The term soft play usually involves a soft play centre which generally has a range of indoor soft activities for children. Such as a ball pit, slides and, climbing frames, most units are padded and therefore result in a soft landing. We will be discussing the many benefits of soft play for children.
My children love soft play, they run around for hours. They burn off all of their energy and whilst they are doing so we as the parents get to relax. Relaxing at soft play for parents usually involves a nice cup of tea/coffee, sometimes, a naughty slice of cake and a chat.
Depending on the place that you go, the facilities available will of course vary. Something that may be available includes slides, climbing frames, café, toilets. Generally, if you would like to privately hire the centre for a birthday party, some add-ons may include face painting, balloon art, party bags, laser tag and much more, but it does come at a cost. They usually charge around $15 per head and you have to have at least 10 children coming. But other soft plays may be cheaper, just do some searching before setting your mind to one.
Hiring for a child’s birthday is a very popular choice as it can take away the stress. As they offer entertainment, food, venue and solves many of the worries with one simple solution.
The negatives of soft play
Whilst soft play can be very beneficial, it also comes with its downfalls. If you take your child here regularly, it is likely that your child will start to find the experience boring, too much of anything is bad right?
From my experience, not all places are cleaned properly and as you could image, it would be very difficult to clean hundreds of colourful balls in the play pit areas. Furthermore, let’s face it, children can be extremely unhygienic at times.
Despite most soft play centres having a café, you will likely need to bring food with you if they allow it because from experience the lunch menus are highly processed. Serving only fast food such as burgers, chips, pizza, slush puppies, coke, etc. Children going to soft play are taking part in strenuous exercise and should eat real whole food, kids should be given nutritious foods and it seems these types of places always get it wrong.
I personally believe that a birthday is a very special event. And should be spent doing something more meaningful or memorable. We are only 3, 4, 5 once, therefore we should do different things each year to help make it more enjoyable. If your child hasn’t been before and you could invite their best friends from school, then it would be a great idea.
Should you take your kids?
If you haven’t been to a soft play centre before, to help you put it into perspective. It is likely that there will be nowhere to sit, unhealthy foods, too many children running riot. Which makes it hard to keep an eye on your children. On the other hand, your children will likely have tons of fun, they won’t want to leave.
Also taking them to soft play will develop there climbing, social and team-building skills. I guess it all depends on whether you go at a busy time or not. Sometimes as a family, you just need to get out of the house and this is a great way to do it. Especially if it is raining outside or you don’t have a large budget. You know what we think about it, but don’t just listen to our opinion, get out there and experience it for yourself. If you do go, leave a comment letting us know how you got on. Would you recommend soft play?
