This is a question I get asked very often when I tell people that I own a drama café. "Is that like a indoor soft play equipment gym with slides and rock climbing structures and trampolines?" I guess that is what happens when you introduce an entirely new concept to your city.
Indoor playgrounds have existed for a while, and there are many of these in our city of Burlington and neighbouring cities of Oakville and Hamilton. They're the places you take your children to when they want to burn off their energy when it's too cold out to visit the playground, or whenever you don't need them to tear your house apart. They're the places where your kids can run throughout mazes, climb ropes, and slide down slides and let out all of the mad!
It was really at an indoor playground that the idea of Chickadee Family Cafe was born in my mind. I'd taken my afterward two-and-a-half year old into a favorite indoor play space in our hometown Burlington and tried to keep him up as he ran down slides and through mazes. I crouched into tiny corners chasing my little man around and came out completely exhausted (proceed, insert jokes about how out of shape I am here).
As soon as I emerged in the drama structures, I looked at the other parents. Many were standing about trying to maintain a visual in their own kids' whereabouts. Some were phoning their kids' names, trusting that they were not stuck in a maze...'trigger c am on, most of us know no adult wants to have to climb all the way up those structures to retrieve a crying child. Mostly, they looked bored and exhausted. Perhaps their kids woke up at 6am too.
I had fun with my son, which had been the main purpose of visiting the indoor playground, but at a place full of other moms and dads around my age with kids around my son's age, there was a massive opportunity for building relationship with my community that I believed was completely missed. As a new resident of Burlington I wished to connect with other parents. However, the atmosphere didn't actually lend itself to having an actual conversation.
I began to research what else was out there for some superior mommy -- son time that didn't require me to crawl on my hands and knees and then squeeze my buttocks through a tunnel match for a toddler. I discovered play cafes. Play cafes are relatively new to Canada, but are around the united kingdom, Australia and the US for several years. A drama café combines the needs of both parents and children, fueling parents with carbonated drinks while supplying ample play area for kids to explore and have fun.
Play cafes take the community-focused way of a café and incorporate a play space for children. At Chickadee Family Café, we supply that coffee shop atmosphere which you are used to sipping your latte in as well as an enjoyable child-friendly environment filled with toys and imaginative based drama activities. Once the play area is closed along with the kiddos are in bed, our distance can quickly transform in an evening assembly area for parent workshops, a couples' date night or a meeting location for mompreneurs.
While most indoor playgrounds either don't provide meals or function up fast food choices or vending machine snacks, a play café is a full sized café with espresso based beverages along with a hearty menu of healthy snacks and lunch items.
A play café is a bridge between an early years' centre and your regional trendy café.
I hope that helped to explain the gap between an indoor park and a drama café.