One of the themes of this site is the wonderful riches of NYC for kids. We're not talking about investment bankers or bugaboo strollers. We're talking about the wealth of cultural institutions, the hidden gems, and the overall abundance of amazing opportunities for children in New York. Especially when these things can all be had for free.

Lincoln Center's summer programming is a perfect example of the richness of New York City's offering for children. Through Lincoln Center's many festivals and outdoor programming, children can experience an incredible range of high quality performances, all for free, from the world's leading performing arts center.

In addition to the free concerts and performances for kids in Madison Square Park, there is free programming at several other parks around Manhattan this summer. Union Square Park, Bryant Park and Washington Market Park all have free music and more to enjoy with the kids.

The Whitney Museum of American Art kind of slips your mind. "Oh, yeah that museum with the biennial." But, this summer The Whitney is going to be rocking for kids as they celebrate the 40th Anniversary of The Summer of Love. Check out the free WhitneyKids Rock Festival this weekend at the museum New York loves to forget.

If you haven't been to Madison Square Park with your kids, then you should go right away. But if you need a reason to get you there, then this is definitely it: Every Tuesday and Thursday mornings through the summer they have free shows for kids.

This week it's all free summer fun in the form of kids concerts and festivals. More activities to fill those long hot NYC summer days with free entertainment for kids. We'll have the best of where you can find weekly kid music performances, best kid picks from the summer festivals, and more. The free summer fun for kids just never ends in NYC and you'll find it all here. Have a tip? Click on the Contribute link in the sidebar.

We love finding clever ways to reuse and recycle things, especially to create a fun, environmentally friendly kids craft project. That's why we just had to link to this Parent Hack. Asha came up with the idea of re-using the Styrofoam from the packing materials around new electronics as building blocks to make a toy castle. A couple of toothpick and post-its note flags and your little prince and princesses have a world of make-believe play before them. Just add some playmobile or lego knights or finger puppets.

Kids love acting. Maybe that's why TADA! is such a popular program with NYC kids. During the school year they have great after school programs and in the summer they have day camps for NYC kids and teenagers. TADA! day camps let NYC kids take advantage of the talented professional theater artists of New York to learn straight from the pros the ins and outs of acting and theater in a fun summer camp setting.

Each summer day camp session is one week long and kids create and perform a different mini-musical every week. Children campers work with professional theater artists, learn songs from original TADA! musicals and Broadway shows, and invent the scenes between the songs themselves. The camp week ends with a performance by campers for friends and family. Each day camp session features a different theme such as “Slumber Party,� “Crime-Solving Kids,� “Grab Some Magic� “Spooky Stories,� “Destination Broadway� and “Sounds of the City.�

Country kids are to trees as NYC kids are to architecture. Maybe that's why ArchiCamp is such a cool camp idea for NYC kids.

ArchiCamp is a fun day camp where NYC kids, 9-13, travel around New York City, studying the architecture, going to museums, and doing workshops related to an architectural concept of the day. Kids gain new perspectives on the city they live in, take advantage of the unique resources all around them, learn 3D creation and get to display their work on the ArchiKids website.