Rainy Day Activities

A new play space and café for kids and their parents has opened in downtown San Anselmo! Playdate Café is a kid-friendly café with a play area where kids can play in while their parents or caregivers get a well-deserved break. The 1,300-square-foot fenced play area is suitable for kids ages 0–6 years, and features a two-story ship, a medieval castle with kitchen and puppet theatre, and a climbing mountain with a slide. They also have a soft play area for infants and crawlers. There will be a variety of weekly classes and special events for the entire family.

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I think many moms will agree that there’s no better Mother’s Day gift than a massage or spa package. I know that’s what I want, especially after working and chasing two small children around all week, every week. Fortunately, there are a number of places in Marin for busy moms to relax and take some time out to be pampered. Go ahead, you’re worth it…

 

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If you’re looking for something fun to do with your 0–6 year old on a rainy or cold day, you’ll definitely need to check out the new open play space in Novato called Playtime Safari. I took the kids on one of the many rainy days a couple weeks ago and we all had a blast. They had a great time playing and running around the open room and I had a great time chatting with the other moms and was able to watch them play at all times. The wide-open, 4,000 square-foot space offers a wide variety of things for kids to do. Some of the activities include an 8-foot-long train table, a gated baby and infant play area, an animal costume dress-up area, a bubble machine, a play kitchen, tents to crawl through, a book corner, a play store, musical instruments, art, a chalk table, and much more.

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With small children bouncing off the walls at home on a rainy day, I’m always looking for places to go to burn off all that energy. Here are a few ideas for rainy day drop-in activites:

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Now that the rain is upon us, I’ve been looking for fun things for the kids to do inside, especially something that helps with their cognitive and fine motor skills. Both of my kids love the challenge of a puzzle, so I bought them each a Djeco puzzle from Oompa Toys, an online retailer of high quality European and natural toys for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.
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After a few days of rain and being cooped up inside, my two kids are usually bouncing off the bed like the eight little monkeys. I’m always looking for something active to do indoors, so the kids can burn off a little energy. Gymboree, in the Strawberry shopping center in Mill Valley is one of my children’s favorites. Decorated in bright primary colors, the Strawberry Gymboree is really appealing to kids, and has a variety of obstacles, slides, balls, and other things to play with. They also offer a variety of classes for babies to kids 5 years of age. Some of the classes offered include instructed play classes, music, art, yoga and fitness fun. They also have open "PlayGym" time for free play on Wednesdays from 4:30–6:30 pm, Fridays 2:30–4:30 pm, and Saturdays 9:00 am to noon. This is a lot of fun and perfect solution to burn some extra energy on a rainy day. Classes can be purchased one at a time or as a package.

For those of us up in the northern Marin, there is Redwood Empire Gymnastics in Petaluma. Redwood Empire Gymnastics is a great facility that offers "open" play times for ages 1–3 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9–9:45 am for a $9.00 drop-in fee. They also offer "open" play times on Wednesday at 11:30 am to 12:15 pm and Friday from 11:45 am–12:30 pm, and for all North Bay mother’s club members (any club, pretty much) they offer a discounted rate of $6.00 on these two days only. Follow the links for more information.

If you have any suggestions for other places to go have fun on a rainy day, please let us know by logging in and clicking on the "comments" link under the article.