Anna Fader

Founder & CEO of Mommy Poppins
Anna was born in Park Slope, spent her early years in the West Village. By the time she graduated high school, she had lived in 4 of the 5 boroughs. Growing up in NYC in the '70s meant the streets were her playgrounds. Museums and avant garde music venues were the kid-friendly activities. And living downtown taught her the importance of creating community for families in NYC.

Now, raising her own two children in the city, she tries to create the same sense of magic and community she felt growing up, despite today's more commercialized version of kid-friendly New York.

She started Mommy Poppins in 2007 to share a more artsy, educational, uncommercial, community-oriented vision of raising kids in New York City. Today Mommy Poppins is relied on by millions of families as the authority on the best things to do with kids beyond New York City: from Boston to Philly, Los Angeles, Houston and travel guides for dozens more cities and destinations.

Latest posts by Anna

Mommy Poppins Giveaway-a-Thon: Via Toy Box

Submitted by Anna Fader on Sun, 11/04/2007 - 1:01am

Today is the first day of the Mommy Poppins week-long giveaway-a-thon. I've rounded up some of my favorite products and some great new discoveries to give away to readers this week. There will be awesome toys, beautiful pottery, a little something for new moms, and the ultimate dream - two weeks of meals prepared in your home by professional chefs.

I put together this giveaway-a-thon to celebrate the coming of the close of the first year of Mommy Poppins. It's been amazing to watch the site grow this year and I wanted to thank all my readers for all you've done to help out; from your ideas, words of encouragement, feedback and spreading the word about the site to your friends.

Today's great prize is my favorite toy box/storage solution for kids - Via Toy Box. I absolutely love this product because it makes cleaning up and organizing kids toys easy. Great storage is the secret to successfully living with kids in city apartments. You have to have storage that gets everything hidden, yet accessible and looks great because kids and grown up areas are often not as separated as they are in larger homes.

Free Parks Programs Let City Kids Discover the Nature All Around

Submitted by Anna Fader on Fri, 11/02/2007 - 3:05am

I think I love being out in nature in the Fall better even than in the summer. The smell of the damp leaves on the ground, the crisp autumn air, it's very relaxing and great being outdoors with the kids at this time of year.

But you don't need to hop in the car to get your walk in the woods. There are woods all around us and the NYC Parks Department has tons of programs to help families enjoy them and teach NYC kids about nature. There are too many in one weekend to even list, but here's the top ones in every borough.

Staten Island: Haunted Hike
Explore the haunted history of Conference House Park, which was once a Native American burial ground. 7PM Friday, Nov 2.

Manhattan:Inwood Park Nature Walk
How would you like a guided nature walk by no less than the chief naturalist of the NYC Parks Department? Spot songbirds and learn about the ecosystems of Manhattan's last natural forest and salt marsh. Sat., Nov. 3. 8-10AM, Inwood Park

Queens: Fall Migration
Help Rangers count raptors as they pass by on their Fall Migration. Raptors are always cool and kids will love that they are helping the Rangers. Flushing Meadows Corona Park, 10AM Sat, Nov. 3.

Brooklyn: Backyard Ecology Walk
A kid-friendly introduction to Fort Greene's wildlife will teach NYC kids about the nature that lives right in their own backyards. Sure to open city kids' eyes to the world of nature around them. Sat., Nov. 3, 1PM, Fort Greene Park.

Bronx: Fall Foliage Walk
Enjoy some of the most exquisite fall foliage in the city on a guided walk through an oak, hickory and sweet-gum forest and search for the special 400 year old white oak. Pelham Bay Park, 2 PM. Sunday, Nov. 4.

Want more NYC nature walks?

Check out trails.com. A member fee is required, but it gives you unlimited access to detailed guides for hiking, biking, kayaking and more all over the US. There's tons of guides for NYC and the surrounding areas and even ideas for hikes with kids. You can try it out with their 14 day free trial.

Gorp is free site that has lots of hiking and other outdoor activity ideas around NYC and the country. The information is less detailed than what you'll find on trails.com or in a book, but it's a good starting place.

Best Hikes with Children in the Catskills and Hudson River Valley

is a book that features 51 easy hikes to enjoy with your kids in the area.

Subscription Drive Giveaway-a-Thon

Submitted by Anna Fader on Thu, 11/01/2007 - 3:27am

Halloween Costume Pics from Lower Manhattan

Do you look forward to your daily dose of Mommy Poppins? Would you miss it if it were gone? Do you wish you could get even more? More posts, more featuresГўв‚¬вЂњlike an event calendar, classifieds and meet-ups?

In order to keep bringing you excellent content and add features, I need to grow readership. I'm pleased to say there's now over 300 subscribers plus about that many readers on the site every day. You are a growing club of great parents, but my goal is to double readership by the end of the year. To do that I need to draw on the amazing power of you. If you love the site, tell your friends. It's not spam if you know they'll love it.

To make it more fun, next week I'm doing a Subscription Drive Giveaway-a-Thon. There's going to be some really fantastic prizes, including TWO WEEKS of free gourmet, meals cooked in your own home by the chefs of The Dishes Dishes. And that's just one of many great prizes we're giving away every day next week. So be sure to check in each day so you don't miss out on anything.

And tell your friends!

Ugly Doll

Below I've listed some other ways you can help support Mommy Poppins. If you feel like giving back, it's always appreciated and everything will go right back into the site.

Halloween Parent Hacks and last minute links

Submitted by Anna Fader on Tue, 10/30/2007 - 2:40am

Congratulations to Izzy's Mom who won the Great Green Giveaway. She'll receive free tickets to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a copy of the BBG Gardening with Children book and a Tree in a Box.

It's not over yet, folks. Halloween is tomorrow and there's still time to check out some of the coolest and most fun Halloween ideas and resources I've found around the web.

Blue Man Creativity Center, Reggio Emilia and Preschool Parenting Talk

Submitted by Anna Fader on Mon, 10/29/2007 - 1:11am

You know the main thing I worry my kids are missing out on in their education in New York? It's not so much math, social studies or reading. It's Creativity. I don't mean art. I mean just random, wacky NYC Creativity. This post is about a really cool new preschool, a hot educational philosophy, and a preschool parenting talk that are all aimed at putting more of that big C type of creativity back into childhood.

Best Environmental Sites for Parents and Kids

Submitted by Anna Fader on Fri, 10/26/2007 - 2:51am

Due to technical difficulties, yesterday's post did not go out to subscribers. If you would like to read yesterday's post about Zipcar, click here.

I've put together a list of some great sites that promote environmentalism. Some are kid sites with games, activities and projects to get kids involved in the environment. Some are cool sites to help parents become more environmental with information and must-have products. Check 'em out.

Zipcar lets you drive to the greener side of the street

Submitted by Anna Fader on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 2:56am

If you watch An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's environmental exposГѓВ©, it is quite likely that you followed the exact pattern of behavior we did immediately after watching the film. For, in the final credits, there is a URL for a website which allows you to measure your personal household carbon footprint. If you do that you can not only see how much carbon you are adding to the earth every year, but what are the biggest behaviors which create the most carbon in your life. I was surprised to see that eating beef is a big one. I never really though about the environmental impact of eating beef. But the one that really got me thinking was our car. We had an old hand-me-down Volvo station wagon which was quite handy for toting stuff around town and the occasional trip to grandma's. By the next morning after watching An Inconvenient Truth our car was listed on Craigslist. We're not usually that reactionary or decisive, but this was an easy decision because we knew we had a great alternative to owning a car in NYC. Zipcar is this really cool service that lets you share cars with other drivers. You can basically rent one of several models by the hour. I'll tell you why I like it better than owning a car: