Miami For Kids: What To Do On A Rainy Day Posted on May 29, 2023 by Sarah Elles Boggs It happens everywhere, but particularly in subtropical climates during the summertime. Yes, it rains in the Sunshine State. Typically the rain will blow through in an hour or so, sometimes even just a few minutes, but sometimes you need to entertain your kids indoors for the entire day. Here is a list of indoor activities that we suggest for your kids on rainy days in the Miami area: Mummy Exhibition | Photo credit: Frost Science Museum Miami 1 – The Frost Science Museum The Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science has also come up in our list of Places Your Kiddos Can Interact With Wildlife, but the Frost Museum is also home to revolving exhibitions of all sorts that the kids can interact with. This summer, the museum is bringing Mummies of the World to Miami. This is a collection of 40 human and animal mummies from various locations and points in history. There is also a vast array of artifacts, teaching your family about the different cultures and lifestyles of times in the past. The exhibition opened on Saturday, May 27 and will run until September 4, 2023. There is plenty of time to visit and learn. If your family is not ready to view mummified remains, there are still other indoor activities at the museum that fill an entire day. The aquarium spans level upon level, the interactive Power of Science and MeLab exhibitions are open, the planetarium is always a hit, as well as dinosaurs and an exhibition about flight that explores everything from prehistoric avian life all the way to the future of space travel. The Frost Museum is a space where we suggest a yearly membership if you plan to visit more than once per year. For members, you are able to visit as many times as you like per year, visit each of the rotating exhibits and the aquarium plus 1 planetarium show per visit. The museum is easily accessible from nearly any part of town, so will definitely be something you wind up doing several times per year, if not more. Silly Monkey’s Playhouse Coconut Grove 2 – Silly Monkey’s Playhouse Coconut Grove families will particularly love Silly Monkey due to its convenient location in CocoWalk. This indoor play, explore and learning center has a special place in our hearts as our daughter London has been particularly enriched by the services they offer. We even detailed the experiences here on the blog a few weeks back. For the smaller kids, Silly Monkey’s Playhouse is dedicated to helping children and parents to bond and communicate. Using music, art and play they embrace the natural tendencies for little ones to explore and socialize. There are a host of classes available, and each one is custom-tailored to each child’s age group. They can experience the world at their own pace. There are several options for classes. Our now favorites are the Music, Art & Playground in English and then again in Spanish on another day in the week. Let’s face it, Spanish is an integral part of life here in the Miami area. The Music, Art & Playground course hones in on your child’s playfulness. It encourages independence, and stimulates curiosity. The projects change weekly, so a new discovery can take place every week for a full year. These are 1-hour each, broken down into 3 sections of about 20 minutes each in order to accommodate for the attention span of these young brains. Prices vary at Silly Monkey’s Playhouse depending upon the courses you choose, so we suggest browsing their website or getting in touch with Georgia, the owner, for her suggestions of where to start. You can visit the website here, or follow Silly Monkey’s Playhouse’s Instagram here. This is also a great opportunity to support a locally-owned and operated business! Miami Children’s Museum Curious George Exhibit 3 – Miami Children’s Museum Back over on Watson Island in between Downtown Miami and Miami Beach, you will find the Miami Children’s Museum. This is an amazing idea for your kids when the weather is rainy or just too hot to do anything. The Miami Children’s Museum is dedicated to creative learning for all ages, offering constantly revolving programs that embrace various cultures, sensory play, life experiences and embraces the creative nature of our littles. there is also a performing arts section for those who like to put on for others. It is really all-encompassing for the whole family. This summer, the museum is offering a Curious George exhibit to really hone in on the curiosity of childhood. Check their website regularly to see what sorts of special programming is happening on a given day and plan ahead! There are even activities you can do at the house for those days when you just don’t want to leave home but still want to enrich your children. The Miami Children’s Museum is another location where we suggest the yearly membership. There is too much to do in the museum for small minds to grasp and small hands to experience in one day. You will want to go back repeatedly. State of Kid South Miami | Photo Credit: Facebook/State of Kid 4 – State of Kid With three location in the Miami area, you are practically always near an outpost of State of Kid. They have locations in Miami Beach, South Miami and the Miami Design District. Upon entering, you will be greeted with an adorable boutique that allows your kids to embrace their inner fashionista. Our daughter is always the center of attention at playdates with her flower glasses that we found at State of Kid this spring. We have also found many outfits that are adorable and unique for those who don’t always want to choose the same patterns and styles that are offered at Carter’s. Nothing wrong with Carter’s, of course. Their clothes are comfy and cute, but the outfits at State of Kid are also unique and we like that. If you aren’t in a shopping mood, that is ok. There are so many different classes and activities at State of Kid that range from newborns up to early elementary-aged kids. They can learn ballet, hip hop dance, cooking courses, an introduction to martial arts with jiu-jitsu courses, art classes and more. They have an interactive calendar on their website, where you can conveniently plan ahead with classes and locations. Costs vary. Brightline Entry Downtown Miami 5 – Ride The Brightline “Where can the Brightline take you?” is their catch phrase, but in reality you could wonder where can the Brightline NOT take you? With six current stations between Miami and the newly-opened Orlando station, plus two more upcoming stations paired with complimentary event shuttles and fixed-route shuttles, the possibilities are endless with South Florida’s luxury superfast train. We will have a full post dedicated to the possibilities, but for today we want to highlight the concept. The train ride alone is a treat for kids. Smaller kids love it just because it is a train, but it is also adult-friendly since it offers a luxurious and comfortable travel experience. At each stop there is something for the littles to experience. One of my favorites is to ride the train to Downtown Fort Lauderdale and visit the nearby Fort Lauderdale Museum of Discovery + Science. Ticket prices vary and can be purchased online, in person at a kiosk or via the Brightline App. They also offer routine discounts for different travel scenarios, so check the website and app often! We hope you all see that rainy days don’t have to be a drag in the Miami area or in South Florida in general. There is always something to do, rain or shine. We hope you enjoy and follow up on other weeks for lists of outdoor fun, sports camps, fun with animals and specific ideas for the Brightline! Photo Credit: Dylan Sauerwein via Unsplash
A Mother’s Day Tribute: Silly Monkey’s Playhouse In Coconut Grove Posted on May 12, 2023May 13, 2023 by Sarah Elles Boggs Happy Mother’s Day to all the hard-working moms out there! Let’s face it, mothering is work. Extremely rewarding work, but work nevertheless. For those of you who have never had the experience of motherhood, just imagine your entire body morphing for months. In the end, you have a small person with zero skills or knowledge that you are responsible for and there is NO INSTRUCTION MANUAL. It is up to you to teach this little being everything, doing your best to guide them in the right direction to one day lead an enriching life of their own. As rewarding as it is, it’s quite a challenge! So for this year’s Mother’s Day post, we would like to highlight a local, mom-owned business that has been monumental in helping us to enrich the life of our daughter, London. Coconut Grove’s Silly Monkey Playhouse. Located in Cocowalk in Center Coconut Grove, it is quite convenient, especially for locals. There is ample parking nearby, or the freebee can deliver you and your little right to the doorstep for some sensory fun. What To Expect Silly Monkey’s Playhouse is dedicated to helping children and parents to bond and communicate, even before the kids are verbal. Using music, art and play they embrace the natural tendencies for little ones to explore and socialize. There are a host of classes available, and each one is custom-tailored to each child’s age group. They can experience the world at their own pace. Some children are quiet and observant and some are into everything, busily discovering whatever they can and will encounter. There are several options for classes. Our now favorites are the Music, Art & Playground in English and then again in Spanish on another day in the week. Let’s face it, Spanish is an integral part of life here in the Miami area. The Music, Art & Playground course hones in on your child’s playfulness. It encourages independence, and stimulates curiosity. The projects change weekly, so a new discovery can take place every week for a full year. These are 1-hour each, broken down into 3 sections of about 20 minutes each in order to accommodate for the attention span of these young brains. This summer, we will be adding a third day for our little one. The added course will be the 90-minute Music, Learn & Playground, where early childhood academics are introduced. They start learning ABC’s, colors, basic math, and other cognitive abilities to prepare our child for preschool. How To Get Involved If you are interested in enrolling your child, just visit their website or call Georgia, the owner and teacher since its inception in 2010. She has been incredibly helpful to us over the last year, and we cannot thank her enough. There is so much pressure to set your little one on the right path, no way can anyone do it alone and Georgia has been a godsend to us. Her prices are reasonable and follow-up is spectacular. The courses are sold in 8-week packages, but this is not the type of experience you would want to do on a one-off basis. You want to go for awhile so that you can experience the rapid development of your little gift. We did not share additional photos because we are sensitive to sharing photos of other people’s children on the internet, but you can visit the website here, or follow Silly Monkey’s Playhouse’s Instagram here. We hope to see you and your little one on the playground and Happy Mother’s Day!