Indoor Playgrounds

By Karen Shadrach

Kids want and need to be active and burn off excess energy during our long Northeast Ohio winters. The solution? Try an indoor play area. Our region has plenty of options. Some have age restrictions and require reservations. Check websites or call before heading out. Most sell admission tickets and require waiver forms that you can fill out online, significantly cutting your wait time when you get there with eager kids.

Fun Center is a large children’s amusement center in Parma with a net/ropes course, laser

Jump, stretch & run; the weather's always nice inside. tag, bowling, playground and more. You can pay for whatever activities you want to use. Choose only one adventure, or choose one of their play packages, depending on how long you plan to stay.

Cafe O’ Play in Stow and Play Day Café in Solon are wonderful play spaces for children under 12 years old. Reservations are required, which is nice because the play areas aren’t too crowded. Play Day Café also has a craft room and both have a large area of couches to rest while your grandchildren are playing. No food is allowed to be brought in, but each has a café to buy lunch or a snack.

Ohio’s largest indoor play structure is Jungle

Junction in Bellevue. It has six levels of adventures to keep kids 12 and younger challenged and entertained for hours. You can bring food or snacks, and there are picnic tables to sit at and eat; they also make for a great gathering place for the kids to meet you. This unique venue is only a 30-minute drive south of Sandusky; the structure used to be within the Kalahari water park. It’s budget-friendly, too, costing $4 per child.

Indoor play areas that are great for high-energy children are trampoline parks. Two here are Get Air Cleveland in Middleburg Heights and Sky Zone in Boston Heights. Kids can bounce and leap on a gigantic court of wall-to-wall trampolines, and ultimately fall into a big foam pit. There are also ropes and rock walls to climb.

Adrenaline Monkey is an indoor adventure center with ninja obstacle courses for all ages. Toddlers get a special time during the week so little ones aren’t bouncing into the big kids.

If you are looking exclusively for an arcade to play in, a good choice is Chuck E. Cheese, with several locations throughout Cleveland and Akron.

The “E.” stands for entertainment, and although there is no real exercise here, there are a lot of new and old-style arcade games to play. Your grandkids will enjoy playing games with (and against) you. And don’t worry about bringing coins. Prepaid, reloadable cards keep the machines going. You can replace the amount on the card, or, as I tell my grandkids, “When your card runs out …we’re done!”

Most games spit out tickets after playing, or your game card will keep track of points earned. These can then be redeemed for prizes. Grandkids love to turn their results in for a small reward.

Indoor playgrounds are a great way to encourage kids to be active while having fun and learning. A gift card to any of these indoor play areas makes a great birthday gift instead of a toy. This is a gift of an experience and an opportunity to do something special with you... a gift that keeps on giving.