My brother Steve got tired of working in the computer business, so he opened an indoor playground with a difference – this one’s for babies and toddlers.
He’s been talking about doing this for years, ever since his own kids were babies. He noticed that the problem with indoor playgrounds is that they’re all for older kids – like 6 and up. Babies and toddlers simply can’t handle the climbing structures in those places, and even if they could, they’d get “run over” by the older, bigger, faster, more agile kids scrambling around.
So his playground, Pee Wee Bees in San Antonio, TX, caters to the little kids, As far as I know, it’s the only one that does. And it’s more that just having toys for babies and toddlers: he’s really thought about how to make life easier for parents. A lot of these are seemingly obvious, and yet they’re overlooked by other places: like an automatic door (since parents of young kids are carrying diaper bags and/or pushing strollers); allowing the kids to start playing immediately instead of waiting while the parent pays and signs in; having two kinds of snacks: one that appeals to kids and one that appeals to adults; and of course having a padded floor (some indoor playgrounds I’ve seen have concrete floors; what are they thinking??)
Alas, I haven’t had a chance to visit Pee Wee Bees yet – it’s in San Antonio and I’m not. When I visit, I’ll need to check out his rolling ball sculpture,custom built by Matthew Gaulden (whose web site you should also check out: he clearly has one of the most fun jobs in the world).
So if you’re near San Antonio, check out Steve’s place. Tell him Bob sent you. 🙂
