Wheels Fun Park - Wheels has been a staple of Durham family fun for a long time. It opened in 1977 and moved to its current location in 1992. While there are several outdoor attractions at Wheels, the main draw for us has always been the indoor play gym. Our kids can run around and have fun for hours with the slides, tubes, ball pits, nets and ropes reaching all the way up to the ceiling! The room has video games as well, and a nearby option for buying lunch. Wheels also has an indoor roller skating rink, but we haven't checked that out yet.
Southpoint Mall - Malls are great options for indoor fun for the kids. Southpoint is no exception. They have an indoor play area complete with slides, structures to climb on and wall activities to occupy the kiddos. If you get tired of the play area, grab food at Panera or the food court or head to Barnes and Noble with their kids' book section, train table and lego area.
Northgate Mall - Northgate is another great mall option for indoor fun in Durham. While Northgate doesn't have a specific play area for the kids, it's filled with kid-friendly activities. There's a carousel, bungi jump and bouncy house to enjoy for a couple dollars a piece. They also have play cars that kids can sit in as well as a train that kids can ride around the mall. All of that fun can be followed up with a snack or meal at Northgate's many kid-friendly food places.
Library Storytimes - One of the best resources in Durham for families is its libraries. In addition to many kids books to check out and spend time reading, they also have lots of great storytimes and other activities to choose from. Southwest Library has recently been renovated and South Library is brand new, so they both have great spaces to explore. We have enjoyed storytimes at these two libraries as well as the main branch, but if you look at the Durham library calendar you'll see that the other branches have storytimes to check out as well. We highly recommend Rhymetime at South Library followed by some book reading in the library.
Museum of Life and Science - We couldn't mention indoor play spaces without mentioning the Museum of Life and Science. While they have tons to explore outdoors, you can also spend a great morning at the museum without ever leaving the comfort of the indoors. Build, investigate weather, explore space, head to the kids' play area or investigate something in their upstairs lab. If the weather isn't too bad, venture to the other indoor area separated from the rest of the museum by a bit of an outdoor walk and check out the butterfly pavilion and insect room.
