Marbles

One of our cold winter outings was a split field trip.  We don't do this often, but this one worked out beautifully.  We chose 2 outings both in downtown Raleigh.  The older kids (10 and up) went to Artspace.  They toured the facilities and then had an opportunity to create their own batik art.  I have no pictures from this outing though since I wasn't there.

We were blessed from the start with this day by having free parking!  I decided to park close to limit our walking and was willing to pay for it.  They were having problems though with the pay machine so we all parked free!  

The younger children went to Marbles children's museum.  What a fabulous place to play!  There are soooo many fun areas to explore.  Most of the museum is set up in themes such as this place near the grocery store.  

This was a stage where the children could put on their own performances.  There were costumes to wear and seating out front for the audience.  

Upstairs we spent quite a bit of time in Moneypalooza.  Isn't my little girl getting big?  (She thinks she is big and independent too!)

Inside there is a lemonade stand where you can sell and also help to make the lemonade.  There are all of these fun balls to work with too!

This contraption takes them up to the second level.  The boys work to quickly load it up.

You can also  carry buckets of balls upstairs to dump them into one of the chutes or catch them coming out.

I think my favorite are in here is the pizza parlor.  They have adorable felt pieces to use for making your own pizza and an oven to cook them in.  Daniel and Kyle had a blast playing together all morning!

TIme to deliver a pizza.  It can be delivered by bicycle.

Or hand delivered.

Also upstairs is a sports/games area including balls, skating/hockey, soccer and more!  I love how they have made fun areas for small and larger children too!

Muscle workout for these strong guys!

This is a neat chair that you can raise while sitting on it while using your arms to pull on a rope.

Balancing is fun too!

Woo hoo!  Look at my strong girl!   I love seeing her pretending more and more!  

Also upstairs is a building and construction area.  Eliana didn't want to stay here too long.  Honestly, I spent much of my day running after her.  We are working on that, but at the moment she does just bolt at times.  

Daniel liked building some cars to race on this track.

Back downstairs again and the guys had fun in the laboratory.  (I love the dress up clothes!  Who gets tired of dressing up?  And its not just fun for girls either!)

There is also a pirate ship you can board and swab the decks or serve as a lookout.  There is even a plank to force someone to walk if needed.

Oh, and the water play area.  This just delighted Eliana!  I'm glad that they had these aprons to wear as she would have been drenched otherwise.

She loved scooping and pouring and watching the water.  I need to do more of this in the cold months.  This kept her happy for quite some time.

Can't you just see that she is enthralled?

Playing a little ball just before we left.  The things they are sitting on have wheels and slide around.  Neat way to make this game more challenging and also get more exercise.

We went out to lunch afterwords with some friends.  We chose Mellow Mushroom since they have gluten free options.  (And really yummy pizza!)

It was a fun ending to our day and a great time with friends.

We love our field trip days!  I think hands-on time of learning is some of the best!  I'm thankful we are close to so many neat things to explore!

Blessings
Leslie