Kids Town In Wheaton

Place: Kids Town

Location: 1141 E Butterfield Rd, Wheaton (In the shopping plaza behind the Seven-Eleven.

Type of Place: Make believe village.

Secret: Remember to have your kids wear socks... but if you forget, they have brand new socks of every size, with Disney characters on them, for sale for two dollars a pair.

Appropriate ages: Its geared towards the six and under crowd, but older kids who like pretend play will enjoy it too!
Cost: $10.00 for kids over one year. Adults and infants under one are free.

Today was a dreary, rainy day, about the millionth one in a row! Pufferfish and I were in search of a new indoor place to go have some fun. We decided to check out Kids Town in Wheaton! It is a little more expensive than the make believe village we usually go to, Kiddie Klub Lane, but I figured we could spare the money this week.
I hadn't realized that they had a no-shoe policy (it keeps the floor cleaner for crawlers) so I had let Pufferfish wear her bare feet and sandals. Luckily, the people at Kids Town had an entire rack of socks in every size! It was an extra two bucks, but it was way better than having to drive all the way home to get socks, or even trying to find a near by store to get socks from. Pufferfish was excited to be the owner of brand new socks with Cinderella on them!

Inside, there were lots of little rooms decorated with different themes. Pufferfish was so excited to run from room to room! Her very favorite room was the one that had a tea set, beauty salon, diaper changing station, and lots of dolls. She can be a real girly girl sometimes!

There was also a police station...

...with a jail,

a little kitchen with a refrigerator, sink, stove, washing machine and dryer...

(the washer and dryer were cool because if you put doll clothes in and turned the cranks, the clothes spun around inside like in real life!)

a veterinarian's office...

...with live goldfish,

a construction zone with all different types of building blocks, trucks and tools,

a well-stocked library with kid-sized couches (there was also a train table in the library, for you Thomas fans out there!)

gas pumps to fill up your cars with,

a dance club with kid-friendly music videos playing on a TV screen and colorful strobe lights bouncing around everywhere,

a climbing structure with tunnels and a slide,

and way more!

Pufferfish is still in a stage where, when we go out places, she wants me to be right there with her at all times. But if you have kids who are old enough, and content enough, to play in your line of sight without you directly interacting with them at all times, there is a parent lounge with magazines and comfy chairs. Its right out in the open, so parents can sit there and relax while supervising their children. The place is small enough that you are able to see where your children are at all times!
I didn't get a picture of it, but there is also a special area for babies. It is matted, and blocked off from the rest of the room by low walls, so crawlers can move around on the floor safely without being trampled by the bigger kids! There are lots of soft toys and other baby things in there. They even have bouncy seats and exersaucers for babies to hang out in!

The one thing I wasn't as impressed with was the art room. I love doing arts and crafts, so I'm always excited to hear about a place that includes an art room! But all this art room included was a few coloring pages, and some cups full of broken crayons and dried-up markers. It would have been nice to see some supplies available for open-ended art projects. I realize they might not want to leave out messy things like paints for kids to use on their own. But craft sticks, pompoms, magazines, feathers, googly eyes, and even "garbage" like empty cereal boxes and coffee containers, could easily spark kids' creativity, and messes could easily be swept up.

All in all, though, Kids Town was a very cool place! I probably won't be able to afford it all the time, but I know Pufferfish will love it if I take her there once in a while for a special day!

Kiddie Klub Lane

(Cross-posted from Slow Down, Gym Shoe)

Place: Kiddie Klub Lane

Type of place: Indoor Make-Believe Play

Location: 1300 S. Main St, Lombard, IL (kitty-corner from the Jewel, in the small plaza east of XSport and Hobby Lobby)

Cost: $8 per child. (Grown ups are free!)

Secret: If you arrange for your playgroup to come here, they offer discounted admission, and they will arrange an art project and a sing-along for your group! Michael will play the guitar and bring out musical instruments for the kids to play along!

Appropriate ages: Toddlers and preschoolers. (Pufferfish, who is almost 3, loves it! Little Bear loves it too, but she's almost 7, and is usually one of the biggest and oldest kids there.)

Pufferfish and I tried out a new place that just opened in Lombard, called Kiddie Klub Lane. We spent the whole day inside yesterday, and the day before that we only went to the library, so I felt like we needed something special to brighten our week! This place, Kiddie Klub Lane, is owned by a couple with four kids of their own. They wanted to create a fun place for toddlers and preschoolers. The little village of playhouse structures (which, by the way, were built by the same company who built the backyard playhouses for Jon And Kate) are the perfect sizes for little munchkins! Pufferfish absolutely loved this place! She didn't want to leave!

The people who own it are really cool, and they are full of plans for their new business, including adding lights to the insides of the playhouses, having art and music days, and running a mom and toddler playgroup. They are open to suggestions, too, so it sort of feels like, if you go there now, you're sort of on the cusp of something great!

I took a few pictures of Pufferfish while we were there. Wanna see? Sure you do!

Me: "Look, Pufferfish, a puppet show!"

Pufferfish: "Where's the remote?"



Pufferfish is off to fight a fire!



Pufferfish loved this huge dalmation! (We dressed him in the firefighter's outfit!)



Pufferfish fixes a meal in the diner!



Pufferfish plays with the cash register at the general store.



Pufferfish takes a ride in her pink cadillac!



This is not a sponsored post in any way... but I really do appreciate a family that has found a way to start their own business doing something they truly enjoy, while also spreading joy to other families! They are living the dream. So make sure you check this place out! (You can see their website here!)