Good Stuff for Kids (in Albuquerque) - Red Light Green Light!

When we moved to Albuquerque a few years ago, one thing I liked right away about living here is that we had plenty of things to do to keep busy with the kids. Red Light Green Light for Kids opened a couple of years later and I was happy to add it to my list of places that my kids love. This week I took a couple of 7 year old girls with me to have some fun and help me with some pictures, so I can show you what it's like. And here is a link to their website so you can get the official story. They are located just north of the Cottonwood Mall.



It's a kids' play and party club, full of fun opportunities for them to use their imagination. Designed for kids aged toddler through 12 years old; I think their best age group is probably preschool and early grade school age kids. My two 7-year-olds here had a blast and were not ready to go when it was time, and when my kids were preschool-aged I had to drag them out when it was time to go. They also have a science area geared towards an older audience, getting up to those 12 year olds, along with art that is great for any age.

I am a huge fan of imaginative, cooperative play, and there are lots of opportunities for that. For instance, here the girls are grocery shopping.


My kids have always totally loved those little shopping carts! Their grocery shopping area is really fun. Each girl took a turn being the cashier.


I loved that the girls were using the register calculator to add up the vegetables and figure out how much change they needed to give back.


The girls didn't delve into the building materials, but there are some fun things to build with here.


The little farm area is so cute - horses to ride and some fun animal hats (which I should have had the girls wear but forgot).


Driving the farm truck.


Hopping around in the ball pit. When my son was little I couldn't get him out of the ball pit.


More fun pretending with the food in the diner play area. I love that there is dress-up there, and I love their nice toy food! The girls quickly made the maximum number of sandwiches and pizza and ice cream cones.






We didn't have a lot of time for the art area, but the girls could have kept busy there much longer if we had had more time.


And here they are playing with the animals in the pretend vet area. The girls were so excited about the animals in the cages. They got each set out and gave them a full checkup (mostly consisting of brushing their fur, I bet real vets wish that was how it went).




There is a corner devoted to exercise, what a great idea! The punching bag expressions cracked me up.


It was closing time and the girls didn't want to quit spinning... just a little longer!


Red Light Green Light also has a boutique toy store. They carry some really great toys, not the run of the mill plastic stuff, but nice wooden toys, those darling butterfly dress-up wings, and some good educational toys that can be hard to find.


One more thing that I appreciate is that the play area is clean! This is kind of a big deal for me. They also offer birthday parties - my daughter had a party here when she turned 5 years old, and it was a huge hit. You can see their website here for more information.