Los Angeles is one of the greatest cities in the world, and it also happens to be a fantastic place to raise a child. After you adjust to life with a new baby, it’s time to start taking your little one on adventures throughout the Southland. Strap your baby into the car or stroller, and start ticking off our ultimate list of things to do in LA during your baby’s first year.
1. Download the Mommy Nearest app to help you find the best places in Los Angeles for you and your baby!
2. Reading to your baby is incredibly important for their language skills. Attending a local story time is a great way to meet this need, and get out of the house! Head to a local bookstore like Children’s Book World or a cultural institution like the Zimmer Children’s Museum for a scheduled story time.
3. Put baby in a carrier and go for a hike! Los Angeles has no shortage of beautiful scenery to explore, and your baby needs to see it all.
4. There are several great aquariums located in different neighborhoods throughout the Southland. The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach is the granddaddy of them all, but you never know which fishy home will be your baby’s favorite.
Aquarium of the Pacific
5. Get your body back in shape and meet other moms at Baby Boot Camp. Babies are welcome—and encouraged—and they often have just as much fun as their moms! Other programs include the Fit4Mom Los Angeles classes and sessions at Align Pilates.
6. Does anything delight babies as much as animals? Take your little one to the Los Angeles Zoo and introduce them to elephants, lions, and monkeys, oh my!
7. Babies are very portable and (mostly) quiet, so bring them along to a “Mommy Movie” at one of our favorite theaters. Bonus: you’ll still be up on pop culture. The new Cinépolis Junior movie theater even has an indoor playground once your little ones are old enough to play!
8. Take your baby to Underwood Farms to pick fruits and vegetables or to the Original Farmers Market to pick up some produce. If you’re feeling ambitious, you could even take it all home and make your own fresh baby food.
9. Take a parent-tot music class at Play LA, Ladybug Music or Lovebug and Me Music.
Play LA
10. Your baby will never be this small again, so make sure you capture every little detail with a professional photography session by a local family photographer. You won’t be sorry!
11. Babies love to swing, and your baby likely will, too. Visit a local playground (or try out a new one!). Douglas Park in Santa Monica is especially great as they have a separate playground for babies and toddlers.
12. Take your baby along to a lunch or dinner date at a baby-friendly restaurant. Of course, you could always splurge on a sitter and have a child-free meal! You know you deserve it.
13. Strap your baby into a carrier and head to a ball game Dodger Stadium. Babies get into the stadium for free!
14. It wouldn’t be right for your baby to go an entire year without putting her toes in the Pacific. Take your little one to a fabulous local beaches, like Manhattan Beach or Dockweiler State Beach. Don’t forget to bring along the sand toys.
Heather Spohr
15. Let your little one experience their first-ever carousel ride at Griffith Park! You can also hop aboard the Travel Town Railroad, a train that circles the perimeter of the Travel Town Museum grounds within the park.
16. Just before baby’s first birthday, give her a little taste of ice cream. Los Angeles has some amazing ice cream stores with dozens of flavors just waiting to be tried.
17. Los Angeles is full of famous attractions that tourists flock to year-round, like the Hollywood Blvd. Visit some with your baby and make sure you get plenty of pictures for the scrapbook (or, let’s be real, Instagram)!
18. Lots of LA places offer Baby and Me yoga classes that are uniquely geared toward both mother and baby. Get your om on while still being able to attend to your baby’s needs at studios like Zooga Yoga and Liberation Yoga.
Zooga Yoga
19. Sign up for Toddler Tuesday Sing Along at Skirball Cultural Center where you’ll enjoy circle time, songs and lap games.
20. Once your baby starts crawling, head to an indoor play space! Try Kiddie City for the specially-designed area for babies with crawl-through tunnels, or Kidville in Brentwood and Little Knights for their baby-friendly classes.
21. Bundle up your baby and show them the snow in the Los Angeles mountains—assuming, of course, it snows that winter.
22. Sure, your baby might be too young to enjoy most of the rides at Disneyland, but can you make it a whole year without buying them their own ears? No, you cannot.
Heather Spohr
23. Take your baby to get their first haircut! Several LA-area hair salons specialize in this milestone, and provide pictures, lollipops, and a special lock of your baby’s hair as a keepsake.
24. Put baby in a stroller and explore a new neighborhood. Studio City, Pasadena, and Venice Beach are great, walkable areas.
25. Los Angeles has dozens of world-class museums! Bring baby along for an air-conditioned afternoon learning about art, science, history, and more. Some museums, like the California African American Museum, even offer special stroller tours.
26. It gets hot in LA in the summer months! A local splash pad is a great way to keep cool during baby’s first summer.
27. It’s never too early to start teaching your baby water safety. If you don’t have a pool in your backyard, head to one of these local public pools. You can even sign up for a parent-and-me swim lesson starting at five months at kidSwim.
Heather Spohr
28. Visit a local children’s museum. Introduce your baby to all the different elements that make up a town at Pretend City or explore the Zimmer Museum, which exclusively opens to its two and under crowd at 9am. Kidspace Museum has lots of Baby and Me class options, too!
29. Take the ultimate Los Angeles family photo at the gorgeous Vista Hermosa Natural Park or Exposition Park Rose Garden. Use the picture on birth announcements or holiday cards!
30. Bring baby along to a Mommy and Me group, parenting class, or breastfeeding support session at any of these LA postpartum resources like The Pump Station, La Leche League or Gracefull. They’re all great places to make new mom friends!
The Pump Station
31. Play with your baby in the Creative Space at Au Fudge, and keep your eyes peeled for restaurant co-owner Jessica Biel and her husband, Justin Timberlake.
32. Pull up some grass and watch an outdoor movie during the summer at spots like Griffith Park and Granada Beach. There’s always something playing under the stars in LA!
33. Enjoy some fresh ocean air at the Santa Monica Pier! The pier frequently hosts fun—and free!—events for guests of all ages to enjoy, like their annual summer concert series.
34. Spend the afternoon at The Grove. They have an amazing nursing lounge and changing area by the front entrance, and the lawn is a great place to let your baby crawl around!
35. You’ve made it through year one, and now you have to plan the oh-so-monumental first birthday! Be sure to get the perfect cake, maybe from LA’s Duff’s Cakemix, to make the party even more memorable.
