Ally Noel
Ally Noel has lived in Connecticut for over two decades. Before becoming a parent, she worked as an Educational Technology Specialist, helping schools and teachers integrate technology into learning. Now, she’s all about discovering the best family-friendly adventures, activities, and hidden gems. Share your tips, questions, or just say hi at ally@mommypoppins.com, and follow along for family fun at @mommypoppinsct.
Latest posts by Ally
Once upon a time, in our pre-COVID lives, there was something special about heading to the local movie theater, grabbing movie snacks, and crowding into a theater to watch a new movie. Well, a visit to a crowded theater isn't happening right now, but a Netflix Party is actually a pretty great substitute. Hosting a Netflix Party is the next best thing to going to the theater, and you can host a watch party (on any platform, not just Netflix) with friends living across the street or family living across the country—or even on the other side of the world!
Here are some helpful tips on how to get started hosting your very own Netflix watch party. Make sure you check out our 50 Best Kids’ Movies for Family Movie Night to pick a flick you all can agree on.
As your child begins to notice the first signs of a wiggly tooth, you may start asking yourself a lot of questions about how to be the Tooth Fairy. What does the Tooth Fairy pay these days? Does she leave something besides money? Does the Tooth Fairy take the teeth with her?
From tooth fairy letters to tooth fairy pillows to glitter money and more, we've rounded up some truly creative and fun tooth fairy ideas and traditions that provide inspiration for creating a little tooth fairy magic in your own home. Plus, we'll tell you what the average kid seems to be collecting for those pearly whites...
Believe it or not, we’ve been riding the waves of this pandemic for about a year now. But, we’ve come a long way! Many of our favorite family-friendly indoor and outdoor spots in Connecticut, including museums, zoos, indoor play spaces, and entertainment places (including the Maritime Aquarium's cool new 4D theater), have progressively reopened with enhanced safety protocols, so kids can enjoy a special outing while staying safe.
Read on to see which of our favorite Connecticut winter day trip spots are open for family fun right now, and be sure to contact each business directly in case policies have changed. Most spots require advanced ticketing and mask wearing and enforce hand sanitizing and washing and capacity restrictions; but kids have gotten used to these measures and will just be excited for to bust out of their own four walls to see some cool art, visit animals, and jump and swing around.
One food we know families can't live without—pandemic or otherwise—is pizza. Lucky for us, Connecticut doesn't just have passable pizza—it's famous for it! Next time the family has a hankering, consider venturing beyond your neighborhood and ordering a pie or two from one of Connecticut's best pizza places for families, from standard-bearers Frank Pepe and Roseland to relative newbies like Swyft and yPizzeria Marzano. Whether dining in or takeout, we can promise the pizza will be delicious, and you will be helping a small business through trying times for the restaurant industry.
Look to our Connecticut restaurant guide for more kid-friendly brunch, lunch, or dinner outings, including igloo restaurants and heated patios that are operating outdoors through the wintertime.
Nothing cures cabin fever quite like a little creative release, but the dried-up clay and construction paper laying around most of our houses can get a little old (literally). So we have searched the entire Nutmeg State to find our favorite places to get our craft on! With pottery painting, glass fusing, canvas painting, and more, these craft studios in Connecticut offer a mix of drop-in times, reservation slots, and even takeout options that allow you to bring a fresh kit of crafting materials home.
If you're planning an impromptu crafternoon or playdate at home, there's plenty of creative inspiration to be found in our list of 100 crafts for kids.
And just like that, the final week of January (and perhaps the longest January on record) is here! January isn't quite slipping away into the darkness quite yet, though; there may be one or two tricks up this month's sleeve! Bask in the light of the "Wolf Moon" on the beach in Norwalk, tap a maple tree in New Canaan, or get in on some early groundhog action in Canton.
For virtual activities to round out your weekend, check out our Poppins@Home workshops, including Baby in Tune classes, the Happy Feet Soccer online series, Cartooning, and Magical Potions.
Our Connecticut Winter Fun Guide will give you ideas of where to go on a cross country skiing or snowshoeing adventure, book a ski lesson, or glide down the slopes at a snow tubing park. Just remember to bring your mask and practice social distancing. As always, keep tabs on our Connecticut events calendar for daily updates on reopenings at favorite spots, and more local and virtual opportunities for family fun.
An Instant Pot is an electronic pressure cooker that is able to cook foods quickly—and once I started using one, I wondered how I ever lived without it. The only tricky thing is finding the best Instant Pot recipes that everyone in the family will eat. From kid-pleasing Instant Pot chicken recipes to the secret to perfect Instant Pot rice, I’ve tried them all, and rounded up the best of the best.
For those of us who don’t think about what to have for dinner until approximately melt-down-o’clock, this list of tried-and-true Instant Pot recipes will save dinnertime, one meal at a time! Don’t have an Instant Pot? Try our favorite easy one-pot meals. And whatever you make for dinner, save room for dessert.
Looking for a fun outdoor activity to pass the time this winter? (Which parent isn't?) Maritime Aquarium is offering their popular Seal Spotting & Birding Cruises on select weekends in 2021. Seals migrate from Canada to the warm waters of the Long Island Sound from around mid-November to April, and are most visible to humans when they “haul out” onto the rocky shores that make up the Norwalk Islands. On a sunny, cold Sunday in January, my daughter and I had a blast spotting the cute marine mammals as well as a variety of majestic winter waterfowl from the deck of the aquarium's spacious cruising boat. Of course, just the prospect of trading a day in the house or car for a day on the water was exciting, too!
Read on for details of our experience on the Seal Spotting & Birding Cruise, and find more of our favorite cold-weather adventures with Connecticut kids in our Winter Day Trips guide.
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