The Coolest Play Center Ever?

In Australia we have indoor play centers. These play centers are commonly (with exceptions I am sure of, but yet to experience) pretty standard variations on a similar theme; small play area for toddlers with the treacherous ball pit (where you can find all sorts of foreign objects from other kids poo to intravenous needles) and a smattering of half-broken wheeled toys; larger area for the bigger kids consisting of a framed climbing gym with slide.

If you are really lucky there will be signs on each of these areas, one declaring 'FOR CHILDREN UNDER 3 ONLY' and the other insisting 'NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN UNDER 4' leaving you clutching your 3 year old's hand and scratching your head.

This week I went to what I think might be the 'Coolest Play Center Ever':

The Imaginarium Project in Geelong, Victoria might not strictly be a play center, but it sure is a great alternative. It is literally a mini-world of imagination, color and wonder:

Face-painting in the Alice in Wonderland garden

A large warehouse has been sectioned off into a series of themed rooms with the most amazing attention to detail. Someone very talented (and very busy) has painted murals on every wall and there are a range of toys and games for the children to get involved with:

Underwater themed room

Pirate room

There was also a 'down the rabbit hole area, a western room, a glow-in-the-dark room with a haunted house and a room covered in chalkboard paint where you could draw on the walls and the chalk glowed.

Best part is the cafe with hidden coffee nooks throughout the center as well:

The price was good at $5 per head for the kids (adults free) but might get a bit costly for the older ones (4-12 years $12 each). You might also have some reservations around the appropriateness of some of the guns, swords and skulls in the pirate and western rooms but the kids LOVED it.

Maybe not the coolest place 'ever but it was certainly a welcome change to your run of the mill center.