At Imaginarium our goal is for children to immerse themselves into a safe and clean environment to engage in imaginative play AND active play. What is “imaginative play” and why is it different from regular play? Well, regular play is actually called “Active Play” and it’s actually quite different from “Imaginative Play!”. Active play can refer to playing games, like hide and seek or tag, sliding down the slides, running, and going for walks. Imaginative play, on the other hand, is exactly what it sounds like. It is creative, make believe play.
Imaginarium hosts a variety of play equipment that fosters BOTH imaginative AND active play. While we do have slides, climbing walls, air hockey tables, and lots of space for kids to just run around, we also have thoughtfully selected and designed play areas to encourage children to engage in play through their imaginations. Some of my favorite imaginative areas at Imaginarium are the big blue blocks area where kids can design and build anything they’d like from a boat, to a castle, to a robot, to a dinosaur!
I also love our tiny town with the sweet retro camper stocked with two play kitchens and play food, our fire house with ride on firetruck scooters, fire helmets and fire vests, and our train station with a lego station on the inside AND a wooden train table right next to it.
Did you know that imaginative play is SO important???? It encourages and develops strong social connections, it increases children’s executive functioning skills, AND it encourages healthy brain development. Check out this graphic for even more benefits of imaginative play!
So what makes US different at Imaginarium versus your regular old indoor playground?
- We put a focus on the WHOLE child by encouraging BOTH imaginative and active play.
- Our playground was THOUGHTFULLY designed by an educator with extensive knowledge in child development.
– Speaking of being thoughtfully designed, our playground is unique and different from any other playground you’ll find. We didn’t just put in an order for a boxed playground from China that tons of other playgrounds also have. Rather, each piece of equipment was chosen and designed with a purpose…right down to the colors we painted it. - While big plastic playgrounds or bounce house places can be fun, there are a few disadvantages
- (1) They don’t encourage imaginative play at all in their structure
- (2) Kids tend to end up with more injuries at places like this due to unsupervised active play getting out of hand or more dangerous equipment being used. Bounce houses in particular are known for the spread of staph infections and children ending up with broken bones. (Don’t take our word for it though–look it up and you’ll find a TON of information on this)
- (3) With ALL active play and no imaginative play, children can become bored of attending these playgrounds
- (4) The way these structures are set up leaves little room for variations or changes. At Imaginarium, with the focus on Imaginative play, the sky is the limit and many of our visitors come several times a week and still are able to find new things to do each time. We often are changing out or adding new equipment or features for our visitors to keep our playspace fresh and keep those imaginations engaged.
- (5) FINALLY, we promote childhood unplugged! SO often our kids end up in front of screens for school or for leisure. A healthy balance of non-screen play is so important for their physical and mental health. Which is why Imaginarium focuses on active and imaginative play as well as promotes children’s creative skills in our Pirate’s Cove craft bar.
If you haven’t come to play yet, be sure to check us out soon! We have Open Play sessions every day of the week except for Tuesdays.