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

Hang Out with Your Kid's Favorite Entertainers at Little Airplane Cafe

Submitted by Anna Fader on Fri, 07/24/2009 - 4:07pm

There's a great new little venue for kids concerts and other children's entertainment in Lower Manhattan. Little Airplane Cafe isn't actually a cafe at all. It's the production studio of the animation company that makes children's television favorites like The Wonder Pets. For the past year Little Airplane Productions has been giving NYC families in the know free tours of their studio so kids can see what goes into making Lenny, Tuck and Ming Ming come to life.

Now Little Airplane has opened a small performance space with some great shows. The space is incredibly intimate. Seeing Laurie Berkner in the space's inaugural performance feels like hanging out with your favorite kids artists in their living room with a back-stage pass for everyone. Everyone sits on the floor and the space was a little bit overfilled, but the kids could not have been more thrilled. After the show there was a radio interview where Laurie answered kids' questions and then she hung out and said hi to everyone who hung around. Kids got their pictures taken and lots of hugs were shared.

News: Preschool Admissions, NYC Celebrity Tours, Contests, End to Classroom Aides, and Too Heavy Backpacks

Submitted by Anna Fader on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 5:38am

It's that time of year again when parents with children of a certain age need to start panicking about getting their kids into preschools. Find out about resources to help you get through it, plus this other news: Parents can't pay for classroom aides, Celebrities are giving City tours, how to know if your child's back pack is too heavy and what can you do about it. And there's some fun contests going on that could win you a free birthday party or some cash. And of course, don't forget to enter our Dinner Party Giveaway. We've given away three dinner parties for 10 and we've got 7 more to go!

Sony Wonder Technology Lab

Submitted by Anna Fader on Mon, 07/20/2009 - 4:50am

We recently visited the newly renovated Sony Wonder Technology Lab and by the end of the visit this great venue had shot up to the top of our list of must visit spots for kids in New York City. The Sony Wonder Technology Lab has always been a great find, with free movie screenings and a fun children's museum with interactive exhibits. But the new renovation and exhibits leap-frog the Sony Wonder Technology Lab to the forefront of NYC children's museums for kids.

New York is full of great children's museums, but the Sony Wonder Technology Lab does one thing really, really well that none of the other children's museums in New York City currently do: it teaches kids about the stuff they want to learn about most, technology.

Quidditch Game and Scavenger Hunts Bring Harry Potter to Life for NYC Fans

Submitted by Anna Fader on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 4:43pm

If you have a Harry Potter fan at home, these are some pretty exciting times. What with the new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie out now and the final book in paper back. But for New York City kids, of course, there are always more ways to get involved in any passion than just viewing it through mass media. If you are a Harry Potter fan in New York, Harry Potter can come to life for you in lots of fun ways.

Here are some upcoming events for Harry Potter fans:

New Jersey Weekend Events for Kids July 17-19: Historic Train Rides, Ice Cream, Tall Ships, City of Water Festival and More

Submitted by Anna Fader on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 9:09pm

There is a bit of everything for everyone in New Jersey this weekend. You can take a ferry from New Jersey to Governor’s Island for City of Water Day, sail the Hudson on a historic schooner, or ride an antique caboose train to the nostalgic sounds of old railroad tracks. Animal lovers can attend the largest cat show in the Northeast and bird lovers can hike through Liberty State Park looking for summer shore birds. Finally, who can resist the ice cream eating competitions and tasting events at the New Jersey State Ice Cream Festival?

15 Summer in the City Essentials

Submitted by Anna Fader on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 10:00pm

Summer in the city takes a unique type of alchemy to make it go smoothly. Little tricks like putting the juice boxes or water bottles in the freezer the night before and taking a clean, used yogurt container to the playground for collecting and pouring water are the little tricks that seem so obvious once you know them, but help make long, hot summer days go just a little easier. We've gathered up some of the things we think are essential to having the best summer in the city:

Even Kids Love The Bard at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival

Submitted by Anna Fader on Tue, 07/14/2009 - 7:52pm

If you read our recent post on free outdoor Shakespeare performances and loved the idea, but worried your kid couldn't handle it, we've got another recommendation. The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival is doing performances of "The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)" that are so entertaining and funny that we had three kids (ages 5-10) at rapt attention for the entire show, laughing hysterically and (literally) quoting lines from Shakespeare the next day.

One of the geniuses of Shakespeare has always been that it works on so many levels. While we may think of Shakespeare's plays as the high brow and somewhat inaccessible, they are actually filled with lots of very low-brow humor, potty language and puns (the lowest form of humor), couched in flowery talk. Of course, The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) is a parody of Shakespeare's works, but they're working with some very rich material.

Top 5 Free Summer Programs for Kids

Submitted by Anna Fader on Tue, 07/14/2009 - 5:26am

Our Summer Activity Guide is already filled with hundreds of fun free things to do with kids in New York City this summer, like free music in the parks, free outdoor movies and Free Summer Sports Activities, but the free stuff just doesn't stop. Until now, I just haven't had time to write up some of our favorite free summer programs. There's the free movie clubs, free children's theater, free bike rentals, free bowling, and more. Let FREE-dom ring!