When I heard toddler obstacle course I was pumped. Corner set aside for babies? Even better. In my head, I was thinking those inflatable obstacle courses which my son loves. The Toddler Obstacle Course event appears to rotate through various libraries in the area, so I assumed they had bought an inflatable and everyone shared.
I had a lot of assumptions, luckily my son did not.
We went to the Mounds View Library’s obstacle course day. Peering in the door I saw some plastic blocks and some rings on the floor. My husband gave me a disapproving look…I may have shared all my assumptions as fact.
Inside children probably all less than 4 yrs old moved around the room with their parents. There was a tunnel to crawl through, a low balance beam, some plastic cubes to walk on and some rings to toss. I am not sure what an infant corner was supposed to mean, but I saw nothing that would qualify.
Luckily, my son didn’t come with assumptions. He had fun with the tunnel and looked proud of himself for getting across the balance beam. The cube walk was a little to hard for him. Most the kids looked entertained.
I had told my husband we had to arrive right when it opened – I didn’t know why they thought an hour was enough play time for the wonder I had created in my head. In reality, I was encouraging us to move along after 20 minutes. We did make a pit stop to read some books.
While I won’t be going to another Toddle Obstacle Course event (like on May 10 in Blaine), if you are just looking for a place for your 1- 3 yr old to use up some energy it wasn’t a bad event – especially if you already frequent the library that is hosting.
After being disappointed with my first choice, I check my event log for something better. I had never tried a Home Depot event and hadn’t planned to go. I assumed it would be similar to the mall bunnies, only with a free photo. A free photo sounded good at the time.
I got my son pumped up to meet the Easter Bunny – he has been watching Pets and Peter Rabbit so he was excited to see if this was a “bad bad bunny” or a “nice bunny”.
Home Depot did a good job. There was a bunny in front of a green screen and you could pick a background. We arrived an hour before closing and the line was long. While my husband and daughter waited, my son and I did the scavenger hunt which was looking for balloons posted near items in the store (like measuring tape, vegetable seeds…). It gave us something to do while my husband waited in line. The older kids who understood what they were looking for seemed to be having fun. You collected a drawing of an egg at each station and when you had them all you could turn the papers in for an Easter egg with candy and a drawing slip.
The bunny looked rough, but he photographed surprisingly well. The pictures were free and they didn’t encourage (or give the option) to buy more. We put both our kids on the bunny’s lap so they printed us two of the same picture. It turned out pretty nice.
Then we went to get a hot dog and to do the kid’s craft. I know Home Depot does kid’s crafts often but for whatever reason I thought it wouldn’t be very fun for my son. I was wrong. We could pick between many wood crafts – he made a bug house. My son had a lot of fun hammering with daddy.
Home Depot Northtown did a fabulous job with their 100% free kids Easter event and I will be checking more of them out in the future.
We are looking forward to some of the egg hunts coming up over the next couple weekends and there are so many to pick from!
Keep Entertained 