March 25th, 2009 larry
Party Time Palace is located in Des Plaines and is the newest entrant into the arcade, play place, party category. Des Plaines is just past the toll both on 90 if you are coming from Chicago but east of Schaumburg. There are several choices of how can pay for your time at the Palace: a la carte (tokens and attractions), $15 for all you can ride/miniature golf and 20 tokens, or several different food combination ($23.99, $31.99, $41.99, $79.99) which have different quantities of pizzas, hot dogs, drinks, tokens, and attractions (train ride, mechanical bull, and miniature golf). You’ll want to walk around the venue before you make your decision. Laser Tag is $5.99 a person.
The Palace differentiates itself by catering to a wide variety of age groups. Starting in the back, there is a place for crawlers and toddlers to climb, play with toys, and ride on cars. Several small children were playing in this area and there are benches and chairs for parents to supervise comfortably. In this area is also one of our favorite arcade games, the Spider Stomp, so we had to play it twice to hear the “squash” of the spiders.
There is a large bouncy that we actually haven’t seen at many places. It had two rock climbing areas that ended in some pretty steep slides. The bouncy is free and is next to the toddler area so you can hang out while your kid tumbles down the slide and watch a little one at the same time. Right next to the bouncy is a train. You’ll see the standard battling by the kids to sit in the engine and ring the bell. The $15 package gets you unlimited rides on the train.
As you move farther to the front, the age range starts to climb. On one side are fairly sophisticated video games like car racing, luge racing, safari shooting, and boxing. On the other others side are your smaller kids games where you play for tickets like slot machines, jack pots, skee ball, and basketball hoops. They actually had a regular size Pop-A-Shot and a more junior version that my kid could actually play.
Just to make things interesting The Palace also has a laser tag field. The range was not the largest we have been in, but definitely had the standard vibrating vests, light colors, and guess what, Dad lost again. They also have a mechanical bull. Encased in a bouncy for when you take a tumble, you can give this monster a try if you are 48 inches tall.
But that is still not the end of what they offer. Let’s just add a miniature golf course as a final touch. In some ways we think the miniature golf course really sets them apart. Definitely designed for younger kids, it has just enough obstacles and difficulty to keep things interesting, but not too difficult that the kids will get frustrated. It was very Chicago oriented in that one of the holes was a hot dog course and another was the Wrigley Field. This course was really fun and we played it three times. That is pretty amazing given that our kid could have played video games, but opted for this instead.
Party Time Palace is a really mixture of many different things for many different age groups. With all of this equipment there was a lot of empty space for kids to run and room for six birthday parties at once. We think this is really great alternative to some of the other play places because of the variety of things to do. As it just opened, it isn’t too crowded yet so you can try a little bit of everything. We got the $15 package and two tokens per game makes 20 tokens go pretty quickly, but that seems to be becoming the standard. Anyway, we got our money’s worth out of the miniature golf.
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Mom Says: Party Time Palace has a “mom and pop” feel to it. Very spare and low key, it was a great relief compared to Chuck E Cheese - which I dread going to. The volume level alone is reason to prefer it. If it was in my neighborhood it would be a nice option for a playdate where you need to accommodate different age groups. One downside is that there is no security at the front door. You need to supervise at all times.
Dad Says: The miniature golf course is really top notch. It is not the most high tech, the most difficult, or the largest, but it is indoors, creative, well done, and ultimately very fun.
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March 18th, 2009 larry
This week we review several Edutainment web sites. These sites teach your kids reading and math by trying to make it fun. This seems to be a major trend as competing sites are consistently cropping up with the realization that kids are getting so familiar with computers so early. Our four year old is already pretty navigational with a web browser as he browses for Transformer toys, plays Spider-man games, and practices his numbers, words, and letters. In this Blog, we review Voyager, SmartyCard, and KidzClix. Each of these sites has their own take on how to educate our kids, provide rewards, and help them find fun in learning.
KidzClix. KidzClix is a startup out of Evanston, Illinois. Began by an educational psychologist out of National Louis University, this site leverages a magazine paradigm. Each month, the site comes out with new “issues.” These issues provide new content to the site. KidzClix is $6.95/month with discounts for multiple month pre-pays. There is a thirty day trial to allow you and your kids to give it a test run.
KidzClix has an enormous amount of content divided into sections including: Science Time (Chemistry), Build It (Physics), Into The Future (green topics, technology trends), Imagine This (crack codes, play detective), Math Mania, Chess Club, Poof (learn about magic), Games and Puzzles, Artz Studio (sculpture, painting), Surprise (something different every time), Kidz Kitchen (learn to cook), and How It Works (explanations of biological and mechanical functions). Within each of these sections are 8-10 choices of content to view and experience.
KidzClix has a really interesting combination of on-line learning, digital activities, and off-line experiments. I played a balancing game, learned about invisible ink, and the ice cream section taught me how to make ice cream with ingredients and utensils in the kitchen. The site also comes with social media aspects where kids can ask questions, share artwork and projects, and create a home page.
The only complaint you’ll have about KidzClix is where to start and how to find the right content because there are so many things to try and it is a little clunky to move around. The “issue” paradigm works for the site so you can constantly try new things. If you use the free trial, be aware that the guest login has a different link (see your confirmation email) than the regular login on the home page.
Review KidzClix.
SmartyCard. SmartyCard’s slogan is Learn Stuff/Earn Stuff and it pretty much says it all. SmartyCard’s approach is to award points to kids who try their activities and take their tests. Parent’s then buy SmartyCards which allow them to trade points for virtual (logins and points on other sites like Zookazoo) and physical gifts (like light sabers, an Incredibles DVD, Wii Games, or board games).
SmartyCard really focuses on 3rd grade and up though they have plans to move downstream later in the year. You specify in your profile the child’s grade and then the site will test them on age appropriate material. Like KidzClix, the site reinforces school learning and isn’t to be used to learn from scratch. To choose an activity, you can pick between Easy, Medium, and Hard in categories like vocabulary (antonyms and synonyms), reading comprehension, multiplication, ecosystem/ecology, science, fractions, and many others. Each activity is very flash card oriented and points are awarded based on difficulty and how many questions you get right (at least 70%).
Parents can review their kids’ scores, site usage (categories played), time spent on site, and what they have redeemed. Redeeming rewards is easy for kids to do on their own. The site will only allow them to pick what has been purchased by their parents. As a new site, SmartyCard can be a little pokey at times, but overall SmartyCard provides an excellent opportunity for kids to set goals for themselves, learn, and achieve those goals.
Review SmartyCard.
Voyager. Voyager has been providing on-line learning programs for school districts and schools for several years. This year they have announced an initiative to sell directly to parents. They are offering their Ticket to Read and Vmath set of learning activities for $29.95.
Ticket to Read leverages your child’s grade and proposes age appropriate learning activities. Kindergarten was the lowest setting, so that is what I played with my four year old. Ticket to Read provided great graphical displays of letters and fun ways to test your kids knowledge. The game we played had a teacher explaining a small and large “A” and how an A is pronounced. The site then showed an apple tree with letters on the apples and asked him to pick the Apples with an A. We did a similar exercise with soccer balls that flew into a goal when you picked the balls with an “S”.
Vmath starts at the third grade level and is extraordinarily extensive. It is not available directly for parents yet, but you can try the free trial or petition your school to get it in the classroom. You have a choice to “Prepare” for live games or play live games. Preparation teaches about 10 different categories of math lessons like whole numbers, fractions, borrowing, and carrying. The activities provide kids with instruction and activities to test what they have learned. But the real activity is the Vmath Live games. The games allow you to choose a level of difficulty and then compete against other students across the world in different types of flash card games (addition, multiplication, combination). At about 10:00 at night, there were over 4,000 people on the site and I played adding games against a girl in Australia (I started to feel bad and threw the game at the end).
Vmath is extremely elaborate. Because of their school district history, I felt that they did not consider the network bandwidth at a residence because some of the intensive graphics in the reading section were a little bit slow. Voyager is a time-tested learning tool and the Vmath live was an extremely unique experience.
Review Voyager.
Larry
Dad Says: How can computers not be a great way for your kid to learn? Using the computer at home, my kid has been able to feel comfortable with the computers at school. I would recommend trying all of these sites to see which one fits your style and let young and old kids reinforce their studies at school.
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March 11th, 2009 larry
In a difficult economy it is always impressive to hear about companies that are growing and expanding. When we got the call that Monkey Joe’s out of Atlanta was going to open more than 12 locations in the midwest, I just had to check the place out. The first location is in Rockford and the Grand Opening was last weekend. Aurora and Crystal Lake are planned to open in May. Monkey Joe’s is free for adults, $5 for kids under 3, and kids aged 3-12 are $7.99 during the week and $9.49 Friday through Sunday.
On opening day, in the pouring rain, Monkey Joe’s had a pretty good turnout. Though Monkey Joe’s hosts birthday parties, walk-ins are welcome during all hours. The venue is an inflatable paradise. The Rockford location had 2 large slides, 2 obstacle courses (one obstacle course had three entrances), a regular bouncie, and two other climbing inflatables. There is an inflatable Animal Land with giraffes and other animals for kids under 3. In the lounge, there is a little area with toddler toys where the toddlers can play and not wander off. Three birthday rooms round out the area where the kids can eat cake, open presents, and have some pizza.
Though the inflatables are always fun (our kid spent 3 hours jumping, sliding, and bouncing), the inflatables alone are not what sets Monkey Joe’s apart. The franchise puts significant effort forth in making sure that the parents feel comfortable relaxing while their kids play. The Lounge area has two flat screen TV’s, leather couches, and lounge chairs that can turn to face the TVs (ESPN was on both) or the bouncing area. Monkey Joe’s offers free WI-FI and also provides two computers to help you surf the Web or answer emails. We saw several teenage brothers and sisters on the computer while their kid siblings played on the inflatables.
What is truly unusual is the amount of supervision that Monkey Joe’s deploys within the facility. The safety staff is dressed in referee outfits and armed with whistles. One staff member police’s each of the inflatables and another employee man’s the entry/exit to make sure kids leave with the correct parents. Rules are strictly enforced, sliding is done by the book, and flips and dives will be scolded with a sharp whistle. Our kid ran for the hills every time he was whistled at. The place is large enough to hold all of these inflatables but small enough that you don’t feel like you could lose track of your kid. With the extra manpower and the exit blocked by the staff, parents feel comfortable with their kids on their own.
The food is fairly standard fare, pizza imported from Papa John’s, ice cream, pretzels, hot dogs, chips, sodas and bottled water. It seems like the place could be a little tight if there were a few birthday parties and a decent crowd of walk-ins. There aren’t many tables so its unknown how it would accommodate large numbers of families who wanted to eat at the same time.Monkey Joe’s is going to make a big splash in the Chicagoland area, so it is a name you should get familiar with and is absolutely worth the trip. We’ll let you know when the locations closer to Chicago open, but we didn’t encounter too much traffic on a Saturday and it felt like we got their pretty quickly.
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Larry and Donna
Mom Says: I love that Monkey Joe’s is always open for free play. The emphasis on safety and cleanliness was very impressive. My only concern is that due to it’s relatively small size it could get very crowded during peak hours.
Dad Says: If your kid is used to having the run of the place and doing swan dives off of the top of the slide, you might be initially disappointed, but when you realize you can relax in a reclining chair, you’ll change your mind. Compared to their competitors, importing pizza from Papa John’s is a big step up for pizza.
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March 4th, 2009 larry
This is a FUN show. Not just for little girls, but for boys and moms and dads too. Emerald City Theatre has done a great job incorporating something entertaining for everyone. Cinderella is playing at the Apollo Theater through May 24, 2009. Tickets cost $15 for adults and $12 for children.
Overall, the production is a fairly traditional telling of the Cinderella story. The originality comes from the humor, songs, and costumes. Cinderella and Prince Jason are the most conservative of the cast, but they are perfect. Both look great and have pretty and strong singing voices respectively. The other characters are sassy and over the top. Our favorites were Cinderella’s hilarious step family. They are big, bold and funny, lending a lot of physical humor to the show. The Fairy Godmother is young and brassy, giving a hipness to the part that was very enjoyable. Rounding out the cast is Wesley, the Prince’s valet, who gave a sly counterpoint to Prince Jason’s straight arrow style.
Both genders were represented in our little group that saw Cinderella this past weekend and all of us were laughing a one point or another. My son really enjoyed the sword fight between Prince Jason and his valet Wesley. When asked his favorite part of the show his response was, “When the guy got stabbed in his but,” which happened at the end of the fight. I had to admit it was pretty funny. I am not going to comment on the biggest laugh for the grown-ups, because I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but it’s good (really good). The writers have peppered the whole show with comedy for the adults, ranging from political references to pop culture, which is always appreciated.
When we asked the little girl of our group what her favorite part of the play was, she said, “The dresses the step-sisters wore to the ball.” I agree with her, they were fantastic. The kooky sisters were decked out in crazy colors and feathers that just amped-up their hilarity. Other costumes of note were the Fairy Godmother’s, dressed in all white with feathers, glitter, and shine, it added a lot to her cool persona. Cinderella’s dress was great too. It was made in such a way that her rags changed into a ballgown right on stage. All the kids watched with their mouths open - as if to ask, “How did that happen?”
The songs were well integrated into the show, moving the plot along to the music. We loved the Fairy Godmother’s “Magical Me” which she sings as she transforms Cinderella for the Ball. As well as the, ”The Prince has Got It Bad” where the step-sisters get even more laughs as they dance, and fall, all over the stage.
Take your family to see this show (really you can bring the whole family). It doesn’t have to be a mom and daughter day out if you don’t want it to be. My son said, “That was a really fast show Mommy!” All parents know what a huge compliment that is - he was entertained and the time flew by.
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