3

A friend of ours is calling my wife to go with her to New Orleans. The thing is that she is planning to take her kid with her and asking my wife to take our son with her.

As much as I know about the city I think it's a little early for 5 year olds to participate or even appreciate.

Am I wrong on this account? Or is there something in the city to do for 5 year old kids?

Improve this question
7
  • 3
    I'm sure any city has things kids can enjoy. Most kids have much lower expectations. A McDonald's Play Place can be enough to make many kids think it was a great vacation.
    – Flimzy
    Feb 9, 2012 at 6:10
  • 4
    Moreover, I bet that many kids are raised in New Orleans and find some funny things to do there. Just like everywhere else in the world.
    – mouviciel
    Feb 9, 2012 at 8:43
  • @Flimzy My son is already bored with McDonald's Play Place. Has been for a couple of years now. But I see your point. :)
    – Karlson
    Feb 9, 2012 at 14:39
  • New Orleans (outside of Mardi Gras) isn't the "den of sin" it's often portrayed to be. It's just another city...
    – jwenting
    Feb 10, 2012 at 6:34
  • Here's a blog post that tackles this exact subject: neworleansmomsblog.com/2013/05/14/…
    – Nels Beckman
    May 14, 2013 at 20:20

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
8

Not with kids of my own and it being a while since I was that age, I'll leave it to you to decide, but Wikitravel's New Orleans page lists several childrens' attractions in the city:

  • Audubon Zoo (Audubon & University District)
  • Aquarium of the Americas (French Quarter)
  • Louisiana Childrens' Museum (Central Business District)
  • Storyland Amusement Park, City Park (Mid-City)
  • Streetcar rides -- many children from cities without trams find riding on an old streetcar an interesting novelty in itself -- and parents can enjoy the scenery and historic architecture.

I can attest to finding Melbourne, Australia and Christchurch, New Zealand's trams to be quite the novelty when I was younger. When I was older too, but that was when we hired the tram out for company drinks :)

Improve this answer
4

Here are a buch of good ideas I pulled from this blog post on the same topic:

  • Cafe du Monde
  • Horse & Carriage Ride
  • Steamboat Natchez (Big +1 to this, one of my favorites!)
  • Audubon Zoo & Park, or the Aquarium
  • The WWII Museum
  • Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World (Bonus, you get to take a Ferry to the west bank.)
  • Swamp Tours! (Outside of the city.)

There are some other good ideas there as well. Having grown up in New Orleans, in the city itself, I can say that New Orleans (and even Mardi Gras!) is a family-friendly town, pretty much as long as you are outside of Bourbon street. Take the kids and have a great time!

Improve this answer
1
  • Links to those places would be even better. :)
    – Karlson
    May 16, 2013 at 14:10
0

The other answers have given some good ideas of specific activities for children in New Orleans, but I will add that there is as much to do there for children as in any other city. The Bourbon street area for which New Orleans is famous is obviously not for kids, but the Garden District, the Warehouse District, the Bywaters, and even the rest of the French Quarter are all interesting areas of the city which offer as much for children as interesting areas of other cities.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .