The winter months present a problem for parents and other caregivers along the Route 1 corridor: Not enough indoor play areas to take young kids to burn energy.

There are some good venues that offer kid-focused indoor activities. Local parents can stop by the College Park Aviation Museum, a Best of Route 1 award winner, which has a fun indoor activity area, or drop their kids off at Småland at the College Park IKEA. Art Works Now and the Brentwood Arts Exchange, among others, have regular programs for the kids, kids can skate at the Herbert Wells Ice Rink in College Park, and the new Hyattsville library will be a great place to visit when it opens.

But sometimes you just need a place to take young kids where they can run around and tire themselves out without a lot of planning or direction and without having to worry about the weather. There are many local playgrounds, but on most winter days, those are just too cold and wet.

In recent years, indoor playgrounds have become a booming business, driven by more extreme weather, consumer demand, and the need to find new uses for empty storefronts. Some are quite creative while, others are simply about keeping kids busy. There are a handful of indoor playgrounds in the D.C. metro area. For instance, Columbia Heights has Magic Ground, Rockville has Badlands and Laurel has the ClimbZone. But there’s nothing locally.  

The Route 1 corridor has new distilleries, restaurants, bakeries, gyms, coffeeshops, hotels, and art studios, but what it needs now is an indoor play space that’s open year-round, rain or shine.