Play Café (Google Maps Link) is one of the newer indoor play areas in the province catering for all ages of younger kids. The toddler area is quote good and most importantly for me, visibility is probably better here than in most. It can be a bit busy but some of the highlights of the place include that it’s only £4.50 for allegedly unlimited time (I’d like to test that someday) and its open from 10am-7pm Mon-Sat and Sun 1pm-6pm.

The café part does hot and cold food and there are separate party rooms as well. There are dodgems there as well though we didn’t try them out. There weren’t a lot of staff to be seen, to be honest, but then the visibility kind of made up for that.

Parking is a little haphazard and it does feel a little cramped when trying to move between some of the tables but it’s a nice enough place.

WOW Overview

Cost per child: £4.50

The kids loved it, right from the tiny toddler to the wise-beyond-his-years 7 year old. I was a little more reserved because of the parking and also because it ‘felt’ cramped. After the party crowds dispersed into their party rooms, it was a lot more comfortable.

Fun Works is a newly opened indoor play and party centre in Glengormley. It is full of exciting activities to keep children amused, including a four-lane Astra Slide, mini football pitch, toddler area and climbing wall. Parents can relax in the coffee shop while the children play.

We were one of the first visitors to this newly opened centre. It was nice to go to a ball park that was clean and fresh. We arrived on the morning it opened and it was not too busy. The coffee area was nice and the magazines were new and up to date.

We have been a couple of times now. Some times we get in, sometimes we don’t due to capacity restrictions. Cafe style seating downstairs seems restricted by size of tables and is always busy. Upstairs seems to be over-spacious and under used. Refreshments are pricey and you can’t take your own.

The kids, on the other hand, love it and the close proximity to McDonalds has been a lifesaver at times as well. I know they run a Birthday party deal with McDonalds to provide Kids Happy Meals for parties which might suit some.

Cost per child = £4.50 (I may need to check this again)

5 year old loves everything
4 year olds loves to fly down big bumpy slide.

Stress 0

Fun 4

Cost 5

Art and Crafts for boys and girls

We ventured down to Connswater Shopping Centre in East Belfast to visit this new Art Studio. This is an extension of The Art Studio in Holywood.

The Connswater outlet offers you drop in activities which range from t-shirts decorating to jewelry making.

We turned up en mass (4 children aged between 3 - 6) and the girls headed straight for the tables of shiny colourful beads. The boys opted for t-shirt decorating. The girls for “individually tailored” necklaces.

The girl on duty gave us the options for the necklaces but the little £8.00 all in mixtures were not an option as the lure to choose their own beads was way too much of a draw. (Be careful, watch out because some of these beads are 75 pence each) The girls really enjoyed choosing the beads and could be left to select their own. I did try to keep them to the lower price range but this was not easy to do. They were instructed in making the necklace and were allowed to use the pliers (under supervision). They enjoyed the task but liked putting the left over beads back in the tubs as well.

The boys were given t-shirts, crayons and pens. The t-shirts were placed on cardboard to make writing on them easier. I think you would have benefited from some kind of clips/pegs to keep the shirt in place as it was quite hard for them to keep it all together. The only size shirt available was a 5/6 so the 3 year old was a bit swamped. I guess it will fit him eventually.

I would like to have seen one member of staff per activity to be honest with you as the boys were a little left out and required a lot of guidance from parent/guardian. There is a £3.00 sitting fee for each child to sit in and take part in one of these activities. The t-shirts were £5.50 each and the girls beads added up to around £6.00. A total of £29.00 for an hour and half of activity. That’s a little steep!

There are a number of options offered by Jolie Dennison’s Art Studio in both locations. There are Art Classes, Art Adventures, drop in activities and Art Parties.

WOW Overview

Kids Say
3 year old: not much said but he did not take his t-shirt off!
4 year old: The beads were the best bit of the shop. I liked to choose the best beads. This necklace is for my mummy
5 year old: This is the best t-shirt because it has monsters on it
6 year old: The beads were beautiful. I really liked my necklace. I enjoyed sorting the beads out at the end

Stress Level 3 (This was stressful to the point of trying to put back the expensive beads without the girls seeing! The boys had a few tussles over whose turn it was to use the scissors

Fun Level 2.5 (I Think this would have been enjoyed by children slightly older than ours. I think children a little more advance would have got a lot more out of this type of activity)

Cost Level 4 (I have put this at quite a high cost level simply because I feel the children we took were a little young to get the real benefits out of this activity)

[UPDATE: Since this article was penned, the Studio has closed down or moved]

IndianaLand, Dundonald

Indiana Land is a fantastically jungle themed play world, which has recently gone through a major refurbishment. Now with 3 levels of play equipment, including an extended interactive toddler area for 0 - 3 years, it is undoubtedly one of the largest indoor play worlds in N.Ireland.

Overview,

Having been recently refurbished (which was long over due) Indiana land has improved no end. The adult seating is still a bit crowded but it is much better than the tiny all in one seating they had before. The refreshments leave a lot to be desired especially the vending machine coffee. The only other refresments available are sweets and crisps, nothing healthy on offer at all for the kids. I believe you can bring your own. Visibility is good though at the higher levels it seems that the kids can just vanish.

Parking isn’t bad and it’s usually very popular so the kids will have others to play with, which is good. There did seem to be a lot of older kids and the toddlers area isn’t the best so the youngest kept trying to escape to the more interesting climbing frames. To be honest, I’d feel sorry for an older child having a tumble with my little thug!

Costs were around the same as for all of these places though because of the ice skating, Pirates Adventure Golf and the bowling (covered separately), you may be able to make a much longer day of it.

Cookstown Leisure Centre, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone

This is a local resource for those who live locally rather than somewhere you would set out to for a daytrip. Although it is worth a visit if you are local. I have used the place many times and there are a variety of activities available for adults and children.

The place is well kept, clean and with friendly staff. There are two swimming pools. One children’s pool, which is adequately sized and has toys, floats and statues. And its much warmer than the big pool. The larger pool is a well maintained functional swimming pool. Both have constant lifeguards on duty who seem to be very attentive.

There is also Space World. This is one of those children’s indoor adventure type play areas. There is also a section specifically for toddlers. It’s quite small although they seem to have crammed a lot of stuff into the seemingly tiny space. Maybe it’s not small, just claustrophobic. Again there is always more than one member of staff on duty, any time I have been there, to maintain safety. 3pm on a Saturday afternoon seems to be the favourite time for birthday parties to book this, so check before you turn up.

Next there is ten pin bowling. It’s certainly not the Superbowl although its well laid out with four lanes and provides enough fun for an hour on a Saturday afternoon. You need to book early for this, it always seems to be booked up at weekends.

And of course there is the snack bar. It does exactly what it says on the tin. I don’t think Jamie Oliver would be too happy with it though. I have been here several times and attended a number of functions or birthday parties in the cafe. It’s ideal for young kids parties and all the usual party foods can be ordered at what seems to be a very reasonable cost.

Overall great. My daughter had her birthday celebrations there this weekend again. With bowling and a party in the snack bar afterwards. The staff were great and very helpful at the party. The food choices were chicken nuggets, burgers or sausages and chips, with juice. You have to bring your own cake of course although the staff were most helpful in supplying cutlery and napkins etc. There seemed to be 4 parties all happening at the same time. The snack bar is well sized and laid out to deal with this.

WOW Overview

Stress Level: 1 (there is nothing really stressful about the leisure centre other than the kids you bring to it )

Fun Level: 4.5 (Lots of fun and enough activity to keep everyone occupied)

Cost Level: 1 (very reasonable)

For more details and prices etc check out …. Cookstown Leisure Centre