Is it just us or is fall rainier than we remembered? On days when the pumpkin patch just won’t do, check out these fun indoor activities around town.

Get On The Ice

Strap on some skates and get ready for the 2022 Olympics at a local ice arena. We have a full list of rinks here, with highlights below.

• Suburban Ice (multiple locations)
• Dearborn Ice Skating Center 
• Birmingham Ice Arena
• Farmington Hills Ice Arena
• Southgate Civic Ice Arena

Bring Back Summer

Find an indoor pool with water slides, splash pads and whirlpools.

• Troy Community Center
• Canton Aquatic Center
• Macomb Township Aquatics Center
• Livonia Recreation Center
• Dearborn Ford Center
• HYPE Athletics Community
• Warren Community Center

See A Movie

Get a big bucket of popcorn, sneak in some candy and catch one of these new releases: The Nutcracker, The Grinch, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Mary Poppins Returns.

Bounce Off The Walls

Someone else’s walls…that is! Go to a SkyZone, Urban Air Park or Airtime and let the kids go crazy.

Get Creative

Don’t worry about making a mess at home and head out for some arts and crafts. Drop in to a local art shop for pottery, painting and more.

• Wonderworks Pottery and Art Studio (Birmingham)
• Creative Arts Studio (Royal Oak)
• Creatopia (Plymouth)
• Plaster Playhouse (Shelby Township)
• The Bee’s Knees Pottery Studio (Northville)
• Pottery Creations (Wyandotte)

Play Games

Go old school and enjoy the arcade for a day.

• Escape (Troy)
• Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Farmington Hils)
• Dave & Buster’s (Utica + Livonia)
• Joe Dumars Field House (Detroit + Shelby Township)
• CJ Barrymore Sports and Entertainment (Clinton Township)

Try Something New

Let the littles run around and be silly with knockerball (aka bubble soccer), use a football to knock down bowling pins at fowling in Hamtramck or Auburn Hills or shake up hide and seek at the Detroit Dart Club.

Go to an Indoor Playground

Get a coffee or a smoothie and let the kids have fun while you relax and chat with other parents.

• Detroit Kid City (Southfield + Clinton Township)
• Jungle Java (multiple locations)
• Chelsea Treehouse (Chelsea)
• Rochester Play (Rochester)
• Nature’s Playhouse (Ferndale)

Visit A Museum

Learn something new and have hands-on fun at a local museum.

• Michigan Science Center
• Detroit Historical Museum
• The Henry Ford
• Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum
• Outdoor Adventure Center

Explore the Universe

Forget about the clouds in the sky and look for the stars at a solar show at the Cranbrook Institute of Science’s Acheson Planetarium, Wayne State Planetarium or  Longway Planetarium.

Photo credit: Kelly Sikkema

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