Long Island Parent Talk

The brand-new teen a cappella group The Hamptones is scheduled to open on Saturday evening for Duke University's all-male a cappella group The Pitchforks at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center. It's The Hamptones' first professional performance.

"I'm extremely excited to do it," says Hamptones member Fred Nydegger, 17, of Hampton Bays. Nydegger uses his voice to make the...

Scholastic is offering 15 public libraries a “Harry Potter Celebration” party package to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the U.S. publication of the first Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

To enter, librarians must describe in up to 500 words the celebration they would throw to welcome a new generation of readers to the world of Harry Potter.

The 15 winning...

The Long Island Children’s Museum is sponsoring a “Puppets Take Long Island” festival this summer with nearly 100 performances for kids at various venues across Long Island – but the organizers have thrown in an entertaining treat for Mom and Dad as well.

The “Puppet Slam – Puppets After Dark: Immature Entertainment for Mature Audiences” goes on at 8 p.m. on July 10 at the Long Island Children’s...

Bunmi Laditan was so exasperated by her toddler’s shall-we-say-spirited behavior that she started the satirical “Honest Toddler” Twitter handle in May 2012 as a way to vent, but also to try to see things from her then 2-year-old daughter’s point of view. She quickly amassed hundreds of thousands of followers, and Laditan has now written a book called “The Honest Toddler: A Child’s Guide to Parenting.”

Laditan...

Which makes you want to color more? A crayon called red? Or one dubbed “Lady Bug”? Green? Or "Jalapeno"?

When Crayola first launched a box of eight crayons in 1903, it merely labeled them red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown and black. This year, 110 years later, the company decided it's time for a name makeover.

Crayola asked consumers to create new names for each...

Isn’t it enough to worry about our teens smoking cigarettes or pot? Now we also have to watch out for them smoking … alcohol?

The "Today" show is reporting that kids are watching YouTube videos that explain how to “inhale” alcohol vapors for a high without “drinking.” Kids put beer or whiskey or champagne or vodka into a plastic or liquor bottle, pump it with air using a bicycle...

Summer is the perfect season to read about fish, and The Kohl’s Cares fundraising program makes it easy with its newest featured author: Deborah Diesen, whose books include “The Pout-Pout-Fish” and “The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark.”

Each book is $5, and the department store is also offering plush characters from the story for $5 each as well. A matching tote bag is also $5. The proceeds...

The newest kids’ trilogy to hit bookstores is the action-packed “The School for Good and Evil” (HarperCollins, $16.99) by Soman Chainani. The premise: Every four years, two children are kidnapped from a village. They are enrolled in the School for Good and Evil, where the good study to be fairy tale prince and princesses, and the bad train to be villains. The story is filled with battles, monsters...

Broadway actors from “Matilda The Musical” are set to visit Southdown Primary School in Huntington on Tuesday, performing songs such as “Telly” and “Naughty” and participating in a Q&A with students. The kindergarten through fourth grade students will also get a chance to sing a portion of the song “Loud” and learn some choreography.

Southdown was the grand prize winner of WSHU Public...