Has anyone been to Make A Messterpiece in Glenview, IL? I was thinking of taking my 3.5 year old daughter there on Friday. Did you like it? I have heard mixed reviews.
I've never been personally, but my mil has taken my daughter (also 3.5) a few times and she LOVES it! She's often pretty iffy about staying over at grandma's house (to my mil's dismay!) and when I told her that grandma wanted to take her to Make a Messterpiece, it was a done deal and nothing could have changed her mind! She actually came home with something I framed and hung on her wall this last time.
I took my kids there this past winter and was extremely disappointed. As someone else said, there's a play area and tables for coloring and painting, but there was a $5 charge for EACH of the other activity stations, plus a general admission fee, so I felt nickel'd and dimed and spent a lot of money. I can understand the fee for the cooking activity, but the amount of time for some of the activities is really uneven. My kids did the bubble art, which took less than 5 minutes, and they only got to make 1 since the person working the station gives out the cardboard. Since they finished quickly, my older son wanted to do other things but I didn't want to pay for anything else.
Check their website, though, because I think they have changed some of their pricing based on feedback. They were offering memberships that included admission and 1 activity per visit, but that may have been only for the summer.
If you're willing to make the trek, take a pass and go to the Kohl's Children's Museum, which is just north of Make a Messterpiece.
I took my daughter as a treat after receiving her school physical (shots included!) and thought it was just OK. We were driving from downtown Chicago, so to me, the drive wasn't worth the experience. Basically, they have a section where they can paint/color, etc and other areas where they can do crafts, another where they can cook and another where they can go into a room and splatter paint around with drums ala Blue Man Group. My daughter spent the majority of her time in the play area on the slide. I could have taken her to the park for less money-but I did have a coupon so it wasn't too expensive. I don't mean to sound like it would be a waste of time because it's a fun place for kids, but I didn't find it to be worth paying a premium price. In my opinion, if you're going to Glenview, go to the Kohl's Children's Museum instead. We've done both and the Museum was a huge hit.
my 2 yr old LOVES it! it can get pricey if you do all the stuff, but if you pick and choose it is great!
