The primary way organizers will attempt to do this is through a new partnership with the Children’s Museum of the Arts that will offer a wide-range of family art projects, free-form activities, media workshops, and exhibits themed around the DUMBO Waterfront.

Here is a list of a few added programs and events:

Cityscape Animation
A collaborative stop-motion animation project themed on the waterfront.

Theater by the Sea

Participants can build sets and a performance space with seats for a small audience.

Skyline String Installation

Collaborate on a string installation inspired by your surroundings.

Sewing Sea Monster      

Sew and construct different materials to create a large sea monster. Make your own finger puppets to take with you to perform at home.

Art Kits

Borrow an art-kit, complete with paper, watercolor, colored pencils and charcoal and go off and get inspired. Kids will be allowed to display what they have made in a special gallery area.

Bike Decorating Station                                                                                                                                                                                           Look to trick out your ride? Decorate your bike using colorful string, tissue paper, beads, bells, recycled materials and tape – or bring your own fun materials.

For those who want a glimpse of what went down at last year’s festival, here is an informing video.

Over 200,000 visitors participate in the festival, which features work from over 500 artists, 100 studios, 50 galleries and stages and 100 programming partners. The official Festival hours are Friday 6pm to 9pm, Saturday 12pm to 9pm, Sunday 12pm to 6pm and sundown to midnight all three nights for all outdoor projections, said organizers.

Some 25,000 children attended the three-day festival in 2011, which saw over 500 artists, 100 studios and 50 galleries participate. Noticing a growing demand for creative programming geared towards kids, organizers have elected to expand aspects of the festival into a more family-friendly format.

“We’re extremely excited to bring our signature family programming across the East River to Brooklyn this fall,” said Dave Kaplan, Executive Director, CMA. “The festival’s spectacular line-up is sure to inspire, and CMA is especially thrilled to present workshops and experiences that engage young festival goers and help them harness their creativity.”

In addition to the numerous interactive art experiences, exhibitions and craft events, organizers have announced a special component of the festival that will focus on DUMBO’s waterfront. These activities will surround family hotspots such as Jane’s Carousel and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

“We are looking forward to offering a diverse range of programs that will inspire the next generation of festival artists," Lisa Kim, Director DUMBO Arts Festival told Scooter.

Kids can explore a stop-motion animation workshop based on DUMBO's layout, sculpt animals and figurines in the museum’s pop-up Clay Bar or keep it highbrow and browse the surrounding galleries.

More festival events will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Celebrating the "poetree" of art at CMA's new exhibit (Amelie Brown)

"What would you like to draw today?"

Posed one of several drawing stations at the Children’s Museum of the Arts (CMA) new exhibit, Art Forms: 75 Years of Arts Education. The show opened Thursday at CMA, which last fall moved to its larger space on Charlton Street in West Soho (near the family-friendly PrinceDougal enclave we wrote about last year).

The exhibit juxtaposes antique and contemporary works by children and art educators, demonstrating what makes the museum visit special. Included are nine works of Henry Schaefer-Simmern and other never-displayed works from the collections of art educators Leon Bibel and Sona Kludjian.

A vocal critic of force-feeding art to children, Schaefer-Simmern advocated that children should develop intuitively on their own and at their own pace rather than copying master works. His works in this exhibit illustrate the stages of artistic progression he identified in his 1948 book The Unfolding of Artistic Activity, evolving from scribbles to organized scribbles, then circle-and-stick portrayals of the human figure and confused attempts at direction, until finally, perspective.

Scattered around the room are interactive exhibits — among them an ornamental “poetree” and a loom that folds up into a wall hanging — as well as the drawing stations. Voices and laughter abounded from the studio spaces and energy-expending ball pen, upstairs and around the corner. Though they were guided by teaching artists, the children were clearly in charge of the room.

"How did you do it? What did you do first, second, last?" the drawing station pamphlet continued. Like Schaefer-Simmern, CMA aims to celebrate the artist in every child by giving them the opportunity to take command.

The exhibit's collection of ten lithographs by Alfred Cohen highlight the impact of opportunity and mentorship. Thanks to an arts community center funded by the Works Progress Administration as part of FDR's New Deal, Cohen would cross the street every day to make art with Metropolitan-featured Leon Bibel and soon became a prodigy, receiving critical acclaim by the age of eight.

CMA is one of the few interactive children’s museums geared specifically towards art for art’s sake. Staring at a blank canvas or paper, the museum maintains, is a highly self-reflective process that teaches problem-solving and dedication.

Indeed, the children we saw ordering up modeling clay at CMA's clay bar with the facility of seasoned bar-goers seem to have learned one important life-skill already.

Art Forms: 75 Years of Arts Education is open through Sept 30. CMA also offers free summer programs.