COLUMBIA, Md. — A former grocery store is now the ultimate child's play area, billed as an art museum where guests are encouraged to touch and play with everything.
"We want their minds to go wild," said Lee Andersen. "We want them to explore, we want them to role play and physically not be on their phone."
Andersen is the creator of the DoodleHATCH Interactive Art Museum in the Long Reach Village Center in Columbia. She converted the store into a massive creative space, filled with exhibits created by teams of volunteers.
Guests can blast off into space, brush the hair of a unicorn, cook in a witch's kitchen, lay in a bed made for giants or nestle in with a book in Cozy Corner.
And don't forget the rules, 74 of them to be exact.
Among the rules:
#18 - Discrete sniffing is O.K., licking is not (for werewolves)
#29 - If you have tentacles, please keep them to yourself
#45 - Never knowingly be serious
#54 - Do not feed magical creatures
Andersen said what fills her heart the most is when she can hear children laughing.
"I'm filled up, I'm filled up. I have such joy in my life," she said.
She hopes to keep that laughter going even when she's no longer here to enjoy it. Andersen is battling stage 4 colon cancer. She's been given grim outlooks in terms of her life expectancy but she isn't letting cancer dim her light.
"Attitude is a lot of what helps people create for the community. You don’t get paid, you have to give to the community and you have to have the will to live and I have a very strong will to live."
So long as her imagination continues to churn out new ideas for more exhibits, Andersen is okay with others handling the day-to-day operations. Her focus remains on the mission of DoodleHATCH, to inspire creativity.
"I have a fabulous life and I love my life. What joy, what amazing experiences and the joy of the kids."
Admission to DoodleHATCH is $10 and kids can play all day long. Each child also gets to take home a free book. They hold special workshops and can host birthday parties.
Their summer hours are Tuesday-Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Andersen is also working on a kids' TV show and is hoping to expand the museum.
