Founder of Mommy Poppins
A fourth-generation Brooklynite, Anna started Mommy Poppins in 2007 to help families find the best things to do with kids in NYC, with a particular emphasis on sharing activities that are free, affordable, and enriching. The site, used by millions of families, has grown to become the ultimate resource for parents in the major US cities, plus travel guides for 100s of destinations.
Anna is a believer in the magic of summer camps, traveling with kids, and that you can raise kids on a budget and still have a rich life full of amazing memories. Anna's first Mommy Poppins book, The Young Traveler's Journal and Activity Book, published in 2025 and co-written with her daughter, Amelia Eigerman, brings that ethos to life, in addition to this website.
Submitted by Anna Fader on
In my last post, I said that my current favorite outing with kids in NYC is to take the trolley to explore the South Bronx. I thought I'd write up some more details so more of you can enjoy this great excursion. And thanks to everyone who has contributed their favorite outings.
Submitted by Anna Fader on
Mommy Poppins has a loyal following now of hundreds of readers every day. Your comments have let us know that this site is a valuable resource for finding great stuff to do in NYC with kids. But with hundreds of you out there, you're a great resource too. What great finds have you uncovered?
Let's all share our favorite day out with the kids in NYC and see what gems our collective knowledge will uncover.
Submitted by Anna Fader on
The National Parks Conservation Association is reaching out to NYC parents to get our input on the redevelopment of Gateway National Park. Specifically they are holding a design competition for a new park at Floyd Bennett Field in Queens and have invited Mommy Poppins readers to vote.
Submitted by Anna Fader on
This was a good month for Mommy Poppins. Our community grew a lot this month as more people are finding the site and we're seeing it in increased comments and contributions from readers. The water fun week definitely had some of our most popular posts and we got a lot of positive feedback on those articles as well as the Summer Guide and these others:
Submitted by Anna Fader on
For all you parents who are starting to think about sleepaway camp for next year, but have no idea how to choose the right one for your child, here's a great tip from from Mommy Poppins reader, Lauren:
Submitted by Anna Fader on
I've actually been surprised at how hard it has been to find good resources for traveling with kids. As we were planning our family vacation for this summer, I was looking around online and found very few good sites for planning trips with kids. After scouring the web, here are the best resources I've found for traveling with kids:
Submitted by Anna Fader on
When preparing for a long trip with kids, whether by car or airplane, there's always a moment of trepidation before leaving when you consider those long hours in transit and how your child will be possibly stay occupied, tear-and whine-free while on the go. It is always my instinct to go to the book or toy store and buy a travel kit or some other small toy. I find that the Klutz kits
However, occasionally I stand there in the aisle and think to myself, "What happened to the books I got the last time?" And,"What's wrong with all the other toys and books my kids have stuffed into shelves that they barely look at?" And I realize that this exercise is really for me - to easy my anxiety about the trip with some consumer therapy.
So now I have a new routine before trips. Rather than heading to the bookstore, I go straight to the toy box or bookshelf. I dump the toy box upside down and dig out some small toys that my children haven't looked at in months - new to them! Pick some of the books of Super Silly Mad Libs Junior
And the truth is that the kids have just as much fun with this stuff as they would with new stuff. It just shows how much the needing to buy stuff for kids originates with the adults.
Submitted by Anna Fader on
You may have seen or heard lately about a movie called The Holiday in which two women swap houses and end up swapping more than that. Or something, I haven’t actually seen it. But it has become part of the popular culture enough that now there is some frame of reference for house swapping so that when you talk about it people say, “Oh, like in that movie" rather than just staring at you like you're not wearing underwear.
When I was a teenager my family swapped our New York home for an apartment in Paris for a month one summer. Last Fall, I decided I wanted to take a particularly long vacation this year and so I thought of house swapping as a way to be able to take a longer vacation without having the expense of renting a house for a month. As usual frugality was my first motive, but as the experience has developed it has turned out to be just one of the benefits of traveling this way.
