Josephine, the little kid next door, has just been showing me photos of her latest weekend with her grandparents, courtesy of grandma’s phone (grandma was inside, presumably have a well-deserved sit down). A lot of the photos showed Josephine looking stoked amidst a colourful array of large-scale play equipment.
“Where’s that?” I asked her. “It’s at the magic cat’s house,” she replied. Well, there you go. Very informative. Wherever it is, it looks like a fair bit of fun. I’d just started to wonder if grown-ups could get in on the giant slide action, when Josephine swiped to a photo of grandpa neck-deep in a ball pit, then to grandma waving from inside a colourful plastic tunnel. Question answered.
I mean, presumably you’d need to be accompanying a child in order to validly rock up to one of these places… anyone need a babysitter? I’m serious, by the way – I am actually trained in childcare, even though I don’t work in that field anymore, and I know all the tricks for entertaining a kid.
Well, maybe not all of them. I wish I’d known then about these kinds of indoor activities for kids. Carrum Downs has always had a decent selection of outdoor play equipment, but there were times when they didn’t cut it come winter (or high summer, for that matter). Indoor play centres are a fantastic back-up concept, or just something different.
Josephine told me it was nearly her birthday, to which her mum stuck her head over the fence to throw in that we’re still a month of the big event. Mum and I then got to talking about her kids party venue ideas. Carrum Downs isn’t exactly overflowing with fairytale scenery – her words – so she was thinking of opting for somewhere like said indoor play centre.
Seems like a decent solution to me. It’s still going to be cold in a month – probably raining, too – and if Josephine’s playmates are anything like her, I wouldn’t want them cooped up in my living room – even if grandma and grandpa are on hand to get amongst it.