Life – Nichole Ann blogs

Bucks County Indoor Fun with Kids!

Here’s a comprehensive list of places to bounce, jump and climb indoors in Bucks County, PA! You’ll find inflatable play centers, open gyms, mini golf, rock climbing and more fun things to do indoors!

Indoor Play places and FUN THINGS to do with kids in Bucks County!

Lower Bucks

Bouncing Off the Walls | Levittown
Cost: $3.50 – $10. Each child admission includes 2 free adults.
Small bounces and climbing
Ages: 6 and younger

Chuck E. Cheese’s | Levittown
Indoor arcade with some coin operated rides – don’t forget about the dancing Chuck E!
Cost: 1 token per game or ride
Ages: 3+

Bristol Riverside Theatre | Bristol
Cost: Varies by show. Avg $15 – $25
Live theatre, almost always a show for families happening but offerings will vary.
Ages: 6 and younger

Color Me Mine | Langhorne (Oxford Valley Mall)
Cost: Varies by piece. $15-25+ per piece.
A walk-in paint-it-yourself ceramics studio. NO experience or reservations needed.
Ages: All ages.

Oxford Valley Mall Play Area | Langhorne
Cost: FREE
Right in the middle of the mall on the lower level. Sit back and relax while the tots play!
Ages: 5 and under

Build-A-Bear Workshop | Langhorne (Oxford Valley Mall)
Cost: FREE
A walk-in paint-it-yourself ceramics studio. NO experience or reservations needed.
Ages: 3+

Bounce U | Langhorne (There’s also one in Horsham – MontCo)
Cost: $8.95 – $10.95
Indoor bounce center feauturing three rooms of bouncing along with pre-school playdates during the day, family nights and open bounces.
Ages: 3 and up

Sesame Place | Langhorne
Cost: $17-27 per person
Yes, it’s an outdoor amusement park, but did you know they occasionally have INDOOR dine-with-me experiences during the winter? No parking or park admission fee required since the park is closed!
Ages: 2+

Chick-fil-A | Neshaminy/Trevose
Cost: a meal
Has a small indoor play area with slide and offers free weekly Family Fun Nights on most Mondays.
Ages: 10 and under

Chick-fil-A | Newtown
Cost: a meal
Has a small indoor play area with slide.
Ages: 10 and under

Sports Zone | Southampton
Cost: Per activity
Batting cages, arcade, soft playground for 7 & younger, food.
Ages: All

Monster Mini Golf | Feasterville
Cost: $8-9
Indoor black-lit, mini golf with monster theme and arcade. Closed on most Mondays.
Ages: 5 and up

Central Bucks

Party Magic | Warminster
Cost: $10
Inflatable bounce center with toddler area, arcade, free wifi and coffee
Ages: 12 and under

Chick-fil-A | Warrington
Cost: a meal
Has a small indoor play area with slide and offers free weekly Family Fun Nights on most Mondays and Morning Storytimes on most Wednesdays.
Ages: 10 and under

Burger King | Warrington
Cost: a meal
Has a large indoor play area with 2 big slides and an eating area in the playroom. Also offers free wi-fi but Facebook is blocked at last check!
Ages: 10 and under

Wegmans | Warrington
Cost: free/a meal
Not exactly a play place but the upstairs eating area has a kids zone with kid size furniture and a TV and there are scheduled free movie nights and other kid activities (some free, some with a low fee) throughout the year. Also offers free wi-fi.
Ages: 10 and under

Happy Tymes Family Fun Center| Warrington
Cost: per activity
Bowling, go-karts, arcade, rock climbing wall & restaurant
Ages: all

SMG Sportsplex| Warminster
Cost: $5 for one hour of open gym fee
Indoor soccer, basketball, football, field hockey, etc.

The Rink| Warwick
Cost: per session
Public indoor ice-skating. Call or check the website for public skating hours.
Ages: 4 and up

Chuck E. Cheese | Warrington/Doylestown
Cost: 1 token per game or ride
Indoor arcade with some token operated rides and a token-free climbing structure with slide. Of course, don’t forget about the dancing Chuck E – animatronic and sometimes walking around!
Ages: 3+

County Theater | Doylestown
Cost: $4 per person
On Saturday mornings, throughout the school year, the theater shows children’s favorites, both classics and new.
Ages: Children who can sit through a movie.

Doylestown Rock Gym | Doylestown
Cost: $10 – $12 per person (does not include equipment)
12,000 sq. feet of rock climbing
Ages: 12 and under

Giggleberry Fair | Lahaska
Cost: $10.99 – $12.99 for activity pass
Carousel, 3-story, 6-level obstacle course, special play area for up to 5 years and cafe
Ages: toddler to 10

Bucks County Children’s Museum | New Hope
Cost: $7 for ages 1 and up
The Bucks County Children’s Museum offers fun, interactive, and educationally based exhibits for children and families. Closed on Mondays. Of special note: the museum offers a Support Guide for all kids, including those with autism spectrum disorders. It is intended to be used prior to a visit to the museum and details each exhibit and area of the museum in an easy to understand storybook format.
Ages: 1 to 8

Last updated January 2014 – feel free to email or leave a comment with corrections or additions!

Looking for more INDOOR fun? My blogging friends have you covered! Check out the link below for more indoor playgrounds, play places and activities in and around the Philadelphia area.

PENNSYLVANIA

Berks County Indoor Play Areas

Chester County Indoor Play Areas: Northern and Eastern

Chester County Indoor Play Areas: Western and Southern

Delaware County Indoor Play Areas

Lancaster County Indoor Play Areas

Lehigh County Indoor Play Areas

Montgomery County Indoor Play Areas: Western

Montgomery County Indoor Play Areas: Eastern

Philadelphia Indoor Play Areas: Center City

Philadelphia Indoor Play Areas: Beyond Center City

Schuylkill County Indoor Play Areas

Delaware

Delaware Indoor Play Areas

New Jersey

Atlantic County Indoor Play Areas

Burlington County Indoor Play Areas

Camden County Indoor Play Areas

Cumberland County Indoor Play Areas

Cape May County Indoor Play Areas

Essex County Indoor Play Areas

Gloucester County Indoor Play Areas

Passaic County Indoor Play Areas

Salem County Indoor Play Areas

Union County Indoor Play Areas

Sussex County Indoor Play Areas

Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose with Goodwill

What do you do with old stuff you no longer need or want? Hopefully you donate it! Lucky me, I have a Goodwill that’s walking distance, but even more conveniently it has a drive-through donation center. Drive up and the workers grab your stuff! You don’t even need to get out of your car! So easy!

Did you know that donating one bag of clothing and one box of books can equal up to 2.3 hours of on-the-job training for someone in your community? Add to that a used lamp, a dusty computer and perhaps a box of DVDs and CDs, and that number nearly doubles to 5.2 hours. Calculate your own donation impact here!

Goodwill’s mission is to provide job training programs, employment placement services and other community-based programs for people who have disabilities, lack education or job experience, or face other challenges to finding employment. In fact, Goodwill is the leading nonprofit provider of job training programs and career services in the United States and Canada!

But if you’re only donating to your local Goodwill, you’re missing out on half the fun! I can’t help but take a peek at what’s in stock after making a donation! I’ve scored lots of books and clothes for the little guy and myself (interview suits for less than $10 each!), and other odds and ends.

And if you’re feeling creative, check out these crafty projects you can try by upcycling Goodwill finds!

Help Fight Childhood Cancer!

Did you know that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month? In an effort to raise the profile of childhood cancer this month, I’ve teamed up with a group of friends and bloggers from the Delaware Valley Area for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation’s inaugural Million Mile Run.

Together we are aiming to collectively walk 1000 miles during the month of September to raise awareness as well as raise as much money as we can to help fund childhood cancer research.

Thanks to several generous sponsors, we are also raffling off a few great prizes!!!

Find us at one of these events to buy a raffle ticket or DONATE ONLINE RIGHT NOW and get 10 entries! After you donate, simply let us know by filling out the Rafflecopter form below!

Friday Sept. 20th 12 pm – 6pm
Springfield Mall, Center Court
1250 Baltimore Pike, Springfield PA

Saturday Sept. 21st 11am – 5pm
Springfield Mall, Center Court
1250 Baltimore Pike, Springfield, PA

Saturday Sept. 28th 2pm – 6pm
Springfield Bertucci’s
965 Baltimore Pike, Springfield, PA

Prizes:

Custom made stuffed animals from Build-a-Bear Workshop

Bertucci’s Gift Basket

Pair of tickets to enjoy a Lunch Cruise on the Spirit of Philadelphia

Love Always little girls necklace from Jennifer Oxenford Independent Stella & Dot Consultant

Happy Family Basket of Snacks/Treats

$25 Gift card to Barefoot Books courtesy of JustChildrensBooks.com

Barefoot Books, Nichole Armstrong, JustChildrensBooks.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Day at the Philadelphia Zoo

During the summer, I can have every other Monday off if I work an extra hour each day. Some days I wonder if it’s worth it because I don’t get home until around 7pm. I miss dinner with the kid and he’s typically in bed by 8 or 8:30pm leaving me very little time with him. But then the coveted day off rolls around and we do something like…

Meet a Yellow-knobbed Currasow (from South America).

Get an up close look at the amazing world of ants.

Marvel at polar bears while watching them catch fish.

Play with friends in a wild land of make believe as I reminiscence about my own childhood playing on the very same structures.

Take obligatory touristy photos with statues.

Splash in a fountain as I recall a similar scene from a year ago.

… and I know it’s all worth it.

Christmas Crafts & treats

Tis the season to see magazines and Pinterest boards filled with gorgeous and decadent holiday desserts.

But let’s face it, if you have young kids, cover-worthy desserts are probably not going to happen.

And that’s okay, we can leave the hard work to the Marthas and Bakerellas of the world and instead have fun getting messy with our kids.

Here are a few simple and less involved Christmas treats shared by moms around the web that the kids can help with and will love.

1. Pretzel Buttons. If you haven’t made these sweet and salty treats before you are really missing out! They are so simple and kids can do most of the work themselves. If you can’t find the round pretzels, square ones work just as well. Oh, and Hershey’s makes holiday colored kisses too so you can get creative with your color combinations.

2. Painted Christmas Cookies. How fun is this idea? Make edible paints with evaporated milk and a little food coloring and then let the little ones PAINT their cookies. Melissa shares her tips and a sugar cookie recipe too.

3. Cinnamon Roll Christmas Tree. Here’s an easy-peasy one for you. Pop open a couple cans of cinnamon rolls and bake them in the shape of a Christmas tree. You could even make it more festive and let the kids sprinkle on some red and green sugar.

4. Gum-drop cookies. Not many kids will turn down cookies or candy so cookies + candy has surely got to be a winner. This is probably the most complicated treat on our list but if you can handle chocolate chip cookies you can do this one. Sue used a Paula Deen recipe but shares a good tip to get the job done easier.

5. Christmas Tree Rice-krispy Treat Pops. This is your basic rice krispy treat recipe jazzed up for the holidays. Amy assures us that these pops are deceptively easy to put together with little helpers and provides step-by-step directions.

6. Christmas Tree Cupcakes. We loved the simplicity of the cinnamon rolls above so couldn’t help but include a cupcake version of the idea. Make your favorite cupcakes (no judgment if you use a box recipe), line them up in the shape of a tree, and then let the kids go to town decorating their edible tree. Get creative and use whatever candies and sprinkles you have on hand. Many kid cereals would even make great decorations!

(Originally written and published on Philly Kids Things)