You’ve made it! Your baby is 10 months old, they are sleeping through the night, they take two nice long naps, and the world is at peace. Now wait, because they are on a two nap schedule now and you need to stretch those bigger wake windows, you ask yourself, “what the heck am I supposed to do with this baby in between their naps?”. You want to find an activity that is filled with ways to foster your baby or toddler’s developing gross and fine motor skills, but isn’t so overstimulating that you leave feeling like YOU need a nap!
Enter WONDER in downtown Leesburg, VA. I visited this beautiful new space a few weeks ago and WOW! It is the best balance between education and play. Their goal is “curated learning and discovery experience that is both educational and mind-shaping, bringing together parents and children through joyful play”.
As a pediatric nurse practitioner and pediatric sleep consultant I was so excited to see that they have gone above and beyond to tell parents what areas of development your child will be working on when they are playing. We know research tells us that naps in early childhood support memory consolidation (both in daytime and night time sleep) so why not use the wake times to have both FUN and educational playtime together. Wonder has created an advisory board (including an occupational therapist, Montessori Certified Educator, and parents just like you) in order to educate parents in the most evidenced based way (which you all know I love)!
What age is Wonder for?
Wonder’s experience is tailored towards walkers to around age six, but every child is a little different, so I’d use this as a general and not a firm range. For example, I had a client this last month that was pulling to stand in his crib at 7 months (on the younger end of normal) so I recommended lots of activities to foster this development and therefore improve his sleep. Wonder was a great fit as they have lots of options for crawling and pulling to stand babes (plus they have baby gates on the second floor – thank you CEO mamas Ashley and Reagan).
In addition to activities for the younger babies they also have lots of climbing structures for the bigger kiddos, plus a HUGE outdoor play space that you can use for as long as you’d like after your Wonder session. Gone are the days you have to go to a bunch of different places for all your kids, this place covers all ages and development so siblings can enjoy spending time together.
What is included in the experience?
The best part about the wonder experience is that they open at 8:30 am-6:30 pm therefore you can fit in a wonder experience either before or after your child’s naps! I always found it so frustrating that play places would open at 10 or 11 am when my toddler had been up since 7 am (a very developmentally appropriate wake time I may add). It’s also wonderful for working parents as you could hop over after daycare with your kiddo for an activity before dinner and the bedtime hustle.
Admissions are for a two-hour period of play inside, however you may continue your time at Wonder outside after that period of time for as long as you desire while they are open and weather permitting. This is perfect for that wake window before nap or filling that afternoon time before dinner, especially on the upcoming chilly days this winter.
What do you need to know to visit?
As the word gets out about how great this place is I would recommend booking in advance so you don’t run the risk of it being fully booked (as they do limit our capacity for a less chaotic experience). Simply head over to wonder here to book your spot! And use code NESTED15 for a discount on adult and child tickets now through the end of March 2025.
Sleep well and play all day too!
Learn more about Wonder at https://www.wonderleesburg.com/
References:
Kurdziel LBF, Kent J, Spencer RMC. Sleep-dependent enhancement of emotional memory in early childhood. Sci Rep. 2018 Aug 22;8(1):12609. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-30980-y. PMID: 30135458; PMCID: PMC6105691.
