Austin is known for its authentic flavor of culture, arts, and music. The city also offers great public parks for outdoor play and various museums for indoor entertainment. What many new parents don’t realize is how baby-friendly Austin really is.
If you are a new mom in Austin or plan on visiting Austin with small children, here is a helpful list of fun baby and toddler friendly activities in the Austin area.
A favorite Monday morning activities is to take baby to "Baby Bloomers"
at the Austin Children’s Museum. This open-play session from 9am to noon is exclusively reserved for children 3 years and under. It gives caregivers and their babies a chance to explore and play in a relaxed atmosphere. Baby Bloomers also has a sing-along and story time. Stroller parking is provided inside the museum.
If you have a newborn or infant and you are really “itching” to get out of the house or out of the summer heat, go enjoy a movie at Baby Day at Alamo Draft House Cinema
(Tuesday and Friday only). Parents are allowed to bring infants into the movie for shows starting before 2:05 pm. (check website for movie times and location). They turn the lights up a bit, turn down the sound, and best of all…crying is allowed.
The locally owned and operated bookstore, BookPeople, offers great interactive story times for toddlers and pre-schoolers. (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday mornings)
A favorite morning/evening walk with the jogger stroller is the 3-5 mile
trail around Lady Bird Lake
(formerly known as Town Lake) nestled next to downtown Austin. Babies love to bird watch, count the doggies on leashes, and stop to feed the ducks and turtles during the walk. Pedestrian bridges and a nearby train make this excursion more interesting for mom and baby.
After an early morning walk at the lake, zip on over to
Zilker Park for playtime and a miniature train ride on the Zilker Zypher. The 3-mile train ride loops the park at a slow pace. Other features of Zilker park include; a large playscape and separate toddler area, covered picnic tables, a concessions stand for snacks, a view of the swimmers at Barton Springs, and public restrooms.
For a nice outdoor lunch and playtime, head over to Central Market(North Lamar location). The food is made fresh and healthy. The shaded play area offers two playscapes for little ones and big kids. Central Market also offers live music in the evenings on weekends.
Austin has many great farmers’ markets during the week, but one that Austinites seem to love is on Wednesday evenings at The Triangle on North Lamar.
Open from 4-8, the market features only 100% locally grown vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, honey, and plants.
The city of Austin recently added a new fountain park officially named,
Butler District Park,
near Lady Bird Lake. The “dancing fountains” park is located next to the Palmer Events Center
and behind
the Dougherty Arts Center. The fountain area has holes that shoot water out of spouts. Babies love the small “wading” areas where the water is only inches deep. Because the area is newly developed, there is little shade. Bring plenty of sunscreen and snacks. There are however, clean public restro
Upcoming Events:
Focus Group Request for Parents and Babies
Wednesday, July 2nd, 9:30-11:00amCWT Group is conducting a focus group for moms, dads and their babies (ages 9-16 months) to test a new product that helps infants and parents during the “learning to walk” phase. The focus group will host two sessions on Wednesday, July 2nd from 9:30am-11:00am and 11:30-1:00pm in central Austin. Parents will only need to attend one session. They will receive a $100 Visa gift card and product for participating. If you are interested and have a baby who pulls-up and hangs onto things to walk, or can take a step or two, e-mail Lydia at
walkinginfo@gmail.com or call (512) 968-6642. To see more details,
click here
H-E-B Austin Symphony July 4th Concert & Fireworks
Friday, July 4th, 8:30pm
Bring the family to Auditorium shores for a breathtaking fireworks show!
The Austin Symphony entertains visitors with patriotic tunes and classical melodies. The firing of cannons kicks off the start of the thirty minute professionally planned and orchestrated fireworks show which can be seen by Austinites for miles around. The live concert starts at 8:30pm and the fireworks begin around 9:30. It’s a good idea to bring a blanket to relax on the grass, and a picnic basket with snacks and goodies. Come early for a good spot. Admission is free and concessions are available. Alcohol and glass containers are prohibited. Majic 95.5 will broadcast the concert beginning at 8pm and News 8 Austin will be showing the fireworks show starting at 9:30pm. For more info,
click here.
Biscuit Brothers Live at Symphony Barn
Sat. July 5th at 10 am, and Sun. July 6th at 2 pm
Tickets are on sale now for the BB's summer concert at the famous Symphony Barn, which is actually at the Scottish Rite Theatre in downtown Austin. The entire "Biscuit Crew" will be there for fun music and surprises! Only two shows, so get your tickets early! Adult $12, Child $10 For more info, go to
Biscuit Brothers
We will not have a newsletter next week, but our poll results will be posted by Monday, June 30th. Happy Fourth of July! Look for Part II of our "Week in Austin" article in our July 10th newsletter.
Congratulations to J. Goldman for winning last week's book giveaway!
WELCOME our locally based partners to our Classy-fieds page. Support them. Love them. Use them!
DOT-COM OF THE WEEK
BSA’s dot-com of the week: www.retailmenot.com
When shopping online, do you ever get discouraged when you see the “coupon code” box and you have no code to receive a discount? Where are those promotional codes anyways!?
Look no more,www.retailmenot.com
offers thousands of coupon codes to hundreds of big-name online retailers. Before checking out at your favorite on-line store, “check out” this super handy site. Many discounts are even applied to sale merchandise… happy shopping!
Check out our winners of last week’s poll: Favorite Places to take Summer Roadtrips at www.babyscoopaustin.com
Vote for this week’s poll: Favorite Places to watch Fireworks in Austin
Thank you for posting the Scoop! If you have discussion questions or want to chit chat, head on over to our Baby Scoop Forum and post, post, post!
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