Alternative to soft play?

[StephieAnne]

Hi Ladies,

Be gentle with me, I'm new to Mumsnet! I've been thinking about starting a business running a play centre focusing on imaginative play, as an alternative to soft play centres. I'm just starting to look into this seriously, and I thought this was the best place to start my research!

I'd be hoping to create a centre where children can enjoy imagination based free play, so there would be plenty of standard toys (toy kitchen, shop etc) but also organised imaginative play activities for parents and toddlers to take part in together.

At the moment, I'm being a little vague, I'll admit. First of all I'd just like to gauge what people think of the idea of a centre focused on imaginative play. Would it be something you would like to do with your child? Would you be interested in alternatives to soft play? Do you think there is a market for this?

I'd appreciate any input at all! Please, ask any questions that come to mind! As you can see, I've just started thinking about this, so I need to get to grips with how feasible it is.

I think from your initial description it sounds rather like a toddler drop-in. What would be different?

Sounds like a drop in toddler group?

Hi Stephie, I think it sounds great. Any alternative to soft play would be more than welcome! We sometimes go here www.discover.org.uk - is this the sort of thing you mean?

We visited an amazing place whilst in holiday in America....
children's museum in appleton

They had a huge area all set out like a small town, with supermarket, diner, garage, hairdressers, etc etc.

On the next floor they had a huge water play area, and pottery painting cafe plus small soft play.

It was really good. A friend has visited something similar near Dublin

I think soft play centres suceed because they offer something v few people have at home - lots of space to run around, jump about, climb, shout and generally let off steam, particularly on a wet day. Imaginative play - i'm guessing dressing up, role play, home corner, shop - kind of thing - is much easier to do at home. As others have said it is the basis of many toddler groups anyway. It's a nice idea, but I am not sure there would be a market for it.

The science museum in Toronto has an amazing space for kids however looking at their website it cost $47 000 000 dollars!

Have you ever been to the think tank in birmingham? they have this amazing childs city like area, with a garden, hospital, roads, cafe, shopsetc... it's fantastic mini city with lots of toys and dress up dolls - I think what you describe is something like this? very different to a toddler drop in because the settings are much bigger and more fun!

Wow, thanks for your quick responses!

My thoughts are to regularly change the whole atmosphere of the space according to a theme, and have guided activities around those. It would be a much more dedicated service than a general drop in. Hopefully that would make it a little more exciting than the average drop-in group.

The story centre is much more like I had in mind, obviously on a smaller scale to begin with! I'll look into paying it a visit, any more recommendations on similar places would be gratefully appreciated!

Thanks for all your help, these are the questions I need to think about! It's proving a little difficult to describe what it is I have in my head.

someone beat me to it, Childrens musuems in the US are fabbo and sound like what you have in mind, they are great fun and educational,
www.childrensmuseumsect.org/