By Shannon Sturgis Julie Crouch and Cathleen McFarlin are co-owners of The Wonder Place.

LITTLE ROCK — Who:

Julie Crouch (left) and Cathleen McFarlin.

What:

Co-owners of The Wonder Place, 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock

How long:

Since the facility opened in July 2006.

What they do all day:

The Wonder Place is an indoor play facility geared toward children 8 and under and features a toddler area, a mock veterinarian clinic and a mock River Market, a water play area, a stage with costumes and more.

The co-owners do everything from answering phones to scheduling birthday parties and visits from school groups. They also fix the toys and play areas when something falls apart - as things so often do when children are involved.

"I'm Mrs. Fix-it," said McFarlin. "I'm usually painting something or fixing something when it breaks. You really have to be a jack-of-all-trades to work here."

The last thing she fixed was a Plexiglas piece on the Air Maze. She had to fix a loose tube that was leaking air during our visit.

Would they recommend their job?

McFarlin answers with a yes. "It's never monotonous. You can never get bored. There's something new everyday." She likes to watch the range of reaction to The Wonder Place from toddlers to 5- and 6-year-olds. "It's fun to watch the kids when they come in for the first time and when they come in for the 10th time and see what things they gravitate towards," she added.

Air maze:

The Air Maze, built by a group called Kid Werks, is a "dad favorite," McFarlin said. The maze has a constant stream of air and chutes for brightly-colored scarves to flow through and burst out of one of three exits. "Everyone wants to build one in their house for laundry," she said.

Art room:

In the art room, crafts are done and stories are read. On our Fat Tuesday visit, the children were to make Mardi Gras masks. When the room is not in use, pages sit ready to be colored and smocks hang on the wall.

Water table:

McFarlin and Crouch estimate the water table is about 10 to 12 feet long. Water flows downhill in the feature and is made to look like a rocky Arkansas creek. "Not many are made like that," McFarlin said. "We tried to make it synonymous with Arkansas."

By Shannon Sturgis The Icky Bucket is for toys that need to be sanitized.

Icky bucket:

Posted around the facility are "Icky Buckets" for toys that need to be sanitized. "When kids chew on toys or sneeze on them or something, they go in the bucket and are sanitized at the end of the day," Crouch said.