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.
Submitted by Anna Fader on
Can't imagine ever convincing your kids to step foot inside an art gallery? Well, think again. Art can be cool if it's the Sci Fi Art Show at MF Gallery on the Lower East Side. Let your kids eyeball the aliens, robots, and monsters in this fun exhibit and broaden their horizons of what art can and should be.And how cool would the above work of art be in a child's bedroom or nursery?
Submitted by Anna Fader on
I discovered Whip Up recently while trolling the interwebs looking for cool things. One of the things I like about this site is it is not so overly-precious as some of the craft sites are and projects tend to be easy and doable even for the novice crafter. The full name is Whip Up, handcraft in a hectic world.
That makes it a great site for families anytime, but this month they are especially focusing on crafts for kids with a Month of Crafts for Kids. They've already posted a bunch of fun stuff like these worry dolls and these winter glove puppets.
Submitted by Anna Fader on
One of the NYC sites I love to read is NewYorkology. Amy is the one who reminds me to post about things like the Vintage Buses and Trains. Now she's added a sweets columnist to keep her readers abreast of all things sweet and tasty in New York. Um...yum.
Nichelle Stephens, who normally writes for Cupcakes Take the Cake with my friend Rachel, wrote up a new ice cream joint in Boerum Hill called Blue Marble. Blue Marble Ice Cream is organic and made from grass-fed cows from the Hudson Valley. It sounds yummy and the store has wi-fi and a small play area for kids. Who said it was hard to be a locavore!
Submitted by Anna Fader on
Submitted by Anna Fader on
If you knew Nina, you'd like her as much as I do. She's an old school New Yorker who grew up with an uptown dad and a downtown mom and seems to know every crack and trick of this city. Now she's learning it all over again as a new mom.
Submitted by Anna Fader on
Cartoonist and Illustrator David Heatley was commissioned to do a piece for The New Yorker, but it didn't make the final cut. In his cartoon Heatley points out some of our favorite things about Queens, like the Queens Farm Museum and the Jackson Heights Halloween Parade. His basic answer: No, it's not as cool as Brooklyn (and he's kinda glad), but it's great for families. [via Jackson Heights Blog]
Submitted by Anna Fader on
We have hundreds of great articles in our archives and we'll be plucking out the best to share every week, but you can also search our archives using the search feature in the upper right corner of the page or click on some of the category links in the left sidebar.
Here's a different activity. Ever been to The Skyscraper Museum
Submitted by Anna Fader on
Four years ago, when my little one was a baby, slings were not as popular as they are today. They were still a little on the "alternative" side, as in, the people that I work with would say, "Remember when you came in to the office with your baby in that sling?" the way one might say, "Remember the time you shaved your hair into a mohawk and stretched your earlobes until you could poke a hot dog through the hole?" Like it kind of scared them, I think.
But I loved my sling so much. I had one of the first simple tube slings, just a ring of fabric, actually fleece, that you just slipped on and put the baby in. You didn't have to adjust it or anything. That sling was so great and they were so hard to find, my friend and I actually contemplated starting a business making and selling them ourselves.
Why am I such a crazy sling devotee? Let me count the ways...
