Fun Tips for Funville
FUNVILLE: What do you want to be? is the newest FREE Hands-On exhibit for children at Crown Center. The exhibit is open thru May 5th (with a Curious George exhibit coming for Summer 2013) and may be enjoyed during Crown Center Shopping Hours.
What is Funville:
Crown Center brings interactive FREE hands-on educational and entertaining exhibits to Kansas City several times each year, with 2013's first feature exhibit being Funville. Located on Level I near Coterie Theatre, Funville is a child-size city with a variety of occupations represented for children to explore! Whether repairing a car engine in a garage, broadcasting the nightly news, styling hair, performing at the circus, caring for animals at a veterinarians' clinic, surfing, exploring outer space, teaching school, or sitting behind the desk at the Oval Office, kids enjoy visiting one station after the other discovering a variety of professions and imaginative play as they pretend to be chefs, magicians, scientists, and leaders.
Tips for Moms and Dads:
- Food, drink, and strollers are not allowed in the exhibit (stroller parking is available outside the exhibit)
- The exhibit is best for early elementary, preschool, and toddler age children.
- Cameras are welcome.
- The BEST times to visit for the smallest crowds: When the exhibit FIRST opens (we went first thing in the morning and were there with friends and one other family), and about an hour before closing. Weekdays are less crowded than weekends.
- Read our Hot Tips for Visiting Crown Center for more fun while you're there!
- If possible, visit with a friend - have one mom watch the entrance, and the other go through the exhibit if you bring multiple children.
- Plan to spend 30-90 minutes (depending on attention span and size of group). As we "nearly had the exhibit to ourselves" our kids played for about 45 minutes. Then, we headed to Kaleidoscope (ALSO best during earliest session, once again we did well with no crowd).
- This is a great FREE Cabin Fever Buster for young ones!
The Favorites:
- Kids loved finding buttons to push through the exhibit - the faves were the Oval Office where "Hail to the Chief" plays, and the Space Center where the stars of the night sky shine.
- Pretending to be a circus performer walking a tight rope was a top pick for my daughter!
- My toddlers loved the pizza shop where they prepared and served pizza to "customers" a.k.a. mom.
- Hospital / Vet's office with a life-size wooden patient to examine and a puppy to care for.
Walking the Tight Rope at the Circus
An Artist at Work
Science Lab
The Oval Office
Preparing Pizza for Customers
One of the Outside Facades - the Theatre