New Orleans with children
New Orleans does its entertaining in public: parades that roll down the street, a museum built at child height, a zoo under the live oaks, and a streetcar the kids count as a ride in itself. Done the local way, one big sight a day and the streetcar home, it is an easy city to bring children to.
Nothing on this page is tagged family on a guess. Events are here because their own listings promise family programming, and places because the attractions guide tags them suitable for children. The shape of a good family day here is simple: something outdoors in the morning, something air-conditioned at midday, and the evening back out in the street.
Babies and toddlers get the Louisiana Children's Museum, built at child height with water to splash in and gardens to dig; children under 12 months go free, and it runs on timed entry, so the day starts at the slot you booked. City Park's grounds are the other easy win: free, vast, and made for a blanket under the oaks. Young children are the Aquarium's size exactly: compact enough for a couple of hours, with a walk-through tunnel and the Insectarium on the same ticket. The Zoo wants a full morning at least, under the oaks in Audubon Park, and its Louisiana Swamp exhibit is the signature. Back in City Park, Storyland and the Carousel Gardens rides charge their own way in. Older children can carry the big days: the National WWII Museum is vast and personal at once and worth at least half a day, and NOMA lets ages 19 and under in free, with its sculpture garden free every day besides. And every age rides the streetcar: the St. Charles line, running this route since 1835, past the Garden District houses to Audubon Park, or the Canal line up to City Park.
The streetcar is the family's transport and half its entertainment. A single ride is $1.25 with exact change, or a 1-Day Jazzy Pass at $3 covers unlimited rides and is easiest to buy in the RTA's Le Pass app; the pass is the arithmetic that wins once a day has more than two rides in it. Two of the headline sights run on booked times: the Children's Museum on timed-entry tickets, the WWII Museum on a timed ticket, arriving at opening. Book both before you set out and let the slots set the day's shape. Parade days need no tickets at all: every parade is free from the street, and the advice on the Mardi Gras hub holds all season: arrive early on the big nights, hold a spot on the route, and the floats, bands and throws come to you. In summer the heat organises the day: outdoor miles first, a museum or the Aquarium, which its own page here calls air-conditioned enough to be a strategy in summer, at midday.
The bookable family days out: two sailings on a working sternwheeler, the swamp by boat, the WWII Museum, the zoo and the aquarium, a plantation and swamp day trip, a guided walk through the Quarter, a Garden District tour, and the pass that bundles the headline sights. The boats sail at set times, the museum runs timed tickets and the day trips leave on a schedule, so book ahead; each card below carries the booking button for that attraction.
The official United States museum of the Second World War: vast, immersive and worth the better part of a day.
From US$39.29
Book museum ticketsvia Klook · affiliate linkTwo hours on the Mississippi aboard a working sternwheeler, with a live jazz band and the city lighting up behind you.
From US$58
Book the jazz cruisevia Klook · affiliate linkThe same big sternwheeler by day, with a live jazz band and the working river rolling past.
From US$43.50
Book the daytime cruisevia Klook · affiliate linkOne digital pass covering entry to a long list of attractions and tours, bought for a run of consecutive days.
From US$84
Get the passvia Klook · affiliate linkOut by boat through cypress swamp and bayou, past alligators, herons and the fishing villages south of the city.
From US$65
Book the boat tourvia Klook · affiliate linkThe famous double row of live oaks at Oak Alley, a guided tour of the Big House, and a swamp boat ride in one day out of the city.
From US$131
Book the day tripvia Klook · affiliate linkAn oak-shaded zoo in Audubon Park, with a Louisiana swamp exhibit that doubles as a local education.
From US$37.60
Book zoo ticketsvia Viator · affiliate linkSharks, rays and a walk-through tunnel on the riverfront, with the Insectarium under the same roof and the same ticket.
From US$42.77
Book aquarium ticketsvia Viator · affiliate linkRide the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world past the mansions and oak canopy of St. Charles Avenue.
From US$29.80
Book the Garden District tourvia Viator · affiliate linkA guided walk through the oldest streets in the city: courtyards, balconies and three centuries of stories.
From US$29
Book the walking tourvia Klook · affiliate linkThe rest of the tagged places take no booking button: they are free to enter, or they sell their own tickets at the gate. 8 places, each linking to its page in the attractions guide, with hours, admission and the official site.
The city's front porch: a fenced green facing the river, ringed by artists, musicians and some of the oldest apartment buildings in the United States.
Free to visit. Plan your visit
The triple-spired cathedral on Jackson Square, the oldest continuously active Catholic cathedral in the United States.
Free to visit. Plan your visit
Beignets under a drift of powdered sugar and café au lait made with chicory coffee, served at green-striped tables since 1862.
Free to visit. Plan your visit
Six blocks of open-air market along the river: farmers stalls, a flea market, food stands and shops, trading since 1791.
Free to visit. Plan your visit
A hands-on museum built for children in City Park: a miniature French Quarter, a Mississippi River to play with and acres to run in.
Tickets from the venue. See the details
The warehouse where Mardi Gras floats are built all year: giant figures, working sculptors and a year-round answer to how the parades happen.
Tickets from the venue. See the details
A vast green at the top of the city: moss-draped oaks, gardens, a sculpture garden, boats, bikes and room to breathe.
Costs vary by what you do. See the details
The city's art museum in City Park, with a free sculpture garden outside that is worth the trip on its own.
Tickets from the venue. See the details
15 events, in date order. Alongside the calendar's own Family category, each one is here because its listing promises something built for children: a kids zone, a family day, a show billed for the whole family, a kids stage at a sober festival. The standard is the listing's own words, never the venue's type.
The 18th Annual Oak Street Po-Boy Festival, presented by Tony Chachere's, runs on Sunday, November 8, 2026 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. along Oak Street. Entry is free, and a wristband is required to purchase a po-boy.
A free day of live entertainment, family friendly activities and full museum access at The National WWII Museum.
Sober Fest is Bridge House / Grace House's 5th Annual Sober Fest, a day of live music at The Broadside, 600 N Broad St.
Celebration in the Oaks, City Park's premier holiday light festival, runs from November 27, 2026 to January 1, 2027. The Park calls it a New Orleans family tradition that has enchanted visitors since the 1980s.
Tipitina's Foundation presents Sunday Youth Music Labs featuring Anders Osborne, free and open to the public for ages 7 to 21.
Holiday family programme at BB's Stage Door Canteen on Saturdays and Sundays from 5 to 20 December, with food, music from the Victory Belles and a visit with Santa.
The New Orleans Ballet Association presents The Nutcracker Suite, a one-hour production of Tchaikovsky's holiday ballet, at the Mahalia Jackson Theater on Sunday, December 6, 2026.
Free, family friendly celebration of Latin music and culture at the New Orleans Jazz Museum, presented by Digital Latino Media.
Tipitina's Foundation presents Sunday Youth Music Labs featuring George Porter, Jr. Trio, free and open to the public for ages 7 to 21.
The 13th annual NOLA ChristmasFest runs from December 23, 2026 through January 2, 2027 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The indoor festival is built around an ice rink, ice slides, rides and a holiday stage, with timed entry sessions each day.
The Krewe de Jeanne d'Arc's 19th Annual Joan of Arc Procession walks through the French Quarter on Wednesday, January 6, 2027, from 7:30 p.m. to about 9:30 p.m. The medieval-themed walking procession celebrates St. Joan of Arc's birthday and Twelfth Night, the opening of Carnival season.
FAN EXPO New Orleans runs January 8 to 10, 2027 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, covering comics, sci-fi, horror, anime, gaming and cosplay.
Dog Man: The Musical is performed at the Mahalia Jackson Theater on Saturday, January 30, 2027.
Monster Jam brings its stadium truck show to Caesars Superdome on 27 February 2027.
The sixth annual New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University takes place 11 to 14 March 2027 on Tulane's uptown campus.
Family status is taken from each event's own listing and each place's own page, checked on the dates shown there. Details can change; confirm with the organiser before you set out.
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