Hello, Austin, TX!
I don’t usually write reviews of places I take my child, mostly because I haven’t fallen in love with any place enough to leave the rantings and ravings typical for this blog. I have to tell you, Little Land Play Gym Buda is an outstanding place for kids of all ages. Not only that, but it also offers various types of occupational, physical, and speech therapy for children. I know what you’re thinking: I’m getting paid for this. Nope, I just absolutely love this place.*
All you need is your family and socks and you’re good to go!
Jessica Doulder and her sister Vanessa Spaw saw the opportunity to put their individual skills into a partnership: Jessica, the businesswoman, and Vanessa, the physical therapist. The sisters saw the original location in North Austin (near Lakeline) and realized the potential when they noticed how much fun their own kids had. Thus, their franchise in Buda was born.
You walk in and are immediately struck by the color, cleanliness, and calming music of the place (I almost got away with full-on alliteration). The colors are bright, yet not overstimulating. The music is fun, yet mellow. The place is one giant play gym, yet safe and smart.
There are plenty of things to do for all ages, infants to pre-teens. The infant room, where we spent most of our time, has a ton of features to keep your growing tots busy.
Our daughter absolutely loved the slide, piano, and blocks! Even though there was plenty of stuff for her to do, and I cannot emphasize this enough, it never felt overstimulating.
What I loved about this place the most was how the parents could play just as much as the kids. When they told me I could climb on everything with her, I scoffed. There was no way each area could sustain my weight. Immediately, I was told most play-things could hold up to 300 pounds! Being able to play with our daughter made it an even more enjoyable experience.
Our daughter’s favorite place: the ball pit.
We absolutely loved the ball pit. At first, I was skeptical: Aren’t these things cesspools for germs? Y’all, no fear. Jessica is the clean-freak we all secretly want to live in our homes. She’s what we want to be and ashamed we aren’t.
I asked about the cleanliness, to which Jessica replied, “Every night, the facility gets Lysoled. Every Sunday we deep clean the ball bit. The entire inside gets cleaned, all of the balls get clean. The outside of it gets wiped all day long.” She went on to say that all of the equipment gets cleaned at least ONCE EVERY HOUR.
Little Land has a ton of stuff for kids of all ages, but they pay special attention to the types of equipment and games they add. Of course, fun is an important focus, but they consider how the kids can use these items to build strength or focus on different skills. The hot dog swing, for example, is used to help our wee little ones build their core.
Because of their special attention to helping kids with physical therapy, they’re also quite proud of their ability to accommodate to most disabilities. They offer speech, physical, and occupational therapy. Not only that, but they offer sensory art classes for ages 18 months and older (Emmie, we’re so close!) and soon, they’ll have Music Together® , a program to help childhood development through music.
So, I know you’re thinking. This all sounds awesome and Mama Cashman is pretty trustworthy (aww, thanks guys!), but it’s crazy expensive.
Y’all: $5.00- $12.00 for endless amounts of fun, depending on age group, for the entire day.
They also have really great passes if you go often and become a member (which you should). I stole this screenshot from their website.
Do you see that? NO CHARGE FOR ADULTS.
Also, since you’re going to be having a blast all day, they have a quaint area where you can grab snacks and hang out.
So, I really hope you get to go. It was honestly the most fun place we’ve been to since having our darling. If I haven’t sold it enough, here are words directly from Jessica to describe the passion and love they have for this place:
“I love watching kids learn how to climb up something and balance. I love watching the kids learn how to do things on their own. It’s old-school play. It is a safe, clean, air-controlled environment that allows kids to play the way we could when we were kids.”
And look at how happy my kid is. Make your kid this happy.
*Although I was not paid to write the blog, we were invited for one free visit.
Authentic Motherhood 