Pretend Play

Eating lunch afterward

This past Monday we went on a field trip with one of the homeschool groups I have joined.  I honestly didn't do any research on the place that we were supposed to be going, other than to see that it was within 10 miles of our house.  There has not been anywhere close to the same number of field trips available that we were used to before we moved.  Each homeschool group is different, and the biggest one we joined has actually only had field trips geared towards Kindergarteners.  Luckily, as with most homeschool groups, siblings of all ages are welcome to come to any field trips.  Normally I'm pretty picky about what field trips we go on because even though they technically count as a school day, we get no actual school work done on those days.  So I'm not wanting to have a field trip every week.  But because we still don't really know anything to do in this area and haven't had a chance to get to know any homeschooling families I want to go on as many group trips as possible to get to know some other families.  Which is why I didn't really care where we were going for this particular trip. 


Turns out that where we were going was called Pretend Play--and it was awesome!  I've seen places like this before, but we haven't been to one since #3 was a baby.  It is just a spot in a strip mall, but inside they have made several "pretend" stations.  This one happened to have

a baby/house area,

 a vet clinic,

a dress-up area,

a firehouse, a dirt/construction area,

 a train station, a stage and costumes, a castle with a slide, an entire table of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, a glow in the dark space station, a craft room,

a puppet show,

 a reading nook, a kitchen, a restaurant and a grocery store. 

And my girls loved all of it!  They even had an area for babies under 2 that I let #4 go in for a few minutes when she was getting overwhelmed from too many people. 

It really was one of the best places like this I've seen.  #1 and #2 didn't enjoy it quite as much as the little girls just because there wasn't really anyone else their age there, but they kept good attitudes about it and found enough stuff to keep themselves occupied. 

Overall, it was a great couple of hours for the girls, we met a few new families, and best of all, I got information for another homeschooling group that I've already contacted and signed up for another field trip to go strawberry picking with.  This makes my third group.  I will eventually find one that fits our family!