3 Gorham Industrial Pkwy, Gorham, ME 04038
Sunflower Playspace + Cafe is open Tue-Sat 9am-3pm. It is an awesome space and has lots of potential! We went opening day and it was BUSY. I imagine it will stay that way for quite some time for numerous reasons! Let’s dive in!
Finding Sunflower Playspace and Cafe is easy, if you follow your GPS. There is not signage other than their sign above their door. Being in a plaza, you would think there would be a sign listing all the businesses but there isn’t. With that said, once you turn onto the parkway, make an immediate right and SP+C is the last entrance in the plaza. Because there are other businesses here parking right in front might not always be an option but the parking lot is big enough so you shouldn’t find trouble finding a spot but you just might have to walk the length of the building.
You’ll enter and immediately be greeted at the front desk. You’ll be asked to sign a waiver for each of your children, which is done through your phone by scanning a qr code! The process is fairly quick especially if you have just one. The cost is $10 for the first child and $5 for siblings and 0-6 is free. Something to note is that if you are an EBT participant, present it before you pay and you can enter the play area for just a dollar! Unsure if it’s $1 per kid or for all but either way it’s a big pay difference. Take advantage if you can! Here at the front desk you can also order food and drinks from their menu! As of now, March 12, 2024, their menu is limited to coffee, teas and a few small snacks. They are advertising for a full menu to come, including but not limited to, bagels, muffins, paninis, and more!
Once you sign your waiver and pay your way in you’ll remove your shoes and belongings, storing them in a cubby or a small shoe rack and hook. Enter to your right and you’ll be in the cafe area. This area is CUTE. It’s fitted with a couch, grown-up tables and a small kids table. In front of the couch is a big coffee table and beside the couch is a adult book library, take one leave one type deal!
The “rooms” are all one big open space but once you leave the cafe area, kids will come upon a loft house, on the right, with a big bookstand filled with lots of kids favorites! Kids can climb up to the top of the loft and snuggle up with the giant fluffy pillows to read or just feel tall! Below is stuffed kids chairs with lights above for a relaxing scene! On the outside of the loft is a closet built in and there kids will find lots of dress-up clothing and accessories!
In the corner behind the loft, is a lamp lit area with doctor supplies, babies (and accessories), and musical instruments! There’s also a giant mirror here too which my 9m old loved once he discovered it! Across from the loft and to the left after the cafe is the open space play I mentioned. The first thing my 2yo noticed was the train track. He spent a majority of his time here. Kids can build their own tracks, city’s, areas. There’s plenty of different types of vehicles to play with and the table is big enough for atleast four kids to all be playing at the same time.
If you’re looking at the train table, with your back to the loft, to the right of the train table is the kitchen area. The kitchen area is supplied with wooden cabinets for all the goodies! Following the wall, there’s a kitchenette. All wooden, so no noises or sounds but that didn’t stop a single child from occupying the space. Besides the kitchenette is a storing rack for more supplies for cooking. Next to that is another small wooden stove and a separate play sink.
In the center of this “room”, directly behind the train table, are kid sized tables for coloring pages, games, and table top toys. The entire hour and a half we were there, the two tables were full or almost full. The things needed to use at this table can be found on a cube shelf on the back wall. You’ll find all sorts of board games, crayons, colored pencils and coloring pages!
To the right of the train table and the right of the kids sized activity tables are more storage cube shelves. These are filled with toddler favorites! From object permanence toys to stacker toys to cube manipulating toys, the shelves really do have some of the best toys I’ve seen cater heavily to Montessori toddlers. To finish off this “room” there’s a couple things I want to mention, it is heavily padded with black mats so falling shouldn’t really be an issue if a baby whose just learning to sit up or crawl falls over. Secondly there is a stationary baby bouncer in the area to set your young one in so the can participate in play if the floor gets to crowded. Which brings me to my next point, as I mentioned I went on opening day so it was extremely crowded in this area. Not a single space wasn’t occupied, whether by people or toys scattered on the floor. There isn’t much to be done about this unless you figure out the best time to go when it isn’t crowded. I intend to find out so stick around because we will definitely be coming back here, probably weekly, and even moreso when they have a full menu because I’m a sucker for paninis!
Moving onto the other “room”, again it is heavily padded with black mats. To the right, is the most comfortable couch I’ve ever sat on. It was almost too comfortable. Beside the couch is another stationary baby bouncer for your baby! We utilized the bouncers a lot in each area. In front of the couch is one of those Jolly Jumper things. Again, everytime I looked, there was a child on it, trying to jump as high as they could, my 2yo included. Behind the jolly jumper is a wooden structure. Kids can climb up on a ramp type thing with colorful footholds. Using this kids will come to a platform where the can then cross over using monkey bars. For a 3 or younger you might have to help them across but my 5yo wasn’t hesitant (like she usually is with monkey bars) because the ‘drop’ was so little from her feet to the floor. Should your kid cross the bars they’ll come to another platform with a slippery slide. Also on this platform is an opening to a ramp with circular holds to climb up or down. If you have small kids, like my 2yo, who doesn’t want to use the bars, there is a step on either side to still get up and down easily. My son did it over and over and over. On the right wall, is a climbing structure, it has a swing, climbing bars, a rock wall and a climbing net. These things are never my favorite at ANY play place as most kids will only climb a couple rungs up and come back down again. It was no different here. Kids can’t really swing on the swing if someone is also trying to climb the bars, which is witnessed multiple times. I had to stop my own from swinging at least five times while someone else came in and started climbing. On the left wall, kids can use different types of magnets on the magnet walls. This is the only area I felt I really needed to pay close attention yo my 9m old because some of the magnets are small. With that said, there were various types of magnets some I’ve never seen before. These boards were a huge hit between all the ages I saw try it out. Above the magnet boards is another magnet board where I assume the staff wants you to stick your coloring pages on if you wish. The bathrooms are also on this wall. We didn’t need them for our visit today so I’m unsure the state of them.
Sunflower Playspace + Cafe advertises that is for ages 0-6, while older siblings are welcome they are asked to be mindful of the 6 and under crowds. I think the age range is accurate. My 5yo asked to come back before we even left. My 2yo also cried leaving and I had to usher him inch by inch until we got back to my car. I do think the room with the structures could have something more or something else but I’m not sure what with the space provided, maybe more of a ‘baby’ area or ride on toys. Of the two “rooms”, this one was the least occupied. Multiple times I retreated here, with my 9m so he could crawl around without the worry of toddlers or kids tripping or running by him. It was also a quiet space to nurse my son. The price tag of $10 (and $5 for each sibling) feel worth it to me. We were there for about an hour and a half and definitely could’ve stayed another hour and a half but I had nap time schedules to adhere too and that trumps everything. I also think if the full menu was avaliable we would’ve stayed another half hour or so. If you have EBT remember to use it when paying because the $1 price tag is unbeatable. I can’t say anything for the prices of food or drinks, because I didn’t purchase anything and the full menu was not up. You can bring in your own food if your prefer but it has to be eaten in the cafe area. This is a big plus for me as well because we are vegetarians and sometimes it’s hard to go to cafes and find anything vegetarian. I noticed in the check-in area is a microwave, so I would assume (I will check for sure next time I’m in) it’s for use for guests, again another plus if it is.
Overall, I would say Sunflower Playspace and Cafe is worth a visit. If you don’t like big crowds, maybe wait a couple weeks to go. Maybe by then the full cafe menu will be ready too. The location is prime, it’s about 20 minutes from Gray, finding it and parking is easy. Check in is fast and efficient and it may get faster if they add the waiver to their website that’s coming soon. There is so much to play with and so many opportunities for pretend play. I’m certain my kids didn’t even get to see or play with everything. The toys were top notch quality and very engaging. I look forward to returning and seeing this space grow. It’s really awesome as is but it definitely has potential to be GREAT.
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