In raleigh, what to do with little kids? (Charlotte, Greensboro: for sale, rental)

[lyssny]

I am in raleigh till saturday with my 3 kids 6,4,and 2, the older 2 are boys. I am looking for things to do with them or places to take them. We have gone to the kids museum, chuckie cheese, adventures landing, the factory. Any suggestions on things that will keep them busy and let them burn some energy? Please help i'm going crazy!

[lovebrentwood]

If you can't tie them up and put them in the basement, I would suggest the Durham Museum and Science Center. They can use up a lot of energy there. Explore, Connect, Learn, Share | North Carolina Museum of Life and Science
I think it's one of the best things about Durham.

Or go to the zoo in Asheboro, which is quite a drive but a lot of walking. NC Zooâ„¢ - North Carolina Zoo : Zoo Homepage

[uncletupelo]

Pullen Park is a great place.

[lovebrentwood]

Another thing to do is to take the kids to Triangle Town Center mall and have them run around the little indoor playground that is just their size. The kids love it, and it's free.
http://www.triangletowncenter.com/sh...ngle.nsf/index

The playground is called Curiosity Creek.

[J_Lurk]

Do you mean you've been to Marbles?

You can go to the NC Museum of Natural History in Raleigh
The already mentioned NC Museum of Life & Science in Durham
Kidzu Children's Museum in Chapel Hill

Pullen Park (already mentioned, it has rental boats and a train and a carousel).
All Children's Playground at Laurel Hills Park
Any of a number of playgrounds and walking trails in Raleigh, Shelly Lake is good (feed the ducks), Lake Lynn, Blue Jay Point, Durant

Play areas in Triangle Town Center (including sprayground), Streets at Southpoint, and Crabtree Valley Malls
New Lego store at Crabtree Valley Mall

Kazoom Puppet Show (Weds and Thurs only) Kazoom Puppet Theatre

Strawberry picking locations can be found here: NC Farm Fresh
That link also shows the State Farmer's Market, which is open every day.

[daprofessor]

I collected this info from a couple of similiar posts....

Kid Friendly


We are also huge fans of Frankies, great place for a birthday party. It went FLAWLESS and the management was wonderful!

Chuck E Cheese is located on Capital Blvd, thats another place to check out.
For the little tots, playspace (if they are still open) on Glenwood toward downtown is alot of play fun for kids!

Pullen Park near Western Blvd has a merry go round, bumper boats, train ride, paddle boats and two really big playgrounds, great for a family outing.

Museum of Life and Science (in Durham) is one of our personal favorites! They have a butterfly house, lots of real animals and of course, a museum packed full of fun things to do!

Morehead Planetarium and Science Center (in Chapel Hill), not a bad drive.
Triangle Metro Zoo (in Wake Forest)..are they still open?

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences off of West Jones street in downtown Raleigh.

Exploris which is near the Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh Musuem of Art, sometimes boring for kids since they typical go on school outings.

Advenure Landing on Capital Blvd

Of course, you got your Durham Bulls & Carolina Hurricanes..definately worth mentioning!!!

Emerald Pointe waterpark is in Greensboro, thats about an hour and a half drive outside of Raleigh.

The NC Zoo is about a two hour drive in Asheboro.

This weekend, I'm taking the kids to Silver Lake Waterpark, it was mentioned in a previous post. I'm just including a link to go with it:
Silverlakewaterpark.com - silver lake water park Resources and Information. This website is for sale!

If you are looking for a good park to take your kids, I would suggest taking a day trip out to Durham to the musuem of life & sciences. They have an amazing park outside, full of things for kids to do & explore.

NCMLS Museum of Life and Science

Of course, there is Carowinds in Charlotte:
Carowinds | North and South Carolina's Themed Amusement Park
Emerald Pointe in Greensboro: (AAA, Burger King and I think Kroger offers free discount tickets)

Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe :: Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe

Places worth mentioning in Myrtle Beach:

Barefoot Landing:
Welcome To Barefoot Landing - Shopping, Dining, Entertainment in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Broadway at the Beach:

Broadway at the Beach
(if your kids are into Harry Potter, check out Magiquest..so much fun!!!)
*There are a million & one things to do in MB, that's just two that I could think of off the top of my head. MB is about a four hour drive from Raleigh.

Back to Raleigh!

For the little ones, Placespace is so much fun!
Playspace Children's Museum

Exploris:
Exploris
Pullen Park (includes a public swimming pool, train ride, merry go round, park, bumper boats, pedal boats, etc)

City of Raleigh | Pullen Park
Frankies (my personal fave!):
Frankie's Fun Park - Raleigh, NC
Adventure landing:
Adventure Landing
We also have a Chuck E Cheese in Raleigh and a Bullwinkles in Cary. We have ice skating, bowling, roller skating, etc.

General stuff

Anytime:
· State Fairgrounds Calendar of Events There is always something fun going on.
· Farmers Market -- get a traditional Southern breakfast or a fresh fish fry there, too.
· NC Flea Market at the Fairgrounds; held every weekend except when the fair is in town in October.
· NC Museum of Art on Blue Ridge Road.
In summertime: NC Museum of Art outdoor movies
· Wachovia IMAX Theatre at Marbles Kids Museum
· Marbles Museum (was Exploris)
· NC Museum of Natural Sciences
· Explore Raleigh's downtown nightlife
· See what's going on at the malls: (In warmer months at you'll find free music, and on Wednesdays at North Hills, a farmer's market!)
North Hills events
Triangle Town Center events
· Go to DowntownRaleigh.com and get on their mailing list to receive weekly news of downtown events. For free concerts in warmer months, see: Raleigh Downtown Live
Events (concerts, other performances):
· Coast to Coast Tickets - This is a ticket site, but it has a good list of Raleigh venues.
· Ticketmaster. Search for events.
For history lovers:
· NC Museum of History
· Mordecai Historic Park
Events at Mordecai Historic Park
· Joel Lane House, 728 West Hargett Street, Raleigh NC 27603
· Haywood Hall Museum House and Gardens, Morgan Street and New Bern Avenue (where New Bern Avenue starts, in downtown Raleigh).
· State Capital Tours (group tours only). Website describes tour and gives history.
For plant lovers:
· J.C. Raulston Arboretum
The JC Raulston Arboretum is a nationally acclaimed garden with one of the largest and most diverse collections of landscape plants adapted for landscape use in the Southeast. Plants especially adapted to Piedmont North Carolina conditions are collected and evaluated in an effort to find superior plants for use in southern landscapes.
Fun while getting exercise:
· Shelley Lake - Walk, fish, rent a paddle boat
· Falls Lake - Walk, fish, paddle your own canoe
· Jordan Lake - Walk, fish, swim, go boating
· IcePlex - indoor ice skating

[bdavis511]

wow that really sums it up! lol we are huge fans of pullen park. i used to live 5 minutes from there, now i live in durham, but i still drive to raleigh just for that park. for $1 you can do any ride there ($1/ride) and there's a train, a carosoul, paddle boats ($5), little boats for kids, plus the park and nice areas to walk. very good place to go that doesnt cost much!

[emanresu2]

I agree on the durham museum of life and science and marbles. I love the zoo but it is 2 hours of driving and probably 5 miles of walking - probably too much for a 2 year old.

Heres a couple of places in eastern cary that no one has mentioned: kids together playground is a very nicely landscaped park with several play areas.

If you need to keep them inside out of the heat you can also head over to the crossroads shopping area which has a monkey joes which is one of those places full of inflatable bounce houses and slides. Monkey Joes is right up the road from a store called something like Tom's Train Depot, which is in a tiny little indoor mall building but has a huge model railroad display that can entertain kids for a while. Directly next to that is a grocery store called the grand asia market, which oddly enough my kids love walking through because its almost like a trip to hong kong/India/Korea - there are korean bbq'd animals of various types hanging from the ceiling and huge tanks of huge live fish and crazy looking Japanese candy. Across the road from that is a kabuki restaurant which is usually a big hit with kids. Then down the road is a toys r us, which so long as you can drag them out without losing your wallet or causing too much of a fit, is a good 2 hours of kids entertainment.