Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in new orleans, LA

Best Bet: Drinking with Dinosaurs

by Kelly Leahy

March 13, 2009

There are two biggies this weekend. One involves parades, beads and green beer while the other offers a more prehistoric adventure.

Audubon's Dinosaur Adventure opens Saturday. The Audubon Zoo will host a dinosaur invasion. Features include 16 life-size animatronic dinosaur, archeologists to help kids dig up bones and shells, a family photo op as you all ride a dinosaur and dino nuggets at the Zoofari Cafe (I'll be skipping those).

Did you know that Audubon has a new all-in-one ticket to all four of their New Orleans attractions? For a steep discount you can visit the zoo, aquarium, IMAX and insectarium with one purchase. You don't even have to see them all in one day (thank goodness). The ticket is good for five days after the first use. This is a great idea for entertaining visitors or creating an animal themed weekend with your kids.

I'll be dragging the family down to Magazine Street on Saturday for the St. Patrick's Day Parade. We expect to catch a lot of beads and cabbages from the floats. Like any New Orleans parade, it also helps that we know people on the parade route. Whip out your contacts and look for homes to invade along their circuitous parade route.

[photo credit: Audubon Institute]

Best places in New Orleans to get up close to the marine life

by Kelly Leahy

August 19, 2008

Our theme this month at Savvy Source is "Down by the Shore." It might as well be amended to what's in the water as well (besides your swim-happy preschooler). Today's list (Tuesday = listday) includes some of the best places for you and your preschooler to view fish and other marine life. Since we are a food city and I can't hardly write about "sea life" without mentioning "seafood," I'll also  Read more...

Do you know what lives in Lake Pontchartrain?

by Kelly Leahy

August 18, 2008

Do you know what's lurking in the shallow depths of our local lake? Sure, you may see pelicans and seagulls flying over the waters but what's swimming below? The answers might surprise you. Lake Pontchartrain is the second largest salt water lake in the country, second only to Utah's (technically, it's not really a lake, but an estuary). The brackish water and access to the Gulf of Mexico  Read more...

Things that go ribbit, chirp, peep and bark

by Kelly Leahy

August 14, 2008

After an exhaustive day of trying to figure out just which smoke detector was on the fritz, I came to the realization that it was not an electrical malfunction at all but rather a frog that has been keeping this household awake night after night. It appears that we have a tree frog in our midst that emits a high pitched chirp not unlike a smoke detector in need of fresh batteries. After playing  Read more...

Three Days in and Around New Orleans: Day Two

by Kelly Leahy

July 09, 2008

If you took my advice for Day One , you had a full afternoon and evening in the Quarter. You might be ready now to explore a little further into what the city has to offer families with young children. Day Two holds a trip to the zoo and aquarium while taking advantage of various means of transportation offered in New Orleans. No visit to New Orleans is complete without a ride on the streetcar  Read more...

Fab outings to do with the grandparents

by Kelly Leahy

June 16, 2008

You may have your favorite places to bring your preschooler but what about Grandma and Grandpa (or Maw Maw and Paw Paw)? Grandparents require special considerations when preparing for an outing as they have a different set of needs than you do. Some questions you might want to ask yourself when recommending a destination to your folks or in-laws might be: Will there be easy access to candy? Is  Read more...

Looking in the mirror: A list of reflections

by Kelly Leahy

January 13, 2008

Tuesday is list day where we will all be covering the same topics nationally . Today's subject is the best places to find your reflection around town. Here we go. Fountain, Audubon Park. I was going to recommend the reflective canals in the city parks but the last thing I would want would be for someone to fall in. The fountain by the main entrance of Audubon Park has reflective qualites and  Read more...