Mothers Day

Happy late late (better late than never, right?) Mothers Day to all you beautiful women out there!

We enjoyed a nice night down the south coast and took our daughter to the Early Learning Museum at the University of Wollongong. I wish there were more places around Sydney like the Early Learning Museum – it was awesome. If you’re from NSW, Australia, I’d definitely reccomend it.

There was a massive pirate ship (which was for older kids I think) that the kids can climb and hide in. It was pretty cool.

There was a mysterious looking cave that we intended to go in but our toddler had other plans and headed over to the food market. The market was my favourite part of the centre – it has aisles with food and trolleys or baskets that the kids can use to get their food. Then when we were ready to check out, off to the counter where a little boy about 4 was waiting at the cash register. “Put your food up here please” he asked my toddler, so I showed her what to do with a carrot, then she started doing it herself with the rest of the things in the trolley. The boy was quite a character. He measured the weight and entered the amounts into the cash register (which was also real) and placed them into reusable bags. “Okay now that comes to a total of…free” he told us while putting his hand out. “Do you have any money?” He asked us. I felt like I was in a real shop and realised I hadn’t a dollar, embarrassed I said “sorry I don’t..” to which he told me “if you don’t have money you just pretend”. Ohhhhh. It made me realise I hadn’t played pretend games in a long long time.

After that my partner took our daughter over to the craft area and they made me a card. He said they didn’t write anything in the card because “no words describe how much we appreciate and love you. Her drawing is how she tells you”. My heart melted into the ground. I love the card.

Then our little miss spotted a wall with sensory games on it. I thought it was perfect for our daughter.

There were a few other areas that we visited before our daughter got a bit exhausted and needed a nap: the music corner, the crawling area with soft blocks to build, a kids sized chess game, iPads loaded with educational activities, an interactive digestive system that the kids can crawl in and explore, a projection room where when you stand in front of the screen your shadow is casted into it (eg. If there was a projection of hills and you stand in front then it’s like your standing on the hills), a puppet arena, a construction area where the kids can build and lastly an awesome outdoor area.

It was a great way to spend Mother’s Day – there is nothing like seeing my daughter having a blast and smiling. Plus that centre is fricken rad and extremely educational. I’ll say it again we need more educational centres like that around Sydney for sure!