Even for top-of-the-line museums, historical periods can be extremely difficult to capture, particularly when the intended audience is children.

Regular inspection of a baby's toes could prevent a condition that, while rare, could result in permanent tissue damage or even loss of an appendage.

With a new cast, the tender, coming-of-age story, Summer of the Swans, the new Theatreworks/USA production that enjoyed a successful summer run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, opens the company’s regular season of weekend performances, October 11, at the Auditorium at Equitable Tower.

We all know that back-to-school time can be stressful on kids — especially after a long, leisurely summer filled with fun, friends and free time. But what about parents?

Indoor playgrounds would be around even if some weather warlock exercised his atmospheric magic on New York and bestowed it with San Diego-consistent temperatures. There are always indoor people and outdoor people, even in the most unswervingly agreeable climates. Sydney's Playground is one of the city's new indoor hotspots for play, and it doesn't much matter whether you're an indoor or outdoor type to enjoy it: it just looks like fun.

The New York Transit Museum, housed in a decommissioned subway station in Brooklyn, had no air conditioning or heat when it closed for renovations two years ago. Climate control is still spotty, but the spiffed up museum is much more comfortable now; it even sports a computer resource center, a vast improvement over the olden days of 2001, when the entire museum staff shared just two phone lines. For most visitors old and young, the highlight of the newly renovated museum is the display of vintage subway cars that you can board.

At the Goudreau Museum, the formula adds up to fun. Founded over 20 years ago by the late Bernard Goudreau, an engineer and mathematics teacher, the museum has served as a haven for both students and teachers with an interest in mathematics.

You’re never too old — or too young — for magic, a fact that producer Michael S. Chaut must have realized six years ago. Chaut, a magician and producer of Magical Nights, Inc., produces both Monday Night Magic weekly at the Soho Playhouse, and Magic Matinee every Saturday and Sunday afternoon at Jekyll & Hyde restaurant, in the West Village.

Although it has become a retailers' marketing frenzy in recent years, the elemental traditions of Halloween remain intact, and are rooted in ancient traditions dating back to pre-Christian times.

Every year, there are several hundred eye injuries related to costumes and masks that are treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms. A growing problem, particularly among young children and teens, is the use of cosmetic contact lenses. Get tips from an expert on how to avoid eye injuries on Halloween.

The American Museum of Natural History's Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites has the drama of science, not Hollywood, but it's not one speck of primordial space dust less dramatic for that. What meteorites tell us about the origins of the Earth, our Sun, and the history of the solar system is a narrative laced up and down the line with the acute drama of nothingness and existence.

Look closely at almost any building and you should be able to read the mind of its architect. Confidence, overconfidence, arrogance, sense, irrationality, showmanship, apathy — the characteristics inevitably come out in the design. The World Trade Center represented the grand dream that Nelson and David Rockefeller held for the southern tip of Manhattan, and since its loss, arguments have raged over how to replace it with proper deference.

Before you announce to the kids you’re on the way to a museum, ask them if they’d like to hear a cool story about dinosaurs or go on a treasure hunt and take home their very own art project. Then subtly mention the location is a brand-new fun gallery with its own children’s space and fun stuff to buy in the shop. When you arrive at the newly opened Dahesh (rhymes with “Marakeesh”) Museum, at 580 Madison Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets, you can then casually drop the word “museum”, and by this point, your kids won’t even care.

Little girls will be awestruck this fall as they explore the unique world of American Girl Place New York, opening on Fifth Avenue, Saturday, November 8. The 43,000-square-foot retail and entertainment site is designed to reflect American girls both past and present.

There are babies crying at the Loews 34th Street Theater, and the noise isn't coming from the Dolby Sound. Actually, it's not that bad; although the infant-like sounds you'll hear at this Loews are very real, they're also usually under control. It's part of the experience of Reel Moms.

This tour highlights a few of the many Greenwich Village houses and haunts where children's book authors and illustrators have lived and worked.

In an effort to enhance online links between parents and teachers, the Docutek e-learning collaboration and communications company has launched a new competitive grant program for public school systems.

Good news for children with epilepsy. The FDA has approved pediatric use of the drug Topamax - as an add-on treatment for children 2 to 16 who experience partial onset (affecting just one part of the brain) epileptic seizures.

Afternoon tea is $16 and includes tea, assorted finger sandwiches, scones and dessert (cookies are called biscuits here). The dinner menu includes such kid:friendly fare as macaroni and cheese and shepherd's pie, in a beef or vegetarian version. And the "Heinz tomato soup" appeals to the kid in everyone.

Dyslexic children will have one more educational option with the opening this coming school year of The Sterling Academy - Brooklyn's only private elementary school for dyslexic children.

Probably the most compelling evidence in the O.J. Simpson trial was the DNA match. It was also the first time millions of Americans were exposed to the use of DNA outside the purely scientific realm. DNA testing is now being launched in a new arena - child identification.

Sometimes you want to ski for a day; sometimes, you want to ski for a week (or more). Here are some family-friendly destinations: