Phoenix Comic Con was a whirlwind.  Between Panels, shopping, the Hall of Heroes, and the kid events it went way too fast.  What?  There were kid events at PHXCC?  You bet.  I have to give the staff and volunteers of PHXCC a big round of applause for realizing more space and events needed to be held for the kids, and also that rooms needed to be set up for kids just to be kids.

First, for those with children 5 and under, a special Padawan room was set up.  Here mothers could come hang with other Geek moms and find a quiet spot to let their small ones play or take time to feed them away from the craziness of the Con.  They even offer nap times in these room.  Granted my children are now past the age for us to visit the Padawan room, however as a mother who did not have these type of rooms when my children were smaller I really appreciate the fact that the Con took time to set this up.   (Yes, as a Star Wars fan I realize with the ages of the children this should have been the Younglings room but I am not the one that named it.)

Now my youngest is only a year out of the Padawan room but she already had events she wanted to go to with her brother and sister – and so the list began.

First were the two room that allowed the kids to let their imagination run wild – The Lego room and the art room.  There is nothing more exciting for a kid than to walk into a room of tables filled with Legos and being told they can build what ever they want.  From spaceships and buses to ships and castles and gardens, there was no end to the imagination in that room.

It may only have been met by the artists that took their imagination to other forms in the Art room.  From puppets to door hangers or anything you can draw on paper, the Art room let the kids just take time to create or draw their favorite characters that they had been seeing all day.  Some days the Art room hosted special How-to events, Like the How to Draw My Little Pony.   My girls wanted to get into that panel and I’m glad we arrived early for them to get a seat.  It filled up quickly and even had Con volunteers bringing out extra chairs and tables.

Now if all the walking between hotels and around the exhibit hall was not enough to wear your kids out you could always put them through some super hero training.  Both the Arizona Avengers and the AZ Justice League had training events where the kids could practice their super hero skills and fight the bad guys.  There were also Jedi Trials courtesy of the Syndicate Sabers of Arizona.

 

For something a bit more along the science line my children enjoyed attending the Getting Diggy with it panel hosted by the Very Awesome Girls of Phoenix.  Here the kids got to dig up a fossil and take it home.  The Very Awesome Girls hope next year to do some more science related panels.

I have only just touched on the events my children went to, but there was a whole track of events every day for the kids that included beginning Cosplaying, the science of superheroes, an inflatable planetarium, Disney Princess’ and so much more.

It was noted in the program book that Bookmans help sponsor the youth activities.  So a big thank you must be given to them too.  Who knows if all this space would have been available if they had not sponsored the youth activities.  I love the fact that this type of programming is growing and that you see so many more families at PHXCC.  I also love the recognition that the children are important.  We were all young once and for some of us it took a long time to find a group of people that liked the same thing we did.  Thanks to PHXCC for not letting our children have to wait so long for them to find friends with similar interests.