Our never-ending quest to find indoor activities for the little ones was ostensably the catalyst for this entire project.  Long winters and frequent rainy days leave Long Island parents searching for any place willing to accept thier hard earned cash in exchange for letting thier children burn off a few calories.  Given the environmental conditions and the large population, one might assume that quality indoor play spaces would exist on every block.  Not so much!  Finding a good spot to separate your kids from thier Ipads for a few hours is actually much more difficult to accomplish than you might think.  That's not to say that these types of places do not exist, rather it is that they are often poorly run, overcrowded and of marginal quality.  Finding information online can be just as frustrating as going out and winging it.  Well...you've come to the right place friends.  Here are some suggestions for getting out of the house and into the fun zone.

 

Without further ado...

 

Bounce Trampoline Sports - Syosset

 

Bright, airy, tons of trampolines...basically its the motherlode.  Oh by the way, you'll have a good time too as you're pretending to chase your kids onto the mats (really...you had to try a backflip right there?)  Bounce has a toddler time allotted for children ages 2-6 to separate the little ones from the bigger kids, which is a bit of a problem during other open bounce times.  Its a good spot + this is Long Island = big crowds.

 

Long Island Children's Museum - Garden City

 

A good spot to get the kids out of the weather for a couple of hours.  There is a small indoor playground that gets pretty crowded (they rotate the kids every 30 minutes).  Lots of other possibilities such as a building block area, kids workshop for making wood projects and other displays and interactive activities.  Not as good for running and jumping as some other spots but an all around engaging area for your litte ones.  It should be noted that Nunley's Carousel is right next door. 

 

Bounce U - Oceanside

 

Ok, remember how we said there are indoor play spaces but most of them leave something to be desired...well Bounce U falls squarely into that category.  But you know who won't notice because they will be having way too good of a time...YOUR KIDS!!!  So the layout isn't great.  Its not exactly bright and airy.  Yeah yeah yeah.  What they do have is big bouncy castles and open play time for preschoolers and bigger kids.  So while there may be plenty of room for improvement, it's still a place you can take your kids that they are guaranteed to enjoy for a couple hours.  So until somebody makes a better one, we'll be seeing a lot more of Bounce U.  

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Ice Skating has to be mentioned here as another option for good clean year-round indoor fun.  Long Island is home to many rinks of varying degrees of quality.  Northwell Ice Center is a brand spanking new facility located at Eisenhower Park.  Large rinks with lots of open skating times.  Northwell offers lessons for beginners and there is an outside rink during the winter months. Other options include Iceland in New Hyde Park and The Rinx in Hauppauge

 

Future treks:  We are excited to take a trip to Air Trampoline Sports in Ronkonkoma.  Another big trampoline venue that looks to have tons of potential.  Ditto for Island Rock in Plainview.  An indoor rock wall venue that has programs for tots. 

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Well we did Island Rock...check out the blog