Museum Review-KIDS Imagination Space

The graphic above is from K.I.D.S. Imagination Space, a great Southern Oregon museum for kids around age 10 and under. Of course it's open to kids of all ages, but it's been my experience that kids older than 10 have more fun at Scienceworks in Ashland (I will blog about that museum later).

KIDS Imagination Space has only been around for 3 years and it has grown into a really neat place. It started out with just a couple exhibits, and has filled the Old Moose Lodge with toys and activities that I would love to have in my own home--if I lived in a warehouse.

There's a "fenced off" area for parents and their toddlers to play, and that helps keep the little ones safe and enjoying the place while the older children play with high energy everwhere else.

I like the waist-high sandbox area--my children have fun and the sand gets everywhere, but it's not my house!

My eldest daughter just outgrew the museum these last 6 months (she just turned 11 and informed me that she was too old to really enjoy this museum anymore), but her favorite place used to be the pretend grocery store. My 2 1/2 year old daughter LOVES the little grocery carts and the pretend strawberries of that exhibit.

My three sons, ages 5, 7, and 9, like the life size chess set, the picture shadow room (a curtained room that has a timed flash that catches your shadow on the wall), the loft area where they lob balls in tubes and up and down a bucket "elevator." The older two played for over an hour in the pretend Cafe, serving parents a variety of meals and re-organizing all the food and equipment (just for fun!).

The BreakAway Cafe (the one that serves real food) has overpriced food, but we bring a lunch and eat it in the lobby.

We had a birthday party there for a son turning 4 and it was great fun but they've gotten more strict about parties. You have to rent one of their birthday rooms. I haven't ever rented one, but I have peeked into their birthday room and I love how they've decorated a chair to look like a throne for the birthday child.

It's gotten busier as the exhibits have improved. Expect holidays and weekends to have more crowds, but Monday mornings have been so quiet it's like you have the whole place to yourself.

Their website is at http://www.discoveryspace.org/ and here is their cost and location information:

ADMISSION
$5 per child (under 1 free)
$2 per adult
Memberships available

HOURS OF OPERATION

MONDAY-SATURDAY 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
SUNDAY 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

LOCATION

226 N. Ross Lane
Medford, OR 97501
541-772-9922

Secret Blackberry Picking Spot

I think I have found the best place to pick blackberries in Southern Oregon. And it's great for kids and strollers too!

Its at The Valley of the Rogue Park just past the Rogue River exit in I-5, exit 45B.

Go in August, it's the best month for blackberry picking. When you check in, tell them you are blackberry picking and you get a free day pass and can park anywhere. Make sure to ask about the best places to pick, the park rangers have guided me to the current ripest spots.

What makes this spot so great, besides the wide paths, shady trees and walls of blackberry bushes growing conveniently next to the pathway, is the swimming hole about half-way from the ends of the pathway. We pick and eat and just about the time we get a little hot, we are at the swimming hole. There's a small sandy "beach" for taking off shoes. The swimming hole is lined on three sides with a wall of stones and about knee high at its deepest point (on adult knees), so the water is safe for little ones. We love that place. It cools us off enough so we can pick more blackberries all the way back to our parked car.

Here are some tips that have helped us have a better picking experience: You'll want to wear long sleeves and long pants (but make sure you can wade in your pants, or wear a swim suit underneath).

Our favorite picking container is a milk jug with the top cut off and the handle threaded through a belt.

I have young children, so I always bring a stroller as well, and the pathway is fairly level and well-maintained.

We grab a stick on the way so we can push aside thorny branches to get to the Jackpot spots--and we keep regretting our lack of gloves, but have yet to remember them.

I hope you enjoy blackberry picking as much as we have, and if you know of a better spot--tell me!