Grandma’s Clubhouse

(Blue Blocks Room)

Enter a world of endless imagination where the only limit is what you can dream up! Grandma's Clubhouse is home to our famous Big Blue Blocks - oversized foam building shapes from Imagination Playground that allow children to create their own unique play environments at a massive scale. This room celebrates classic, open-ended construction play where simple blocks transform into castles, spaceships, obstacle courses, and whatever else young builders envision. 

Stack giant bricks, cylinders, and chutes to engineer towering structures or sprawling landscapes. Test balance and spatial reasoning as you design creations that are stable enough to climb on or crawl through. Collaborate with friends to tackle large-scale architectural challenges or find a cozy corner for quieter play and storytelling. 

This exhibit teaches that there's no wrong way to build - whether constructing a fort, designing a maze, or simply stacking blocks to see how high they'll go, every creation develops engineering thinking, problem-solving, and the confidence to try, fail, and try again. 

    • Imagination Playground Blocks: Oversized, interlocking blue foam shapes (bricks, cylinders, and chutes) 

    • Open Play Floor: A large, safe space for building at a massive scale 

    • Cozy Corners: Quiet areas within the room for rest or reading 

    • Engineering: Understanding structural integrity, balance, and spatial reasoning 

    • Math: Comparing sizes, shapes, and volume 

    • Society: Negotiating and collaborating on large-scale construction projects 

    • STEAM Skills: Focuses on Engineering and Math 

    • Full Body Engagement: Using gross motor skills to lift and move large blocks 

    • Tangible World: Directly manipulating and rearranging physical objects 

    • Creative: Building unique, abstract structures without a "right" or "wrong" way 

Explore More 

This exhibit is located in Gilbert House. Also explore: Fortopia | Sensory Portal 

  • Three children play behind large blue foam blocks, smiling and giving thumbs up, inside a play area with pastel-colored walls.
  • Three young children playing with large blue foam building blocks in an indoor play area near a window.
  • A young boy smiling and balancing blue foam blocks on a balance beam at an indoor play area with light green and beige walls.
  • A young boy sitting on the carpeted floor of an indoor playground surrounded by large blue foam blocks and shapes, smiling and enjoying playtime.
  • A young boy with brown hair sits behind large blue foam blocks with holes, part of a foam play structure, in a room with carpeted floor and a window in the background.
  • A young boy playing with a large, blue, foam toy dinosaur inside a room with carpeted floor and green wall.
  • Two boys playing with large blue foam blocks in a playroom or indoor area.
  • Two young children playing with foam building blocks in an indoor play area.