Sunday, August 30, 2009

Pretend City! Children's Museum

What an amazing place Pretend City is. Upon arrival we were given a map to the city where each child can choose to visit, work and play. There was a doctor's office, Post office, Fire Station, Police Station, Gas Station, a cafe, a working farm, a theater, and many many more pint size buildings/offices inside this museum. It is definitley not your typical "look but don't touch" museum that we are all used to.

This imagination emporium stimulates creativity through pretend play using props right down to the pedal cars, street lights and stop signs.

My daughter gassed up her car, which was a pink cadillac, on the way to her pretend jobs at the cafe and the doctor's office. At the cafe, she took my order, made me an amazing pizza and served it right to my table. At the doctor's office she reviewed x-rays and tended to patients, giving them their shots and taking their vital signs. There was even a volunteer doctor on hand to help along with this pretend office.

After she worked at each job site she clocked out with her time card given to us upon our arrival. She was then able to take her time card to the ATM and received her pretend cash where she indulged herself shopping at the pretend Ralph's grocery store buying pretend eggs, milk and produce.

She was then ready for a little playtime at the beach equipped with sand, toys to build sand castles, beach chairs and umbrellas. After her exciting day at work and playing at the beach, she drove home along pretend streets stopping for pedestrians and all. Once she arrived to the pretend house fully equipped with a living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom she played house for quite some time.

Each station is set up with a telephone that can be used to call the other stations. My daughter called the cafe from the doctor's office to let them know that she would see them tomorrow when she returned to work.

There was a theater stage with lights and music. The backstage area was full of costumes ranging from butterfly wings to wedding dresses where your child can be the star they always wanted to be.

Pretend City is such a great experience because there are so many stations that appeal to different interest and age levels. We saw infants on up to older school aged children that were stimulated by what this place has to offer each child on their own learning and absorbtion level.

We will definitley be returning to this museum many times in the future. The regular admission price is $10 for adults and children. If you visit after 4pm the price is only $5 per person but that only allows an hour of play time which from my experience is not enough. They do have memberships ranging in price from $90 and up.

For more information about Pretend City click here.

Can't wait for our next trip to Pretend City!

Happy Pretending!

11 comments:

  1. Wow! Sounds great and like a ton of fun! I wish there was one around here!

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    Feel free to stop by and check out my fun giveaways! :)
    http://raisingmy4sons.com

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  2. This sounds like an awesome place! Do you know if there are any in any other parts of the country? My son would absolutely love this!

    I'm following you now! :)

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  3. Sounds like a great place for kids to be imaginative and creative. Thanks for the info!

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  4. Hi Angela,

    That is so cool of a picture of your little girl! Our family hopes to go there one day but are saving up for it in the year 2012.

    By the way thanks for following my site and I used to live in San Diego, Cal. and would frequent Orage County from time to time. You are so right that it is such a beautiful place to live.

    Friends,
    Sarah

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  5. Wow! What a fun place! It's so great to have places like that to spark the imagination. Stopping by from SITS... Happy SITS Day!

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  6. seems like an interesting place! i'd add this to my itinerary if i ever go to the US. stopping by from SITS!

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  7. It sounds like a wonderful place. I love the time card idea.

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  8. oh my gosh! What a great Idea!

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  9. We have a children's hands on museum similar to the Pretend City... I love the time card idea... it gives them a little more 'education' in the pretend city !! earning money to spend... clever!! =) We have outgrown those kind of places now... barely... =)

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  10. omg, that sounds like such a fun place! My daughter would just love that! I'm following you now by the way. I'm sure I can still find some great information on here even though I don't live there.

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  11. S-weet! This looks way fun!

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