Kids and family events in Dallas-Fort Worth, October 1-7

by Alex Bentley

See all kids and family events.

October already? Not to fear -- as the weather gets cooler, there's still plenty of cool stuff to do in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Starting Thursday, October 1, the Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary in McKinney will bring back their Dinosaurs Alive! exhibit. This time, kids will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with life-size models of eight different dinosaurs, including a T-Rex (naturally), an Allosaurus, and something called a Rugops (or, as its friends call it, Wrinkle Face). The dinosaurs will be placed along the museum's nature trails, so you even get some exercise out of the deal. The exhibit will run through January 31.

For a little culture (and food), you can head to the Lebanese Food Festival at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church in Lewisville starting on Friday, October 2 (continuing all weekend long). The festival will feature a variety of dancers (belly, folk, and ... Irish?!), multiple singers (including, um, country hip hop), and, of course, lots of food. How can you resist?

Not to be outdone, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Grapevine will hold their St. Francis of Assisi Irish Fest on Friday, October 1 and Saturday, October 2. They'll also have Irish dancers (perhaps a bit more authentic), Irish food, and pretty much anything else Irish that you can think of.

Since it is October, naturally that means that haunted house season is now in full gear. Six Flags Over Texas will kick off their annual Fright Fest on Friday, October 2. Fright Fest, happening every Friday-Sunday through November 2, four "haunted attractions," plus a variety of other Halloween-related events. If $50 is too rich for you, you can always get discount tickets to other haunted houses from us.

Finally, why limit all your activities to the weekend? The Irving Arts Center will present two showings Charlotte's Web: The Musical! at 9:30 a.m. and noon on Tuesday, October 6. While the tour by Theatreworks USA is probably more aimed at field trips for schools, who's to say that you can't check it out for yourself?

Know of any kids and family events we should have mentioned? Tell us about them in the comments section below.