If your toddler is going through a snake phase, or a frog phase, or an everything-that-crawls phase, the mall has your Tuesday covered. Mall of America's Toddler Tuesdays® LIVE: RAD Zoo runs Tuesday, Oct. 13, from 10 a.m. to noon in the Huntington® Bank Rotunda. The mall calls it an educational and interactive session with live reptiles and amphibians.
There are 2 shows, at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. The mall's event page doesn't mention registration, so plan on walking up. If your kid is the type who melts down at 10:45, the 11 o'clock show gives you a second shot.
On cost: the event page doesn't list a price, but the mall bills the LIVE events it holds in the Rotunda on the second Tuesday of each month as free, and Oct. 13 is this month's second Tuesday. The rest of the Toddler Tuesdays program runs every week with deals for little kids and their grown-ups. Those include a $15.99-plus-tax Nickelodeon Universe wristband for select junior and family rides that's good for 5 hours from your first ride, plus kids-eat-free deals at several restaurants when you buy an adult meal. The restaurant deals are for kids 6 and under unless a restaurant says otherwise.
The animals come from RAD Zoo, short for Reptile & Amphibian Discovery Zoo. These days it's strictly a road show. The zoo closed its public facility at the Medford Outlet mall on Jan. 1, 2025, adopted out some of its animals and sent its venomous snakes and crocodilians to other zoological institutions. It kept many animals for its traveling programs.
Those programs now go to preschools, daycares, schools, birthday parties, senior centers and other events. The zoo says its presenters bring amphibians, turtles, lizards and snakes, and one of them brings a small alligator. At the end, kids who want to can touch a reptile. The mall hasn't said which animals are coming to Bloomington, so don't promise anyone an alligator.
One tip: the Rotunda is wide open, so get there early if you want your kid close enough to see the animals.
