Pennypickle's Workshop — Attraction in Temecula

It’s 2024 and besides for the younger generation of girls working, the manager and whatever title Cindy has are very much stuck in the past. I recently visited with my close friends whom have a young daughter on the autism spectrum. With all that Pennypickles has to offer, it’s a shame they aren’t more inclusive. While waiting for instructions to enter, Cindy spoke very loudly and direct to obtain the child’s attention. Read the room, Cindy :) if a child is clearly not making eye contact or engaging in conversation, it’s going to be okay! We don’t need to be more stern or more loud. Also, let’s ask before we start drawing on people - and if a child is clearly pulling away from you, or navigating so you are not able to draw on them - we can just stop there. There is no need to push the situation causing the child to cry. I promise we will all be fine with no marker drawn on us, okay? Spectrum or not - let’s listen to children when they are telling us “no” regarding to being touched! The visit shortly came to an end, when Cindy entered a room the child was playing in prior to setting up some science show. One way or another, Cindy stopped the show because she “couldn’t do it with all the noise” since the child wasn’t engaged in the class, she was engaging in self play with toys she already had out before the show even started. Knowing that was not plausible & already feeling embarrassed for being put in the spotlight, we exited the class. So as an idea, maybe, just maybe! We should have separate rooms for classes, with no distractions and options of watching compared to entering a room - where play is already occurring and having unrealistic expectations of a child having fun. I wish I would have gotten her name but shout out to the younger girl on staff who directed me who to speak with and was very apologetic. Upon speaking to the manager Izzy, she made light hearted jokes about how Cindy can be a little over bearing & this never happens! What a weird reaction! We personally didn’t find it funny & It took about 2 mins of a Google search to see a different family with a child on the spectrum have the same experience. They offered us free passes like we’d come back? We’d actually would always have the child with us - so, why would we come back where they clearly are not inclusive to all children, just some? I hope speaking of our experience, Pennypickles makes inclusion & compassion training mandatory to staff. New day and age, let’s...

I don't get the hype and rave reviews. We went for a field trip. I was interested after reading about this place on a few blogs. It was utter chaos. I believe they had another school there on field trip and there seemed to be drop in visitors as well. The way everything is set up is chaotic as well. Which, fine, I'm sure kids don't mind. My child ran around like crazy not really spending a whole lot of time in any one area. My main issue is with their science presentation for the field trip. The school we went with has young preschool up to 1st or 2nd grade. The presentation was not geared for the younger students. At least one other student beside mine made clear they were over it and bored, but we had to stay in the presentation. My child is a lot. I'm fully aware. My child is also friendly and chatty. He stands every time he's going to speak and he's always trying to be involved. All that said, he only stood and tried to be extra involved maybe 3 times. At one point, the member of staff snapped at him and told him to sit down and be quiet because he stood and asked to be the next participant. Granted, all of the kids were asking and he was the only one standing, but sheesh. In the moment, I thought she did not need to be the presenter because she does not have patience for small kids. Nope. It was just my child. Not too long afterwards, a little girl stood up and was asking to be involved, etc. and the member of staff nicely spoke to her, let her know it wasn't going to happen and asked her to sit down. The whole field trip lasted 1.5 hours. I was fine leaving, but it seemed pretty short especially when a third of the time was making the kids sit down and pay attention even if they weren't interested. I would not go back or recommend this place to anyone. I don't think any of the children really had quality play time as there were so many kids everywhere. If they have field trips they should only schedule one school at a time and not be open to the public during that 1.5 hour block of time. I wish I would have skipped this, but it was my child's first ever field trip. I'll be more discerning...

This museum is really fun but there were some draw backs. They section off the day into segments for people to come in to the museum and older children would probably not enjoy this as much as younger children.

Here is the schedule that is posted on their door: Closed Monday (Except during the summer and school holidays) Tue-Sat: 10am- 12 noon, 12:30-2:30, 3-5 Friday night science adventure: 5:30-7:30 Sunday- 12:30-2:30 and 3-5 *They are closed during the break between sessions to straighten up and sanitize the museum

Fees- $5 per person over the age of 2. Ask about Military discounts ;)

I give this museum 5 stars because it was our first time there and it is really a cool place. It is NOT a regular museum. You can touch and feel everything in the place. Also, there are scavenger hunts that you can do which vary in difficulty. (Level 1 easiest and level 7 is the hardest). I will tell you that my kids are aged 11, 9, 7 and 5. The two oldest had fun but they are not interested in going back. My 7 and 5 year old would go back every day if they could! So just know that after a certain age the museum looses its appeal. During our session they did science experiments. My older two kids watched them with their dad and they said that they were really cool. I was with the younger two children who had no interest in seeing them! Also, kids have to be accompanied by adults at all times so just keep this in mind if you have several children because it can be hard to keep them all in the same room.

Lastly, they do have a cute gift shop just inside the building that you can go in to even if you have not paid to see the museum. It has many different types of things (mostly science related) and there are items for many different age groups.

I hope...