This is the start of a new feature I’m doing on my blog – Wednesday Wanderings. Each Wednesday I will post (complete with pictures!) about a place that I have been that was great. It won’t necessarily be a place to take kids (if I find a romantic getaway with Papai, I’ll definitely let you know about it!).
This week’s wanderings took us to
in Little Rock.
The Wonder Place is basically like a great big play-based preschool... minus the ECE teachers. It’s limited to children 8 and under, so you don’t have to worry about big kids being bullies or too rowdy. They have a designated place for little tykes, too (or “little wonders” I think they call them) – i.e. toddlers, 2 and under.
There is a big sand trough, and multi-leveled water basins, complete with fun toys to explore with. They have a replica “River Market” complete with shopping and a cafe! There are blocks, balls, cars, trains, trucks, dolls with houses, a vet station, a theater with all manner of dress up and puppets. Tables with crayons and paper (I think the craft is different each day, though), a loft, tunnels, pipes that vacuum up scarves and balls and spit them out random directions.
We stayed for nearly four hours, and we plan on returning! I think that you could save your money and take your kids here for preschool. But then, I’m a believer in play-based preschool.
Vincente being a vet – he was obsessed with giving all the animals their shots. Funny, because he’s never had a shot...
The cost isn’t too bad – and you can get a year pass for an adult and a child for $250 – and add additional children for $50/each. When you think about what you’d be paying to send your child to preschool, I think that’s a pretty good bargain! They even have a snack area and you can bring your own snacks/sack lunches (or buy a health snack from their vending machines – 100% juice, bottled water, animal crackers, goldfish – that type of thing).
We bought a 20 visit punch card for $100 (which we got to use between my mom, my SIL and her twins, and me and my two kids). That makes it out to be $5 a visit. Pretty decent, if you ask me. Not to mention it’s inside. We actually decided to go here because there was a heat advisory for Friday (temps in the 100’s with the heat index around 110 – yikes!). So instead of hitting up Garvin Gardens in Hot Springs, we checked out The Wonder Place – with much success!
Hopefully we’ll get down to Garvin Gardens, and I’ll do a feature on them as well! 
Ratings:
Value - 
At $7/visit ($5 with a punch card) it’s a pretty great value for a fun indoor place for the kids (especially in the summer!). The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because I thought it would be neat to have little plaques by the toys giving parents ideas of how to have “play-based” learning experience with their child. Just in case they don’t know how to encourage learning in play.
It gets three stars because it’s kind of hidden behind a lot of stuff. You have to know it’s there if you want to go. Nothing you can see from the road, you know what I mean? But I guess that’s good – it keeps it pretty quiet. I’d just hate for a place like this to go out of business due to lack of customers because no one knows they are there!
Five stars because if I had a big playroom, it would have all this stuff in it. Well designed and just lots of fun. We are definitely going back.
I remember going there with the twins about a year ago. SO fun! Reminded me of the old Children's Museum...only MUCH cooler. Pretty much all the toys you ever dreamed of having when you were a kid.
ReplyDeleteHave you gone to the Discovery Gateway in Salt Lake? That's probably the closest in Utah to what you are describing. Emily and I went a couple of months ago and the kids LOVED it. None of them wanted to leave :) I think that I'm going to get a half year membership to it (65 dollars and you can bring 4 people every time--or something--not sure if they have to be family or not...). That way I can go October through April when it's tough to find things to do (even if I have to drive from Provo) in the winter. If you guys are in Salt Lake we'd love to go together sometime next fall/winter!
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