Iowa Children's Museum

Calling all fellow Iowan moms! If you have not visited the Iowa Children's Museum in Coralville, Iowa then you really are missing out. The museum is in the Coralville Mall outside of Iowa City, IA off of I-80. Admission is $6 for ages 1-59 and $5 for seniors 60+. Infants under 1 are FREE. Also, the last Friday of every month is FREE admission as part of Family Fun Night in the mall. If you decide you love the museum as much as we do, get the Family Pass. It is $100/family (includes 2 adults and all children) and comes with several discount offers. So for our family of 4 (with our baby under age of 1) we simply must go 6 times a year to meet that price. That is only 1 time every other month, which is a great value!

Regular admission or the family pass covers a wide variety of activities for children of all ages. Some of the activities kids can do are:

• See real fish and turtles


• Put on their own puppet show with TONS of puppets


• Build with legos and blocks


• Visit the construction room


• Go down slides upstairs or through tunnels


• Plant and harvest their own "crops" in the farm room


• Visit the motion room with all things related to physics


• Play at the Thomas the Train table


• Visit the special exhibit room that changes annually


• Read books or listen to stories in the reading area


• See several shows that vary month by month


• Do MANY kinds of arts and crafts projects


• Build their own "pizza" in the pizza eatery


• Grocery "shop" in the mini grocery shopping center


• Pretend to be a doctor, dentist, or ambulance driver at the health center


• And much much more!

To learn more visit http://www.theicm.org/ Click on the membership tab to see all the details about the family pass. Also note that the children museum is not open on Mondays and has special hours that are different from the rest of the mall on the other days.

Creative Play

One thing my son loves to do is to dress up and play pretend. We have lots of costumes and outfits that he likes to try on during pretend time. Creative and pretend play can be really great for toddlers and preschoolers because it gives them the chance use all the new vocabulary and things they are learning. It doesn't have to be very expensive either. Here are a couple ideas you can use to 'build' your pretend play resources at home for your little boy or girl:

1. Start a pretend toy box or bin. Putting all pretend toys and outfits in place will help your child be creative easier.
   
2. Don't throw out old Halloween costumes. Save them and add them to your pretend play bin. If your child has outgrown it, donate it or give it to a friend with smaller children so they can enjoy pretending too.
   
3. Buy Halloween costumes on sale. Starting around the last week of October, Halloween costumes go on clearance since stores want to get rid of all those extra costumes taking up space. Often prices are slashed quite a bit and you can find very inexpensive finds this way. Year-round you might also find deals by searching online.
   
4. Use things from around the house. Old aprons, worn out Tupperware, extra measuring spoons, old spade and gloves, and even shoes you no longer wear yourself can become great sources of inspiration. Common things around the house can be great for getting children to explore new ideas and new things.
   
5. Make your own costumes. This can be as simple as taking an old undershirt or a shirt that you can't get a stain out of and letting your child make their own masterpiece from it. You can let them color on it with markers, tie dye it, or even buy patches or cut out felt pieces and help them attach them. So if your child likes dalmatians, cut out little black pieces of felt or even sew on black buttons.
   
6. Don't forget the accessories. Have cheap jewelry you no longer wear? Or broken watches? Things like old purses, ties, hats, shoes, jewelry, or even spare change for older children, can help make creative play more interesting and fun for kids. Kids like to be like mom and dad and what better way to do that than to dress up like mom and dad! Just don't be surprised if your child decides to be your pint-size double after that!
7. Check out your local party supply stores. We were able to find lots of toy badges and party hats for super cheap that doubled as great dress up costumes. Even small finds like these can be great for kids.
8. Play with your kids! Dress up is even more fun with a friend. Get involved by dressing up with your child and making up detailed stories about what a fire fighter or a tiger does. Make it an adventure for your child by encouraging all kinds of creativity!
   

Happy Playtime!
--The Unique Mom