturday, 10:30am – 3pm Admission: Free Delve into the creative world of artist Mark Bradford and his masterpiece Pickett’s Charge, as you explore his use of color, texture, and materials. Collaborate in the creation of a large-scale artwork inspired by Bradford’s process, or craft your own mixed-media piece to take home. Each week will introduce new ideas and creative challenges. This will take place every Saturday in November. Model Rocket Launch Where: Goddard Space Flight Center | Greenbelt, MD When: Saturday, 1-2pm Admission: Free Join the monthly model rocket launch at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Anyone is welcome, and if you’ve got a model rocket to fly, bring it along (though there are some restrictions – see them here). The program takes place the first Saturday of every month at 1pm. Read more about it in this post. Adams Morgan PorchFest Where: Adams Morgan, DC When: Saturday, 2-6pm Admission: Free Get the best seats in the house (or on the sidewalk) as over 22 porches, business patios, parks, and the closed 18th Street become stages for the day, drawing music-lovers from around the area to the tree-lined streets and small businesses of Adams Morgan. Enjoy a variety of music styles, including classic rock, funk, go-go, rap, reggae, blue grass, classical, and pop. Pick up a music map and free wristband that will get you discount at over 30 Adams Morgan businesses at the plaza on the corner of Columbia and Adams Mill Roads, 2424 18th Street NW inside the road closure, and Marie Reed Elementary School Plaza at 18th and Wyoming. Fall Farm Fun Where: Around the DC area When: Throughout the weekend Admission: Varies by place Just because you’re not picking out a potential Jack o’ lantern, that doesn’t mean you can’t still have some fun on the farm. Many area farms have way more to enjoy than just pumpkin patches — and they are still welcoming visitors to whiz down slides, bounce on giant jumping pillows, visit farm animals, and loads more. The list of fall fests has info on where to find it. Día de los Muertos Celebration Where: The Wharf | Southwest DC When: Saturday 4-7pm Admission: Free bring the fam to a Día de los Muertos celebration at The Wharf. The family-friendly afternoon will have free activities for the kids, including face painting, sugar skull decorating, and more. Adults can sip on Modelo while checking out beautifully decorated altars honoring loved ones, listening to live music, and enjoying a community lantern procession. Dress the part by wearing colorful colors, skulls, and flowers! Dias de los Muertos Meal Where: Agua 301 | Capitol Riverfront, DC When: Saturday Admission: $20 (kids under 10 are free) Celebrate Day of the Dead with a meal at Agua 301. They will be crating an ofrenda where you can include your loved ones to be remembered and honored. A buffet will be available for everyone to enjoy Mexican dishes, and fun for the kids, like face painting and crafts, will also be provided. No tickets are required for kids under 10. All Caps Where: Capital One Arena | Penn Quarter, DC When: Saturday, 5pm Admission: Start at $34 (check for deals) The Caps are back on. the ice, and you can see them in action on Saturday as they host the Columbus Blue Jackets. Plan on a pre or post-game meal in Penn Quarter — there are plenty of family-friendly places to go in the neighborhood. Some recs: Jaleo, Camine’s, Shake Shack, and Oyamel.  See details and even more suggestions here. Día de los Muertos Festival & Outdoor Projection Where: National Portrait Gallery | Penn Quarter, DC When: November 2, 5-8:30pm Admission: Free Join the Portrait Gallery’s annual celebration of el Día de los Muertos, one of their biggest events of the year. Enjoy live music, Mexican folk-dance performances, workshops, and a variety of activities for all ages. Create calaveras and papel picado to decorate the community altar, get your face painted to look like la Catrina, and more! Take the celebration to the streets as you witness the live video mapping projection by artists MasPaz and Guache. The artists will create their work live from the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, projected onto the G and 9th street façade. Alexandria Fall Festival Where: River Farm | Alexandria, VA When: Sunday, 11am – 3pm Admission: $25, $10/age 5 & under Enjoy a day of fall fun at the lovely River Farm. Bounce houses, face painting, performances, pony rides, the petting zoo, the photo booth, and activities are all FREE. (Candle-making workshops can be booked and paid for in advance.) A beer & wine garden will feature Port City Brewing and Lost Boy Cider, plus lots of good eats from local food vendors. Leaf Peeping Hikes Where: Around the DC area When: Throughout the weekend Admission: Varies by locale Take in the brilliant color spectrum of autumn and get a little exercise, to boot, on a family hike. From right here in the city to country locales, you’ve got your pick of places where you can enjoy the fall foliage and some time outdoors. This post about good area hikes with kids started in the early KFDC days, and with many new recommendations added since, there are lots of great suggestions for trails that will make for happy trampers. A few specific suggestions for this weekend:  National Arboretum in NE DC, Huntley Meadows in Alexandria, Scott’s Run Nature Preserve in McLean, Pohick Bay Regional Park in Lorton, Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis. Nature Calling Where: Nature centers around the DMV When: Throughout the weekend Admission: Free If you’re not feeling outdoorsy, you can still get a dose of the outside world in the comfort of the indoors at a nature center. There are several great ones around the area that offer cool exhibits, including live creatures. Buddie Ford Nature Center in Alexandria, Watkins in Upper Marlboro, Potomac Overlook in Arlington, Long Branch in Falls Church, and Brookside in Silver Spring all make for a great outing. Charm City Fun, Hon! Where: Around Baltimore, MD When: Throughout the weekend Admission: Varies by activity Not only is it nice to get a change of metro area scenery sometimes, Baltimore, our sister city just a 45-minute drive away, is full of fantastic, family-friendly things to do. This post has info about all of them, including big attractions, suggestions for places to eat, and neighborhoods to explore. ***MORE GOOD STUFF*** * The latest Five Things, in case you missed it. * Fall is a perfect time to enjoy these kinds of adventures. * Hirshhorn Art School, a new art making studio in the museum, just opened this past week offering all kinds of creative fun several days during the week. * Can you secretly take your kids’ Halloween candy? * Best children’s books of 2024 so far. * Boden has a sale going on right now, and their kids’ stuff is the cutest! See girls, boys, and baby. * Now that Halloween is over, it’s time to start thinking about these. * How to burn off Halloween candy calories… * Make your plan to vote!