Ten Reasons To Love The New Indoor Playground

This is a question I get asked quite frequently when I tell folks that I have a drama café. I guess that's what happens when you introduce a totally new idea to your town.
Indoor playgrounds have been around for a little while, and there are lots of of these in our city of Burlington and neighbouring cities of Oakville and Hamilton. They're the places that you take your kids indoor playground to when they wish to burn off their energy when it's too cold outside to go to the park, or whenever you don't want them to tear your house apart. They're the places where your children can run around through mazes, climb ropes, and slide down slides and let out all the crazy!
It was really at an indoor park the idea of Chickadee Family Cafe was born within my head. I'd taken my afterward two-and-a-half year old into a favorite indoor play area in our hometown Burlington and strove to keep him up as he ran down slides and through mazes. I crouched into tiny corners chasing my little guy around and came out utterly exhausted (go ahead, insert jokes about how out of shape I'm here).
As soon as I arose in the play structures, I looked at the other parents. Many were standing about trying to maintain a visual on their kids' whereabouts. Some were phoning their kids' titles, trusting that they were not stuck in a maze...'cause c'mon, we all know no grownup wants to need to climb all of the way up those structures to retrieve a crying kid. Mostly, they looked bored and exhausted. Perhaps their kids woke up at 6am too.
Don't get me wrong, there was lots of laughter and giggles. I had fun with my son, that had been the major purpose of going to the indoor playground, but in a place full of other moms and dads around my age with children around my son's age, there was a massive opportunity for building relationship with my community that I believed was completely missed. But the atmosphere did not actually lend itself to using an actual conversation.
I started to research what else was out there for some quality mother -- son time that didn't require me to crawl on my hands and knees and then squeeze my buttocks through a tunnel fit for a toddler. I found play cafes. Play cafes are comparatively new to Canada, but are around the united kingdom, Australia and the US for years. A drama café blends the requirements of both parents and children, fueling parents with carbonated drinks while providing ample play area for children to explore and have fun.
Play cafes take the community-focused approach of a café and include a play space for kids. In Chickadee Family Caféwe provide that coffee shop atmosphere which you're utilized to sipping your latte in as well as an enjoyable child-friendly environment filled with creative and toys based drama activities. When the play space is closed and the kiddos are in bed, our space can easily transform in a day assembly area for parent workshops, a couples' date night or a meeting place for mompreneurs.
While most indoor playgrounds either do not offer meals or function up fast food options or vending machine snacks, a play café is a full sized café with espresso based drinks along with a hearty menu of healthy snacks and lunch items.
A play café is a bridge between an early years' center and your regional trendy café. Most play cafes offer child and parent classes and parenting supports through workshops and support groups, many things you can look forward to at Chickadee Family Café.
I hope that helped to explain the difference between an indoor park and a play café.