Around Town: Star CIty Skate Center and Tanglewood Mall Mommy Time

We've found a few new places to play this January!   Elijah and Kim kept driving by the Star City Skate Center, and he would comment about how much he wanted to play in their indoor play area.  Now, we know the center has $1 admission on Tuesdays with $1 skate rentals to boot.  In this equation, $2 is 2 hours of fun, and we've now been twice.  Kim was pleasantly surprised that Elijah wanted to learn to skate--and he did it!  Of course, the play area is also very fun for toddlers through young elementary students.  There is no ball pit but there are plenty of opportunities to climb and crawl as well as, per Elijah, a "really fast" slide.  If you want to go on a day other than Tuesday, look in the local Val-Pack mailer for coupons.

On a recent day off, Elijah and Gwen took Kim to Mommy Time, the new indoor play area at Tanglewood Mall (across from Belk upstairs).  If you haven't seen it yet, Mommy Time has an indoor climbing structure with slides and a ball pit, some merry-go-round like rides, a large Duplo block area, a LCD "video" game that projects items for kids to stomp on, and similar play features.  For around $7 an hour, kids can play, attended by sitters, while parents enjoy the mall area, although the website is a bit unclear about how old kids have to be to stay solo.  You can stay and play yourself--adults are even allowed on the climbing structure.  Both kids loved it--Elijah, age 5, played a full 2 hours, and Gwen, 20 months, could handle about 90 minutes.  Elijah gave a big thumbs up to the "video" game, chasing game elements for around 45 minutes.  Gwen liked the climber best and crawled through the tunnel quite skillfully for her age.  She can give us a run for our money!  If you go, Kim recommends that you stay with any kids under 4 or so--there are a few places where the floor could benefit from some additional padding and you may want to be around for any tumbles.  Elijah would have been fine solo--but Gwen not so much.  Plan to remove your shoes and wear socks to play. You can also stay and just sit on the couches and read, use your phone, etc.

On the whole, we were impressed with both places for their ability to keep us active on cold winter days, and we'll be back!