Wednesday, November 6, 2013

chicago children's museum

we had a few fun kid-friendly activities lined up during our trip. one of the more convenient ones was the chicago children's museum, a stone throw away from where we stayed and from the reviews seemed like a great place to hang out for the afternoon...

so we decided to drop in on one of our first afternoons for a bit of indoor fun...


MAJOR MISTAKE!!!

it was so fabulous everything else paled in comparison. 


and we definitely saw the appeal!! there were different sections for different aged kids with varied interests and physicial capabilities. i reckon children from aged 6 mo - 8 would find some fun in this 3-level children museum. we were welcomed by the climb-y rope area that we REALLY wanted to try!!


as adults, we found ourselves intrigued by how well-thought of the themes were. there was a firetruck section (filled with dress up toys, a practice "crawling under the smoke" emergency room (which blake totally didn't get but he LOVED crawling around in the little dark room, fire hoses), there was a waterworks section for kids to play with scoops, and hoses (we avoided that at all costs!). and the rooms change quite a bit. in a few days that we were there, they hosted a bunch of activities, changed the rooms around and re-themed it, had face-painting, pet-a-zoo... so much fun!


a construction section with nuts and bolts for older kids to "build a city", a themed halloween section, a dinosaur excavation site...


the whole environment was very inviting and encourages creative playing. if you wanted to make a little "lesson" out of it, you definitely could! there were balancing toys, counting exhibitions, historical displays... and all that intellectual stuff. but given how young blake is... we didn't bother with the educational aspect and focused on the PLAY!!


they were running a little baby/toddler play session. not only were there tonnes of parents reading and talking and helping kids out, they also arranged for one of their museum staff, who was trained in early childhood learning to give parents ideas on how to play with kids. we kicked back and watch blake interact with other kids... 


and he is hilariously sociable. he'd crawl into everyone's business, plonks himself in the middle of someone's grandma's lap and listen to her read intently (in spanish). or squirm himself into someone else's play session and mirror what the older kids are doing. basically, a lot of interrupting, very little minding his own business but everyone was very sweet and welcoming.


after spending a good chunka time in the kiddy area, we went to the "treehouse trails". half expecting the rest of the museum to be for older kids, this corner was PERFECT for him. he toddled around climbing around, there was a mini slide, some tunnels, tonnes of balls to roll around and some mock veggie patch...


peekaboo! 

and because this guy has a really small "happy window", we fed him lunch and brought him to the "quiet room" which is such a cute idea. because the whole museum is so bright and loud, the quiet room is.. urm.. quiet and calm. and everything is slower pace. 

we took him in there with the intention of winding down, crawled into a teepee and got him to doze off. in our hearts, we were screaming "QUIET LUNCH AT MOOORTON'S!!!!" but i guess we were too enthusiastic and took him out of the teepee too soon...


"bye bye quiet lunch at morton's..." 

heh! anyway, we knew we'd be back because there were so many other rooms to check out. so we bundled him up and left.  the happy chappy fell asleep in his stroller shortly after we left anyway so yayy! :) best activity EVER!! 

i kinda wished we had a children's museum in singapore! its like a well thought of (and well-staffed) indoor playgym. i'd be happy to work on a project like that!! most kiddies living there buy a yearly membership which allows them (and their family) to visit as much as they like. and they organize reading sessions, themed parties (like halloween dress up parties this weekend!) all year round. such a happy place to be!

xx

4 comments:

  1. Wow! What an amazing museum! Blake looks like he totally enjoyed himself - as did his parents :)

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    1. i reckon your kids would enjoy it way more! :) right now its nothing more than a massive play gym to blake but so many fun ways to learn things! :)

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  2. I need a baby NAO so that I can go also! lol
    We're hoping to go see Sue the T-Rex this Sunday. Free entry!

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    1. worth having a baby just to go in to play! we enjoyed it as much!

      oooo that sounds fun!! i am still jealous of you guys! :(

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