New Orleans is our classroom
GiftEd
A New Orleans learning program for children ages 5–11
GiftEd creates hands-on cultural learning experiences where children explore New Orleans, make things with their hands, and discover the gifts already within them.
We learn through our city's music, food, history, neighborhoods, and community — not from a screen, and not from a textbook alone. We gather, we explore, and we make something real to take home.
GiftEd · New Orleans
What GiftEd is
GiftEd is a place-based learning program, built in New Orleans, for New Orleans children and families.
Every experience starts with the place we live. A shotgun house is not just a house — it is a story about family, neighbors, and how a street holds together. A recipe is not just food — it is history you can taste. A song is not just music — it is how our city remembers.
Children ages 5–11 learn by doing: building, painting, planting, mixing, listening, and sharing. GiftEd is for families, homeschool groups, schools, libraries, and community spaces that want learning to feel alive, local, and connected.
GiftEd is a program of Petit Tours LLC.
GiftEd · New Orleans
Gather. Explore. Return.
Every GiftEd session follows the same rhythm — our Hidden Classroom framework:
1. Gather
We come together, hear a story or a question, and get curious together. This is where we belong first, before we begin.
2. Explore
We look closely at New Orleans — an object, a place, a song, a food, a tradition, or a neighborhood story. Children touch, listen, ask questions, and explore with their hands.
3. Return
We make something, share what we made, and carry it home. Every child leaves with something they created and a story they can tell about it.
Most GiftEd program sessions are about 90 minutes for children ages 5–11.
GiftEd · New Orleans
Homeschool Days
GiftEd Homeschool Days bring the program to homeschool families who want cultural learning they do not have to build alone.
- Ages 5–11
- About 90 minutes per session
- Hands-on making in every session
- Rooted in New Orleans music, food, history, and neighborhoods
- $75 per child per experience
- GiftEd is a Louisiana GATOR approved provider
To ask about Homeschool Days: Email petittours@gmail.com with your child's age, how many children, and what you are interested in.
Our signature session
Build Our Block
Build Our Block: A Shotgun House Community
New Orleans is full of shotgun houses — long, narrow, colorful, and close enough that neighbors know each other. In Build Our Block, each child builds and decorates their own little shotgun house, and together the group builds a whole street.
Along the way, children explore what makes a neighborhood a community: the porches where people sit, the houses where families live, and the street they all share.
It is building, art, local history, and belonging — all in one 90-minute session.
Build Our Block is available for a small test group, a homeschool group, a library, or a school. Email to ask about bringing it to your group.
GiftEd · New Orleans
What children make and explore
GiftEd is not one activity. Children might:
- Build Our Block — little shotgun houses that become one community street
- Lantern Makers — making light to carry home
- New Orleans Kitchen — pretend play, recipe cards, and food stories
- Music Makers — simple instruments and a mini second line
- Clay Creations — shaping something with their hands
- Garden Planting — planting and learning how things grow
- Potion Jars — mixing, colors, and imagination, like at our Boo Bar
Sessions are guided by Stacy, and every child makes something and takes it home.
GiftEd · New Orleans
For schools, libraries, and homeschool groups
Invite GiftEd to your space.
GiftEd works best where families already gather — a library room, a school classroom, a homeschool co-op, or a community space. If you have a small group of children ages 5–11 and a place to gather, we can explore a session together.
I am currently looking for a library, school, or homeschool group to test Build Our Block with a small group.
To invite GiftEd: Email petittours@gmail.com with your group name, location in the New Orleans area, the ages and approximate number of children, and which session you are thinking of.
GiftEd · New Orleans
About Stacy
Hi, I'm Stacy Jones, founder of GiftEd and owner of Petit Tours LLC.
My background is in early childhood education, community engagement, and program coordination, including work as a Waldorf nursery teacher. I started GiftEd because I believe learning happens everywhere, and every child is gifted — not just on a test.
GiftEd is my way of helping build a village for families: a place where children know their city, know they belong, and know what their hands can make.
Also available by request
GiftEd at Events
GiftEd is a learning program first. It is also available, by request, as a guided children's activity space for gatherings — so children have something meaningful to make and do while families celebrate or come together.
That includes birthdays, weddings, funeral repasses, family reunions, and other family and community events. Pricing for weddings, repasses, reunions, and other events is by event — please email about your date and type of event.
Birthday parties
- $225 for 60 minutes, for up to 10 children ages 5–11
- Plus $15 per additional child, up to a maximum of 20 children
- So 15 children is $300, and 20 children is $375
- One guided GiftEd activity, chosen in advance — it does not have to be potions
- All materials, setup, and cleanup of the activity space included
- Every child makes something and takes it home
- Parents and guardians stay at the party
To check a birthday or event date: Email petittours@gmail.com with your date, location in the New Orleans area, the child's age, about how many children, and which activity or type of event you are thinking of. I will reply by email with availability.
Tell us about your event
Share your date, location, and activity ideas. Stacy will reply with availability and pricing. A $50 deposit reserves your date after availability is confirmed and is applied to your total.
GiftEd · New Orleans
Contact
Questions, invitations, and booking inquiries:
Email: petittours@gmail.com Program: GiftEd — Petit Tours LLC, New Orleans, Louisiana Ages: 5–11 Framework: Gather, Explore, Return
Learning happens everywhere. Every child is gifted. Come gather, explore, and make something with us.