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Philly Fall Arts Guide: Local family fun events

By summer's end, the family budget's as tapped out as the kids' attention spans. Luckily, this fall's roster of family-friendly cultural activities is heavy on stimulation and (mostly) low in price.

Reptiles: The Beautiful and the Deadly
Academy of Natural Sciences, Sept. 30-Jan. 10
Fans of the Outside In room's blue-tongue skink will get a beady eyeful when 20 such live, cold-blooded
creatures (snakes, turtles, crocodilians) travel from Allenwood, Union County, to the Parkway.

215-299-1000, ansp.orgcq

Monster Jam
Wells Fargo Center, Oct. 2-4
Huge trucks, big testosterone, small ticket price. Pack the noise-cancelling headphones.

800-298-4200, comcasttix.com

Opera on the Mall: La traviata
Opera Philadelphia at Independence National Historical Park, Oct. 3
Probably never bring a preschooler to see a live performance of Verdi's "La traviata." But totally plunk that tot onto a picnic blanket when Opera Philly reprises its beyond-successful grass-top broadcast, now in its fifth year and replete with al fresco family essentials photo booths and food trucks. Free tickets by reservation.

215-732-8400, operaonthemall.org

Shrek The Musical, Jr.
Walnut Street Theatre, Saturdays Oct. 3-24
Teen actors from Camp Walnut's Advanced Musical Theatre Performance Classes form the cast in the staged version of the DreamWorks smash about a green ogre who rescues a princess.

215-574-3550, walnutstreettheatre.org

Nitro Circus Live
Wells Fargo Center, Oct. 9
Ringling Bros. meet X Games' medalist Travis Pastrana and Anne Hathaway's "Dark Knight" stunt double when three rings host freestyle motocross, BMX, trikes, and one superstrong slingshot. Don't try this at home, or anywhere else, for that matter.

800-298-4200, comcasttix.com

Sound All Around
Philadelphia Orchestra at Academy Ballroom, Oct. 17 and Nov. 7
One Saturday a month, for an easy 45 minutes, a few hundred folks, median age 3 to 5, sit crisscross applesauce as a storyteller, a musician, and an accompanist lead an interactive, one-instrument-focused class. Before time's up, the preschoolers are up, swaying and playing in the Academy Ballroom. The performances during the autumn months spotlight strings (October) and percussion (November); the series continues through April.

215-893-1999, philorch.org

Potted Potter
Kimmel Center, Oct. 20-25
J.K. Rowling gets the abridged-Bard treatment when Brit guys Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner return to do up the seven-book Harry canon in a 70-minute, antics-y act invented a decade ago as a street show for queues awaiting the release of "The Half-Blood Prince." Performance aims to please both longtime Pottermaniacs and Hogwarts freshmen.

215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org

Philly SportsZone
Franklin Institute, opens Oct. 24
Coolest thing about this new, permanent $3.1 million exhibition, once you realize it's not an ESPN show or batting cage birthday party venue? Many of the 21 hands-and-feet-on displays star Philly favorites. Compete and compare your skills to those of Jordan Matthews, Chase Utley (sigh), Nerlens Noel, and the Phanatic while learning the science behind sports.

215-448-1200, fi.edu

Day of the Dead
Penn Museum, Oct. 31
When the museum Day falls the day before the real Day, it coincides with Halloween, making the vibrant celebration of lives passed slightly spookier. Sugar skulls and colorful dancing still feel more festive than frightening, though. The Mexican Cultural Center and Mexican Consulate chip in to up the authenticity.

215-898-4000, penn.museum

Halloween Concert
Philadelphia Orchestra at Kimmel Center, Oct. 31
For 93 years, the fabulous ones' Family Concerts, currently aimed at ages 6 through 12, have been a way to get kids (and, not incidentally, their parents) into classical music. First up: Halloween's costumed spectacular, which falls exactly on the holiday and will likely include Smetana's "The Moldau" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade." Arrive early to traipse onstage. Expect a sellout.

215-893-1999, philorch.org

Drawn to Dinosaurs
Academy of Natural Sciences, opens Nov. 1
Those who've wondered how scientists figure out what dinosaurs really looked like will get questions answered in the Art of Science Gallery's new exhibition about the collaboration between fossil finders and illustrators. Full, circa-1868 cast of Haddonfield's own duck-billed Hadrosaurus foulkii stars.

215-299-1000, ansp.org

Night of 1,000 Lights
Longwood Gardens, Nov. 6-7
This magical-evening chance to view and to make floating lanterns, and to watch fountains and lions dance, perennially sells out during Longwood's autumnal Chrysanthemum Festival, which itself runs Oct. 24-Nov. 22. Tickets go on sale for members Oct. 5, for the public Oct. 9. Also, as night falls earlier, the starting times get family-friendlier for the relaxing yet rave-like "Nightscape: A Light and Sound Experience," Wednesday through Saturday through Oct. 31.

610-388-1000, longwoodgardens.org

Matilda the Musical
Academy of Music, Nov. 17-29
When four young actresses played Roald Dahl's bookish, daring darling on Broadway, they won an "Honors for Excellence" Tony. On the road, three girls fill the wee Londoner's school shoes, with support from a cast of similarly precocious children. (A fella still plays evil Miss Trunchbull.)

215-731-3333, kimmelcenter.org

Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates
Arden Theatre Company, Nov. 24-Jan. 31
Multitalented Laura Eason adapted Mary Mapes Dodge's children's classic for the stage after taking on a new job as a parent. Her world premiere work — three years in the making (her "House of Cards" writing gig intervened) — is set in 19th-century Holland and features canal ice skating, turning windmills, live harp and violin. Adults play all roles, including siblings Hans and Gretel. Best for ages 6 and up.

215-922-1122, ardentheatre.org

Disney on Ice: 100 Years of Magic
Wells Fargo Center, Dec. 24-Jan. 3
So it's not exactly fall, but now is the time to snatch up tickets if last year's frenzy for ice-top "Frozen" is any indication. Now a winter vacation tradition, the character spectacular energetically celebrates a century of Walt's world, from mice to princesses, in a whopping 24 South Philly performances.

800-298-4200, comcasttix.com

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