Outfitted with 170 acres of pristine parkland, Greensboro, North Carolina, earned high honors in 2010 when it was named a Playful City USA recipient, an award for cities that successfully provide recreational activities for children. As the home of University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and numerous world-renowned museums, the city actively promotes education and provides cultural attractions for little ones as well.
Cool off with your little ones at Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe, an outdoor water park with more than 36 rides and attractions. Travel 40 mph on an inner tube down Bonzai Pipeline, a five-story water slide; frolic in Splash Island, a kid-friendly play area with a mini wave pool, slides and geysers; and fly 600 feet down a flume on a three-person raft on the Runaway Raft Ride. The park is open from Memorial to Labor Day weekends. Celebration Station is an indoor/outdoor entertainment center with batting cages, bumper boats, an 18-hole miniature golf course, go-kart tracks and an arcade with more than 100 games. Weather permitting, attractions are open year-round.
Take in a baseball game at NewBridge Bank Park, home stadium to the Greensboro Grasshoppers, the Miami Marlins' Single A affiliate. The stadium includes lawn seating, a playground and fireworks displays following certain games. Kids can sign up for the Babe’s Buddies program, where little ones receive free admission to specific games, T-shirt and official membership card. The season runs from early April through early September. Open year round, Greensboro Ice House has daily skating sessions open to the public, with disco lights, music and glow sticks. The facility also has adult and youth hockey leagues and figure skating lessons for skaters of all levels. Admission and skate rental fees are separate.
Barber Park provides an array of activities for young sports enthusiasts, including an 18-hole disc golf course, a large baseball field with stadium seating and an indoor pavilion with tennis, volleyball and basketball courts. Kids can also burn energy on the park’s playgrounds and "sprayground" with dump buckets, geysers and fountains. Gateway Gardens is an elaborately landscaped 11-acre green space. The garden includes a small amphitheater for story time sessions, ornate animal topiaries, colorful arbors, giant sculptures and fruit-shaped benches in the vegetable garden. The garden is open year-round and admission is free.
Greensboro Science Center is a massive complex with an aquarium, museum and zoo. Tour the Carolina SciQuarium, where kids can see penguin feeding sessions, feel stingrays in a touch tank and watch otters play in a lagoon. At the Animal Discovery Zoological Park, children can explore exhibits with red pandas, crocodiles and tigers or walk around the petting zoo filled with farm animals. The museum specializes in science and natural history and includes towering models of prehistoric creatures, interactive exhibits on the human body and a herpetarium with a variety of reptiles and amphibians. The price of admission includes access to all three facilities. Greensboro Children's Museum has more than 20 interactive exhibits, many of which mimic a small town and give kids the chance to play in such make-believe settings as a pizzeria, post office, hospital and market. Little ones can also put on a show in the little theater, climb inside a real police car and take a ride in a mini locomotive.
