Dibo Village, Mokdong

This week’s Preschool Adventures in Seoul took us south of the Han River to a themed children’s indoor play park called Dibo Village (website in Korean only). (There’s another Dibo Village in Jung-gu, which I’m sure we’ll visit sometime in the near future!) This particular Dibo Village was fantastic, and one huge plus–the food was actually pretty decent, something I can’t say for many of the kid’s cafes and indoor play places we’ve been to. And for moms who don’t often get to enjoy a nice, quiet meal, this is important!

Of the indoor play parks that we’ve been to, Dibo Village is one of the best, not just because of the food. 😉 It’s well-organized, and there is a plethora–yes, I said plethora!–of things for kids to do. Of course, they have the obligatory bounce house, ball pits, and playground structure, which are sure to keep your kids busy for hours, but Dibo Village also offers a theater show with real characters in costume, cooking classes, arts and crafts classes, a sandbox, and a 3D show!

All of the organized activities are on a schedule, and times are very clearly listed on signs outside the various classroom/play areas. Instructor certifications are also posted outside the classrooms (for example, the instructor who leads the cooking class is trained and certified to teach cooking classes). Most of these activities are about 15-20 minutes long, so your kids will have plenty of time to play and participate in the activities. The language barrier is always less of an issue for kids than it is for adults, but don’t worry because the manager of this Dibo Village SPEAKS ENGLISH! He was very friendly and worked hard to ensure that the children (as well as the moms) were having a great time.

Also, of all the kids’ play parks that I’ve been to, the staff here (not only the manager) was very attentive to the children’s needs, particularly in the baby/toddler play area, making sure that the littles ones had a great time without being trampled by rambunctious older kids.

Here are a few tips to make your trip to Dibo Village a little easier:

1. The best time to come is after 3pm on weekdays. Weekday mornings are typically very busy with large groups from local preschools. We arrived at 10:30am, and by 10:45am, about 6 different preschool groups arrived. It was loud and crowded until the Dibo show started and most of the children went to the theater.

2. Rooms are available for birthday parties. Parties require a minimum of 10 children paying admission and use of the party room is free. Call ahead though to make a reservation.

3. Underground parking is available for free (with validation–be sure to take your parking ticket up to have it validated) for 2.5 hours. We were there for almost 3 hours and parking was 1,000W.

4. Lockers are provided free of charge (to the right as you enter the play area).

 

5. The menu at Han’s Cafe is in both English and Korean. There’s a small children’s menu as well, but small plates are also available to split larger/adult portion items.

Cost: For 2 hours of playtime

0-12 months: free

13-24 months: 9,000W

2 yrs + : 15,000W

Adults: 5,000W

For each additional 10 minutes of playtime: 1,000W/kids and 500W/adults

 

Getting There:

Address for driving: YangCheon-gu, Mok 1-dong, 923-6 Korean Artin Center, 7th floor

By subway: Omokgyo Station, Line 5. Exit 2. Walk straight out exit 2. The Artin Center building is on the second block down on the right side.

Website: www.dibovillage.kr (Korean only)

Phone: 02.2655.3450

Trick Eye Museum and Ice Museum

I’d heard so much about the Trick Eye Museum, and I really wanted to go… But taking all 3 kids on the subway by myself, especially when it involves several transfers seemed like such a daunting task. So with friends visiting from the States and my husband taking a day off from work, it the perfect time to venture out. Especially since I could make the husband drive!

It was a rather difficult drive. We approached the street from the wrong direction and couldn’t make a left turn, so we had to drive down about .5 mile, which took nearly 10 minutes in Hongdae, make a U-turn, then come back up the street in order to turn right. The street we turned onto was VERY narrow, and my Toyota Sienna (AKA The Swagger Wagon) had some trouble getting to the museum. Thankfully, I was not the one driving!

The Trick Eye Museum does have a parking lot, which is around the backside of the building. I can’t remember exactly how much it was, but I believe we paid 6,000KRW to park while we were there (this included having lunch after going to both the Trick Eye Museum and the Ice Museum).

Although we went on a Friday morning, the museum was PACKED. There were so many people that we had difficulty taking pictures. Trying to keep an eye on my kids was pretty hectic too, especially since there are so many platforms and steps and apparatuses to climb up on in order to take pictures. I’d turn around and find my 23 month old daughter 4 feet off the ground!

Despite the crowd, we got in some great photos, although I felt that for a museum that’s based on picture-taking, the lighting could have been better.

My friends and I had a lot of fun taking ridiculous photos, but the kids were not as entertained. Thankfully, purchasing a ticket to the Trick Eye Museum also gets you admission to the Ice Museum, which the kids though was “super cool!” The Ice Museum is just what you’d think it is. Everything in it is made of ice. And it’s COLD in there. Really cold. But there’s an ice slide, and that pretty much makes everything okay.

After the museums, we went to lunch at a meat buffet just across from the museum. It was only 12,000KRW/person and the kids were 7,000KRW for an all-you-can-eat buffet. You get your meat and grill at the table. That’s a really great price for one of these meat buffets, especially for a family of carnivorous piggies! I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but if you come out the doors of the Trick Eye Museum building (there are doors on either sides of the building), just walk toward the Y-intersection. It’s catty-cornered (diagonally across) from the Trick Eye Museum.

Another thing to keep in mind if you’re planning a trip to the Trick Eye Museum. Before entering the museum, store your things in the lockers available in the elevator and bathroom lobbies. Otherwise, you’ll be carrying all your things and looking for places to put your bags, coats, hats, umbrellas, etc. down before posing for a picture!

Animal Exhibition at the National War Museum

Back in October, my little Lincoln ran headfirst into a pole and cracked his head open as we were getting ready to go to the animal exhibition at the National War Museum and Memorial with friends. Charlie got to go, but Lincoln and I made our way to the ER instead. Since then, Lincoln reminded me on a daily basis that I needed to take him to see the exhibit. So, finally… We went. Lincoln was over the moon ecstatic. Charlie, on the other hand, expressed to me his boredom. Frequently. Can’t win ’em all…

This is a sampling of Lincoln’s joy:

 And Charlie’s displeasure:

The exhibit itself was visually attractive, but there really wasn’t too much substance to it. I suppose that if we could read and understand all the Korean text, the exhibition is supposed to teach children about endangered animals. There are a whole lot of photo ops, and staff is available to take photos for you at certain points, but other than that, there really wasn’t much for the children to do. There’s a small activity station at the end of the exhibit, and we spent quite a bit of time there drawing and playing with things that had very little to do with the exhibition itself! We were finished walking through the exhibit in about 35 minutes, so I’m not sure that it was worth the 36,000KRW we paid to get in… But who can put a price on Lincoln’s happiness, right??? 😉

Camping and Nami Island

The month of October was an absolute whirlwind of activity, it seems. I’m scrambling to catch up on all the things that fell off my radar as the month went on!

Our family make our final camping trip of the season this year to a nice little campsite about 1.5 drive from Seoul. The drive was nice and short, but it took us out of Seoul and we got to enjoy the crisp, fresh air for a couple days. Our campsite was relatively close to Nami Island, so we took a little trip out on the ferry and walked around for a couple hours. It was an impromptu trip out to the island, and we didn’t really know what we were in for. There’s so much to see and do on the island, but we just let the kids run around in the grass and we had lunch there, which turned out to be a bit of a debacle. We always seem to run into issues with food when we go to parks here in Korea… Oh, and even on a Monday morning, this place was absolutely packed. And according to the staff at the restaurant we ate at, this is always the case.

 Because our trip to Nami Island was so unplanned and pretty short (we only stayed on the island for a couple hours), I definitely think we’ll make the trip again another time. Mostly, we went camping to enjoy some time out of the city.

So more than seeing sights…these smiling faces were all I wanted. 🙂

Agriculture Museum and Rice Museum

First of all, sorry for the lack of photos. It’s difficult to snap photos while making sure my two 4 year olds don’t destroy anything or kill themselves with an 18 month old strapped to my back! I’m working on it though!

Today, the kids and I set off to the Rolling Ball Museum and the Fun Museum, which I read about on this AMAZING blog Kids Fun in Seoul. It sounded great, and I coordinate some other moms and their preschool-aged kids to meet us there. We arrived to find that of all the weeks in the year, the museum was closed this week for their yearly break.

Luckily, on our walk to the museum from the subway station, we passed the Agriculture Museum and right next to it, the Rice Museum. Why not? We’d come all this way. May as well venture in!

We started at the Agriculture Museum, which felt a bit strange when we first walked in with our brood of 4 year old boys. They were loud and rambunctious, and the museum was dead silent. The women at the information desk welcomed us in, and one of the women followed us through the first floor exhibition, giving us (me, mostly, since I was the only one of the bunch who spoke Korean) brief descriptions of the dioramas.

The museum is filled with depictions of early agriculture in Korea, beginning with the Stone Age and progressing through the development of Bronze age tools, the adaptation of natural resources (abundant mountain streams to irrigate crops), and innovations that allowed for things such as growing crops during Korea’s cold winters. One of the most interesting dioramas showed Korea’s unique greenhouse–the very first greenhouse ever used in human history according to the museum guide–made from paper (since glass had yet to be invented) that had been treated with animal fat. Very cool!

We were guided upstairs, where the exhibition continued, showing depictions of everyday life in post-agricultural or “traditional” Korea. At the end of the exhibition galleries on the 2nd floor, there’s a small room with activities for children. There wasn’t a whole lot that our group of kiddos could participate in since everything was in Korean, but there were buttons to push and a couple of touchscreen activities that engaged our 4 year olds, despite their inability to understand what they were doing!

Sorry for A) the blurred out faces of these handsome little guys, but only Charlie and Lincoln are mine, and B) the fact that I was unable to get a photo with ANY of the boys actually looking at the camera!

No matter what, button pushing is fun.

Right next door to the Agricultural Museum is the Rice Museum. I should mention that both of these museums are sponsored/supported by NH, a major Korean agricultural company. Their green and blue NH logo can be seen all over the country–on food items, on buildings, on banks–there’s actually an NH bank that was originally founded to help farmers manage their finances.

Anyway, the Rice Museum is a much more child-centered museum. The space is bright and colorful, and it’s much more hands-on that the Agricultural Museum. There’s a room with cute little stools for kids to sit on (or climb or rearrange) and watch a video about rice. Moms can sit in there and take a little break too!

One of the women told us about a little rice cafe upstairs on the second floor, so we ventured up there and found a cafe that sold snacks and drinks consisting entirely of NH products. There were things like rice lattes, shikhae (the sweet rice drink that’s often given to you at the end of your meal at Korean restaurants), hoedduk (a pancake-like snack with melted brown sugar in the center–so good!), ddukbokki (the spicy rice cake dish often found at street vendor stalls), and rice puff snacks for kids. FYI, none of the food is prepared there. All of the food that’s sold and served is from NH’s line of pre-packaged instant-ready foods. The just add water and microwave. You can also purchase these items at the little shop to take home and eat at a later time.

On our way out, I noticed a sign by the door to the elevator lobby:

It appears as though the Rice Museum offers enrichment classes for children on the weekends. Obviously, these classes revolve around cooking, and I would imagine that understanding and speaking Korean is a requirement… But how fun! The youngest age group is 6-7, so my kiddos are too young to go anyway, but they would love it. I’ll have to come back in a couple of years and get them in some cooking classes!

So all in all, despite our little setback at the beginning, we had a good time. We’ll probably be going to the Rolling Ball Museum next week since I was able to confirm that they will, in fact, be open.

Our Adventures Begin…

After agonizing over the decision for weeks, weighing the pros and cons, discussing it with friends who are parents and educators, my husband and I decided not to send our 4 year old twin boys to preschool this year. Neither of us ever considered “homeschooling” our children, but it seems that for this year before they enter kindergarten and they begin to spend more and more time out of the house, I will be my children’s teacher. I will also get to snuggle them just a little bit longer, help fill their growing brains with memories of exploring the world around them, and nurture a love of adventure!

I’m both excited and nervous about this task I’ve decided to undertake. On the one hand, I’m in love with the idea of spending this next year adventuring with my boys, and I’m confident that I can teach them the ABCs, the sounds that letters make, numbers–all the basics to prepare them for kindergarten. On the other hand, as most moms do on a daily basis, I’m constantly questioning whether or not I’m really doing what’s best for my children. I’m a bit nervous about the amount of work it will take to do this, the fact that I also have to care for my very demanding 18 month old daughter, and that my boys will miss out on the socialization aspect of preschool.

I hope that most days will be full of laughter and the spirit of adventure, but I’m sure that there will be many frustrations, days that I wish I had put them in preschool… So here I am blogging about it. Mostly, it’s to hold me accountable for the next 9 months, but also for me to think about the things that work for us and the things that don’t. And maybe if anyone reads this, it will help them with their own preschool adventuring, whether in Seoul or not!