Pretend City

A few weeks ago we drove down to Irvine to go to Pretend City.  This children's museum is an interconnected "city" where kids can pretend to be everything from a fireman to a farmer.  There is a pretend fire station, post office, restaurant, hospital, supermarket, construction site, beach, farm and theater.  All of the exhibits include appropriate props and costumes.  Additionally, there is a large water table and a well stocked arts and crafts room.  The museum is relatively new and everything was clean and in good condition.  At 3 years old, Baby M was in heaven.  He spent a lot of time pretending to be a dispatcher in the fire station, served me about 20 plates of spaghetti in the restaurant, worked the sound and light board in the theater and got to hold a real live chick at the "farm."

Irvine is a bit of a drive for us, but my mother lives in San Diego so Pretend City was the perfect half-way meeting point.  Aside from being a chance for us to visit, it was great to have my mother around to do some of the pretending (4 hours of make-believe play with Baby M is pushing it for me).  She also watched Baby M while I fed Baby S in the nursing room.  The nursing room is equipped with a glider rocker and since there aren't a lot of quiet places to sit in the museum, it's a nice amenity.  We had lunch in the cafe, which was the only real disappointment-- it's just a group of tables, a microwave, some vending machines and a woman selling sandwiches and salads out of cooler. Our sandwiches were fine, but next time we'll probably pack a lunch.

There are a few padded play areas for little ones, but Pretend City is really best for kids between 2 and 8 years old.   Tickets are $11 per person (free for babies under 1 year), but you can get a 2-for-1 admission on the second Friday of every month here.  If we lived closer I'd consider getting a membership.  We were in the museum for 4 hours and Baby M could have stayed longer, plus the museum has a full calendar of events and classes.