We recently took Blogger Toddler to Pasadena's Kidspace museum, and came away impressed at the amount of activities geared toward the toddler set.
Kidspace is mostly geared toward the 4-year-old to 8-year-old child, who can scale the "Raindrop and Wisteria Climbers" (platforms sculpted into the form of raindops and a wisteria vine that soar 35 feet into the air); participate in a "Nature exchange," in which kids can bring samples of rocks, plant life or other objects and trade them for shells and other items and artifacts; or uncover plant and animal fossils via "The Dig."
There's also the "Bug Diner," which utilizes tried-and-true gross-out techniques to interest kids in the insect world.
And Kidspace's trike tracks allow kids to pedal around a course and adhere to traffic signs.
We met up with Evan's galpal Sophia (and Sophia's parents, natch) for our first Kidspace visit last month. The new location -- at the former Fannie Morrison Horticultural Center in Pasadena's Brookside Park (near the Rose Bowl) -- officially opened in the fall of 2004, and two years later still looks brand new.
Evan and Sophia enjoyed running around the interactive garden behind the museum, which includes a cave, faux tree roots for kids to climb, a wildlife pond and more. For the toddlers, the museum also offers an indoors Early Childhood Learning Center (think blocks, an indoor slide, and other soft playthings) and the outdoor "Kirby’s Kids Corner."
Admission is $8 for adults and kids (babies under 1 are free); bring your KCRW card and it's $6. The museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; The Nestlé Café by Wolfgang Puck is open from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. weekdays, and from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. on weekends and holidays.
Do what we did and bring a picnic lunch to eat under the trees at Brookside Park before going inside. The park itself has a nice play area for kids -- and it's free.
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