Recently Ivy and I met up with one of my friends for a coffee, who suggested we went over to Olde Watermill Shopping Village in Barton-le-Clay, as she heard there was a great soft play area for under 5’s. So off Ivy and I went on an adventure to check out Little Munchkins Play Barn, where hopefully she can burn off all of her energy and climb things, and fingers crossed I can have a half-decent conversation with my friend over a coffee.
Little Munchkins Play Barn is made up of 4 different play areas, with a small seating/cafe area in the middle, and an outside area. The cafe serves hot and cold drinks, snacks, cakes and loads of things suitable for little ones. There wasn’t a huge amount of choice in terms of cake etc, and my friend is dairy-free and there weren’t any alternative milk choices, but it wasn’t something that bothered us. The seating area also had plenty of high chairs you could use if your small ones aren’t able to use chairs.
All of the inside areas you could see from the seating area, which I loved! All the other softplay places we’ve been to you have to follow your child around to see where they are, and Ivy is the kind of child who is confident enough to play on her own.
Ivy was straight into the room with a softplay climbing frame, because the kid loves a slide. She found it a little difficult to climb up for her age, but there was another child there a few years older than Ivy who was wizzing up and down it no problem!
One of the play areas was a little sandpit area, which Ivy didn’t pay too much attention to initially, but she’s never really seen any so I think it confused her more than anything! After a little bit of coaxing she went to go explore it, but was more interested it playing with the pots in the sandpit!
Ivy did however like the Peppa Pig soft play equipment, moving the blocks around, and climbing up and down the steps!
And the final room contained more toys, with a play kitchen, supermarket, some cars, dolls and smaller toys. This was more of a quieter play area, and my wild child just wanted to go up and down the slide all day, but I think she woud love this when she’s more into playing with toys than she is now.
There is also an outside area, with mini golf too! Ivy was excited to see a playhouse, slides, balls and seesaws. The outside area is enclosed too, with access from inside Little Munchkins Play Barn, so your little ones can’t run off anywhere. I thought it was a nice addition to the inside area, especially if you visit on a nice day to get some fresh air.
We really enjoyed our visit to Little Munchkins Play Barn! Ivy loved running around Barton Watermill soft play and playing with everything, and it was great to have a soft play place dedicated just for toddlers. And luckily for me, Ivy is a pretty confident child so was happy to play alone while I could have a coffee with my friend and see Ivy from where we were sat. You can tell a lot of thought has gone into making this a toddler-friendly place, and there were so many different toys for them to play with!
How to find it
Little Munchkins Play Barn is located at The Olde Watermill, Barton-le-Clay, MK45 4RF, use the map below for directions.
Good to Know
- Little Munchkins Play Barn opening times Monday – Saturday (closed Tuesdays) are 9.30 – 11, 11.30 – 1, 1.30 – 3, 3.30 – 5. Sunday sessions are 10 – 11.30, 12 – 1.30, 2 – 3.30.
- Sessions last 90 minutes, and cost £2.50 for 6 months – 1 year old, £4.50 for children between 1 – 5, under 6 months are free, and for adults are £1.50
- Currently sessions need to be prebooked, and are limited to 90 minutes. Masks are required and there’s plenty of hand santiser stations, and equipment cleaned between each session. You can read more here about what Little Munchkins Play Barn is doing about COVID safety.
