Customer Reviews

Baby's Day Out in Southern California: Fun Places to Go With Babies and Toddlers

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Finally there is a Southern California tour guide especially geared towards parents of babies and toddlers. Your children learn best through first hand experiences and Baby's Day Out is chock full of great places for the young (and not so young) to experience the things they love like animals, trains, parks, aquariums, tide pools, hands-on museums and more. My 10 year old and 61/2 year old twins still love to visit many of the places listed in JoBea Way's comprehensive guide. They also have a list of many new places for us to visit as well.

The book is broken down into eleven chapters covering major areas of interest for young children: Museums, Our City, Gardens and Nature, The Zoo, Aquariums, Trains and more. There are over 224 separate sites reviewed. Locations covered include the expected Los Angeles and San Diego Zoos as well as many less well known places like the Goodyear Blimp Airfield, Tierra Rejada Farm and Pasadena Unified School Bus Lot.

The book includes many helpful tips for making outings more enjoyable and each review contains a concise description, directions with Thomas Guide page references, and cross references to both similar sites and nearby attractions. Easy to spot icons let parents know if the locations can accommodate single and or double wide strollers (most do), and whether gift shops, snack shops or picnic areas are available so parents can plan accordingly. I love the lists of children's books on topic related to each entry and the special pages with simple graphics of animals or things that go, etc. These pages are designed for young children's use before, during or after their visits. For example, the first picture pages are of cars and trucks children might see on the way to their visit.

The final chapter includes a month-by-month "Things to Look For" section featuring holiday, special events and seasonal changes to watch for geared to Southern California. There are comprehensive listings of Fourth of July displays, Holiday lights, Farmer's Markets and more. These lists alone are a great resource whether you have young children or not.

The number and variety of places listed is truly impressive. Our family has been enjoying working our way through the book and finding many new favorites. I plan to give this book as a shower gift to all my pregnant friends and think the book is a great resource for parents of school age children and teachers also.

Whether you are from S. Cal or just visiting, this is the book for anyone wanting to have an enjoyable day with their children in Southern California. It is filled with ideas and facts about more than just the usual L.A. attractions. And it is geared toward the parent with young children and what is fun and appropriate for them. After I used it once, I don't go anywhere without this book. I just leave it in the car. You'll never be at a loss for places to go and the best way to see them. It is obvious that Dr. Holt did her research and has been to all of these places firsthand. There are no blind recommendations and her ideas for fun and free adventures really inspired me to get out there and explore with my children. Buy this book and you are on the road to years of hassle free outings with your kids.

Where was this book when I had my first child? This book is a great way to help plan fun outings with little kids, especially if you're new to parenting or Southern California. It's well organized, very thorough, easy to use, and formatted so that you can get an overview without getting bogged down in too much detail. I like how you can check out the events that occur by month, like the harvest festivals or holiday events. I highly recommend this book for new moms and moms who are looking for adventure and wonderful memories with their kids.

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and never knew about 90% of the places suggested in this book! In addition to the usual spots (Disneyland, parks, etc), the book suggests creative places like the schoolbus depot and construction sites (from a safe distance, of course!). "Baby's Day Out" really made me look at the world through my babies' eyes, where everything is a new and fascinating experience. For example, when I drive on the highway now, I point out the trucks passing by to my kids and they love watching the different sizes and colors. Before this book, I never would have thought about trucks on the highway as a field trip experience. This book is also very practical, providing all the necessary information, including Thomas Guide map pages, hours, prices, parking, everything! As an added bonus for me, Holt even tells me when they're enough room for my double stroller (with twin 18-month old boys, that is a big plus for me). I live in New Jersey now and bought this book while on vacation in Los Angeles. I wish they would write a book like this for us folks in the east coast.

This book is filled with fun things to do at any age and for anyone who has some time to spend in the L.A. area. We visit there often and sometimes we are looking for more to do than just the big theme parks. There are so many things that I wouldn't have known about, much less how and where to find them. A treasure for anyone, local or tourist.

Baby's Day Out in Southern California provides a wide range of age-appropriate excursions. Crammed to the bursting point with places to go, things to see and do, special events, ideas for activities and related reading, this excellent book is one of the most innovative, detailed and practical guides around.

Although the contents are arranged by type of place (i.e., museums, aquariums, farms and ponies, flying), it also offers site maps, making it easy to plan a day around a particular location or a specific interest. Listings include physical and Web addresses, phone numbers, directions, what to see and do, hours, parking, admission and membership information, related locations, nearby places and blank space for your own comments. Additional sections contain events by the month, packing lists and road games.

Its most valuable feature is its ability to look at potential places from a child's perspective. Among the 224 sites listed in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Santa Barbara/Ventura counties are fire stations, school bus yards, museums, libraries, gardens and nature centers, truck stops, farms, theaters and convention centers.

This is one of the best travel reference guides you could acquire if you have young children.

i just had to go out and buy this book after reading the reviews on it, my son is ten months old and just gone down for a nap, and i am reading through the book and getting so excited about all the places we can now go and see. We have only been in california 1 year and i am a new mom in a new place not knowing where to go and what to see for my toddler and this book is going to be just perfect and we want to go exploring now. i have a couple of other books but the activities are for children a little older but we need to explore now. Thank you to the parents who bothered to review this wonderful book, and I hope this review helps other. like someone mentioned most of the places are either free or very inexpensive. - its going to be perfect.

I have found this book very useful. When we have a free weekend and want to make sure our son has a fun time, we use this book as a guide to planning our day. I like this book so much that I often give it as a babyshower gift.

Maybe I felt this book was inferior because I bought another book with this one that was so fabulous. I just couldn't get into it. The suggestions for "outings" were pretty obvious to me and nothing really new. I even thought about passing it along to a friend with a new child but thought she might be offended by it because it really is so basic. Now it sits unused on my shelf, a waste of money and I can't even re-gift it.