Indoor Playground for kids or parents?
Summer is almost completely gone! Time flies when you’re surrounded by kids, doesn’t it?
We’re starting to look for ways to have fun during those dark and rainy days to come over the next months…
Last winter, we used to go to Leisureplex Stillorgan every now and then. The kids love the idea of an “indoor playground”, and we also like to see them playing around no matter how the weather is outside. There are tables for parents surrounding the play area, and you can get something to drink/eat while you wait. The price to get in the play area is 8 EUR/hour per child… not very cheap but not very painful either, as we only went from time to time.
The other day I was talking to a friend about how the kids love the Leisureplex play centre and she told me about Fun Galaxy in Airside Retail Park (Swords): exactly the same concept – an indoor playground for kids, with a seating area for adults and a café where you can order food/drinks while you wait. But she told me the price was 8 EUR per child for two hours!
One day a couple of weeks ago we wanted to go to the park with our ball and play a little football, but when we got there it started raining heavily, so the kids asked us to take them to Leisureplex. I remembered my conversation with my friend about Fun Galaxy and we decided to give it a try.
What a nice surprise! The place is located in Airside Retail Park, behind the Friday’s restaurant. It looks rather small from the outside but it is surprisingly BIG when you go in.
There are a couple of things I loved about it:
• There is natural light: the play area has big windows and also roof windows (normally, you cannot see the daylight in places like this)
• There are lots of tables for parents around the play area and close to the café
• AND (here comes the best part) there is also a seating area upstairs where adults can watch TV and even take a nap in very comfortable sofas while the kids are running around. Amaaaaaaazing – just loved it upstairs!
For two whole hours, the boys were running around, going down the huge slide
and also going down the “curly” slide, climbing mountains, even playing mini football (there is a mini football court)
There was also a toddler area, that we didn’t try (because my youngest son keeps telling us that he is a big boy now and he doesn’t want to “mix with babies” – OK!) so time just flew for them. When it was time to go home, they were exhausted, but both of them were asking us to come back soon because they had had a fantastic time.
And we will come back soon – that is for sure!
Laura is a Spanish full time mum of two boys (aged 3 and 5) living in Dublin since 2007. She is always looking for things to do with the kids in our free time; child friendly cafés, different family oriented activities… and she loves sharing her discoveries with other mums. For more child-friendly places to visit, follow her on Expat with Kids in Dublin
