The Busy Peacock

http://www.thehungrypeacock.com.au/the-busy-peacock/

16 Mornington – Tyabb Road (Off Peacock Rd),
Tyabb, VIC

If you haven’t heard of The Busy Peacock, or you’re a little confused, it’s the new kid on the block for messy play down on the Mornington Peninsula (taking over the previous site of the Messy Shed).

The Busy Peacock is the messy friend to the café next door, The Hungry Peacock. It’s a kitted out shed for messy and sensory play for young kids. Some weeks there is a theme, others it is just a selection of the best activities. This week’s theme was “In My Garden”.

Sessions run at 9:30am and 11:15am six days a week (Tues – Sun) and cost $10 per child with pre-walkers free. They will cap the session at 25 children, so booking is recommended via their facebook page or texting 0416623827.

The set up consists of a variety of play spaces set up throughout the shed. Some are on the ground, a few at standing tables, painting on the wall, and really things going on all over the place. It doesn’t feel crowded at all and the activities were well spaced out within the room.

The good stuff.

Really engaging.
All the kids in attendance seemed to be having a great time, didn’t see many tantrums (except for Missy Moo yelling “MINE” and trying to keep all the cups for herself).

Coffee allowed.
For non parents this might not make sense, but others please give me an “Amen” in the comments below. We have been to many children’s play centres and play cafes where food and drink are clearly in one spot, and play is in another. That’s great if your child plays independently for hours on end (or even 10 minutes?!?), but if they don’t? Then you’re constantly having to leave your cup behind to tend to your kids. Not only was coffee welcome, but encouraged when I received the booking in text.

The “booking in” text.
I won’t copy and paste it (you’ll have to book in to read for yourself), but it’s a very informative message about what to bring, letting you know coffee is welcome, and a little bit about messy play. It was a nice touch.

Play spaces.
My daughter is pretty short (as am I), and only one activity was too tall for her. As it was she actually didn’t go near that one anyway, she was being a far too “busy peacock” at the other play stations to even notice. This is an issue we have faced at other similar messy play places so I was pleasantly surprised to see how low everything was. There were new walkers in our session today too, who were much shorter, and they were also able to enjoy most of the activities on offer.

Price.
$10 per child I think pretty reasonable for the variety and complexity of activities on offer.

Smocks.
Lots of smocks, enough for everyone. Yay.

Things to note:

Toilets.
Not a major issue but toilets are outside of the building and around a corner. It’s a bit too far to try to coerce a toddler out of the messy play space to go to them. Great toilets once you get there though, including potty seat and change table.
The do parties; both catered and BYO

So overall, we really loved it!

Want to get it cheaper?

Grab a term pass! For $100 per child you can come as often as you want throughout the term.
Use the Small Ideas app or voucher to get one free entry!

Lovely Fi ran our session today. Thanks for having us, we had a ball.

I really couldn’t fault The Busy Peacock, we both had a brilliant time. I’d rate it 9/10, the main improvement being that I’d love some artwork to take home, or at least the option. We’ll see you again soon.

p.s If you visit The Busy Peacock stay for lunch next door at The Hungry Peacock.