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Details
(Area code: 410)
• ExploraWorld,
6750 Dobbin Rd., 772-1548
• Hard Times Cafe, 8865 Stanford Blvd., #101, 312-0700
• Noodles Corner, 8865 Stanford Blvd., #103, 312-0088
• McDonald's, 6385 Dobbin Rd., 995-0260
• Wendy's, 6355 Dobbin Rd., 995-0984
• Friendly's, 6375 Dobbin Rd., 997-7219
• The Tomato Palace, 10221 Wincopin Circle, 715-0211
Indoor Activity Centers
• Capital Children's Museum, 600 Third St. N.E., (202) 675-4120
• Discovery Zone, White Flint Mall, 11301 Rockville Pike,
North Bethesda, (301) 231-0505; Middlebrook Square Shopping Center, 11528
Middlebrook Rd., Germantown, (301) 540-2424
• Imagine That!, Congressional Plaza, 1616 E. Jefferson
St., Rockville, (301) 468-2101
• Jeepers, 700 Hungerford Dr., Rockville, (301) 340-3308; Beltway
Plaza Regional Mall, 6042 Greenbelt Rd., (301) 982-2444
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By Theodore Fischer, Sidewalk
A
clean, well-lighted warehouse space in a commercial section of Columbia is
the location of ExploraWorld, the first of a contemplated
nationwide chain of what its management calls "children's
edu-tainment centers." Like the Capital Children's Museum in
D.C. and Imagine That! in Rockville, ExploraWorld offers
nonviolent, noncompetitive and mostly low-tech activities (except for
computers loaded with video games suitable for all ages and some
closed-circuit televisions) designed to vigorously exercise young
imaginations.
The most
imaginative and popular exhibits involve role-playing as grown-ups. Shop 'Til
You Drop lets children impersonate shoppers and checkout clerks in a
kid-size grocery store stocked with plastic produce and bread and empty
cans and cartons. In News Flash they can watch themselves anchor newscasts
and predict the weather over a television monitor (ugly ties provided).
Kids can climb aboard a demobilized fire engine and play doctor – or at
least emergency medical technician – in the back of an off-duty
ambulance. Girls like the dress-up area's ballerina costumes and fancy
gowns so much, they wear them while they cavort all over ExploraWorld's
24,000-square-foot space.
The youngest
visitors can play games in the Infant-Toddler Room, roll around the Soft
Blocks Room and dig into a pair of large and well-equipped sandboxes in
the Chesapeake Bay Room (where one lucky grown-up gets a comfy rocker).
They can also slip their shoes into the Sneaker Keeper and storm a
plastic, ball-filled Medieval Castle. All 25 activity areas are
creatively, never didactically, educational. And except for the water
paints in the Art Center – smocks are provided – and the Bubble Lab,
where things can get sticky, the areas are not at all messy.
While ExploraWorld is geared to children up to 12 years old, adult
interests are not entirely ignored. Grown-ups can amuse themselves with a
computer game called Backyard Baseball, a sports-bar-quality Foosball
game, a pair of table-hockey games and a television studio in which they
can watch themselves pick up a guitar and act like a rock star.
A high sky-blue
ceiling and a wall of windows make the premises bright; wall-to-wall
carpeting keeps the noise level down to a low roar. Partitions between the
areas are low enough to permit mandatory adult escorts (the ratio of one
adult to four kids is strictly enforced) to monitor kids in several areas
at once, which means children who arrive together don't have to stay
together. On the other hand, the nature of the activities makes it easy
for singletons to forge ad hoc friendships.
A small store opposite the entrance carries musical instruments, art
supplies and educational toy lines such as Playmobil and Brio (along with
a few Barbie key chains). But unlike at some indoor activity centers –
where admission also includes access to arcades full of extra-charge
carnival games – in this admission zone you can spend additional money
only in the cafe.
The cafe, beside the six spacious party rooms, is large and pleasant with
moderate prices but is lacking in culinary substance. If you're not up for
Little Caesar's Pizza or a hot dog, you'll have to settle for yogurt, a
fruit cup or an array of snack foods – although gourmet coffee and
cappuccino are available.
Fortunately, you can use the in-and-out privileges bestowed by a hand
stamp to leave the premises for a meal. Across Dobbin Road, the Hard
Times Cafe chili parlor has an appealing kids menu and Noodles
Corner offers not-too-spicy Asian dishes. McDonald's, Wendy's
and Friendly's are located just up the road in Dobbin Center. But
the ultimate Columbia dining experience for kids is The Tomato Palace
alongside the lake in Columbia Town Center. Decorated as playfully
as a child's bedroom, it offers a children's menu of pizza, burgers and
SpaghettiOs.
Directions: From the Beltway, take Interstate 95 north to
Exit 41 (Route 175) and head west toward Columbia. Turn left at Dobbin
Road and drive seven-tenths of a mile; ExploraWorld is on the right. Park
and enter in the rear of the building.
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