Hippocampus

I cannot believe that I've written so many posts on this blog and not written about Hippocampus. So it's a place for kids, but it's a fantastic place and worth writing about, so I'm shaking my head. Still shaking.

Hippocampus is an experience centre, not a library. What's the difference? Well, they say it very well:

Hippocampus is not a library, or a club, a work shop, or a community center - it is all that and more. We call it an experience center - a treasure trove of information, knowledge, skills, activities and resources.

They have books, loads of them and if you visit the place, you'll wish you were a kid again. CDs, DVDs, computer games, computers, it's just an amazing place to be.

There's lots of space, and there beanbags around to sit comfortably and read books. You'll even see parents coming in there with little children and reading to them. There's even an outside area where activities are conducted.

They also have a TV room where they screen movies for kids. They have activities, they have clubs, in short, it's a hell of an experience if you're a kid, or if you have kids. They've got books that parents can read too when they come in with their kids. The good folks at Hippocampus have thought of everything.

For me, the best thing about Hippocampus is seeing children asking for books, reading books, and generally looking quite happy about being there.

The reason I'm writing about this today is that I went there to meet my friend and got roped into doing an activity with some of the kids. Everything was prepared, I was just the facilitator. We had a spelling game and then we had a "guess the word from the clues" game, and the kids were laughing, yelling, just being kids, having fun. I had a blast as well. The highlight of my weekend for sure and I've still got Sunday to go.

If you've got kids, or if you have friends who have kids, tell them about Hippocampus, and go visit there. The website has directions and contact info, and a load of other information.

PS: Just for the record, I do not work for Hippocampus. :-)