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Purpose Play - Mom Review

By Lacy Carpenter - Field Writer July 5, 2018

I’ll admit it. I am a Pinterest-aholic. I love looking through all the ideas and pinning them to my boards. The party ideas, science experiments, dinner recipes, crafts, and home décor; I love it all. What I do not love though is spending all the time shopping for and setting up an activity for my son to spend about 15 minutes on it before he decides he is done. I still cannot predict what will be a flop and what will be a hit. I also don’t like spending more time cleaning up than he spent playing. What if you could do the activities you see on Pinterest, but none of the work? Purpose Play, a new business in Johnson County is doing just that.


What is Purpose Play?

Purpose Play was created by a group of moms who love kids. They have backgrounds in education and child development. These women were looking around the area and saw a need for activities for the younger age group of kids. Since they have a heart for supporting caregivers they decided to fill this need. Purpose Play programs are designed for ages five years and younger, although all ages are welcome at the parents’ discretion. For me, it was nice to be able to take my one-year-old niece and feel like she was not just tagging along, but actually getting a lot out of the outing. At Purpose Play, they are passionate about play. They want to make it easy for parents to engage in quality play and exciting activities.


Where is Purpose Play?

This summer Purpose Play has sessions at shelter 6 in Heritage Park. If you are not familiar with this park it is located at 16050 S. Pflumm Rd in Olathe. Purpose Play also wants to come to you! They can set up an event for your daycare, preschool, mom’s group, neighborhood block party, or play date. They will also do birthday parties. You would have the coolest birthday party of the year with none of the work or activity planning.      


Why go to a Purpose Play session?

Let Purpose Play plan the activities and clean up the mess. I was hosted by Purpose Play for their Summer Sensory themed week.  When I walked in I felt like I had just entered my Pinterest sensory play board. There were sensory stations galore! I had a 1-year-old, 5-year-old, and 6-year-old with me and there were several things for each of them. It was fun to see what they each gravitated towards. The 1-year old’s favorite thing was a baby pool filled with water beads. She loved sitting in them and putting them into the buckets and teapots they had to play with there. The 5-year old’s favorite station was truck washing station. He loved getting the trucks dirty and then taking them to the wash station to clean them up. My 6-year old’s favorite part was the salt dough eye spy; he had to look through the salt dough and find the different items on the list. There was something for everyone. I could have done any one of these activities at home, but I would have spent hours shopping, setting up, and then cleaning for just ONE of these things. Instead, we got to be exposed to several activities and none of the preparation time. Plus they got to do these activities with other kids their age and things are always more fun with a friend.

A Purpose Play session can also give you inspiration for at home. I mentioned previously that I don’t know what is going to be a hit or a flop when I do an activity at home. At Purpose Play, the kids were exposed to at least eight different activities. I got to see what they liked and now if I want to do one at home I know what is worth my time. To make things even easier at home Purpose Play was also selling sensory starter and early education kits at their event. I thought this was a great idea; it makes it so easy to carry the fun over into your home.


What is next for Purpose Play?

The next session that Purpose Play is hosting will be STEM-themed. There will be several stations along with Purpose Play lead science experiments. My son loves science so I am very excited to see what they will come up for this session. There will also be an arts and crafts themed session later this summer. Arts and crafts without having to clean up the mess after, yes, please! For more information check out their website at www.purposeplayllc.com