Habitot

On Saturday my mom and I took the kids up to Habitot Children's Discovery Museum in Berkeley because they're letting military families in for free this summer. We'll be back. It was a fun-filled 2 1/2 hours that only ended because Jack had reached his time limit, not because Hazel was done exploring. Well worth the drive up.It was the perfect spot to take an imaginative girl, as it leaned heavily toward dramatic play. They had a cafe/grocery area with play food and shopping carts. A fire truck with a siren and a defibrillator in the back. A hospital newborn unit with baby dolls, supplied with baths and beds, diapers blankets and onesies, and hospital scrubs (even booties!) in pink and blue. A pet veterinary clinic with a variety of dogs and loads of medical tables, stethoscopes, and injectors for shots. It also had an x-ray table. Hazel spent oodles of time carrying around babies and playing doctor in every setting.There was a wiggle wall where the kids could climb about ten feet high and pretend they were rodents (Hazel was Templeton from Charlotte's Web). A big hit was the make-up counter, with Hollywood bulbs, swivel stools, and face paint in crayon shape. Hazel really went to town drawing on her own face! I thought the art area was a bit of a let-down (not heavily stocked) but it had enough to make my child happy: paper and colored glue (elmers/tempera mix), glitter, puff balls, and feathers. And a wall they could paint on all they wanted. Hazel was thrilled to paint so big standing up. She immediately announced she was Rapunzel, pointed to her shoulder, and whispered that "Pascali" was sitting right there. Then she got to work, informing me that I was Mother Gothel and feeding me lines to say as she painted castles, towers, and Flynn Rider on the wall. There was also a water exploration area, a library, a little baby room that crawlers and early walkers would adore, train tables, and rider cars that kids were taking all over the place. What a hit!