Kid Heaven

Copenhagen is SO fun for kids. There are so many great places to go with them. We've been spoiled while here. Our government-sponsored playgroup bought all moms and children year passes to the Experimentarium, which is a huge children's museum. We've had year passes to the zoo and have gone about 15 times. We had year passes to Tivoli, the charming amusement park/gardens in the center of town and gone there as many times. Places like this are to be expected in big cities, I think. They are so fun but it really is all of the other stuff that impresses me so much.

1. Every library I've been to (and I've been to 3 or 4) has a big section with a lot of toys to play with, surrounded by shelves of kids books. This was so nice in the winter time, to be able to go indoors somewhere and have toys that really held my kids' interests, because they were new to them. And we could alternate between playing with toys and "reading" (or since they were in Danish, "making up") stories. We also have seen two really great plays at libraries. One was a Christmas play with two ladies dressed like elves--they were really animated and the kids loved it. The other play was done by a single actress, but there were some lighting effects, songs that she sang with a background CD, some great scenery with some laser images projected on them at times. It was much more hi-tech than I was expecting and so so fun to watch.

2. Our Danish playgroup. I began going to an international playgroup when I first moved here but then I knew several moms from my church who took their kids to this Danish playgoup (called a legestue). So I ended up not going to the international playgroup and attending this Danish one, which I have LOVED. It's been fun to see my kids interact with Danish kids, and though they haven't learned much Danish (any), they've played right along with all of them and grown attached to kids and their moms. Our legestue is held in the basement of a church (state-sponsored) which is filled with toys and has a little outdoor area with a huge sandbox and bikes and everything. Legestues get money from the government based on how many children attend. Which means they really like moms like me, who chalk them up for three kids every time I come:). This money can be spent on lots of things. I know some of the things ours has been spent on--new toys, new sand for the sandbox, tickets into a pool, and year passes to the Experimentarium. We usually meet on Tuesdays at the church for playgroup, and then do an excursion on Thursdays (zoo, Experimentarium, pool, children's gymnasium, parks and forest walks). That's another thing I've loved about our playgroup. Because it is mostly Danes (except for me) they know all the cool places to go and I have been introduced to some really beautiful forests with fun trails through this playgroup.

3. The coolest park ever is luckily a three minute drive from my house in Virum. It isn't big, but it has SO much to do there.
*There are the normal playground structures with the slides and different ways to climb. But this place has a huge bin filled with sand toys, so there is always something fun to do. One of the playground structures has this funnel type thing to put sand through and collect it and everything.
*Then there is a sport court, again with all playing equipment provided. Soccer balls, basket balls, hockey balls and hockey sticks. My boys have loved playing hockey there.
*Then there is a small building with lots of toys inside--legos, animals, a car, a kitchen with food, mongo rubber legos, a crawl through tunnel, a mini rock wall, puzzles, books, etc. This was also great during the wintertime when I was too cold to let my kids play outside.
*Then, the coolest part of this park. Around this small building, two bike lanes have been painted and a full size traffic light installed. And once again, all of the equipment is provided. There are probably 30 bikes there for kids to ride. Some single, some double seater bikes, some one row, some two row bikes(3-4 people). All shapes and colors and sizes. There are a few that are just trailers, and can be traded between several of the bikes. So you always see kids taking the trailers off and putting another one on. I have taken my kids on many rides around that track and waited for the light to turn green before I go--oh, and "filled the gas tank" with a gas pump they have. The cutest thing is now William can ride a bike (well, tricycle or bike with training wheels) so he gets on a bike and Burke hops on back and they have a great time while I am holding Soren. It's so cute. Every time they come back around from the building, Burke yells to me, "Mom, I right here!" Every time. He just loves it and William is I think very proud that he can take his little brother on a ride all by himself. (I'll have to post pictures sometime...I took some but Don has the camera with him in Sydney right now!)
This park is AMAZING, and I am really going to miss it.

And like I said, there are several indoor and outdoor pools, so many fun forests for the kids to go play in and climb trees and use their imagination...I really think Copenhagen has so much to offer children. I am so glad we've gotten to experience it.

(BTW, for those that don't know, we are leaving Copenhagen soon for Sydney, Australia. Another town, another adventure.)

Also, the malls have the greatest play areas that are set up whenever school is out for any breaks that are one week or longer. In February, they had this huge four sided structure that started at ground level and as it wound around, got higher and higher. There were different methods for climbing up/over it that made it really interesting for all of the kids. In the summer, they had a huge play area with lots of different games going on. A climbing wall, a duck-fishing magnet pond, throwing balls into barrels where the lids opened and closed automatically, a slide, an enclosure with little plastic balls, a 9 hole mini-golf. It was so cool