Visit the Big Fun Toy Store and Retro Toy Museum
School-aged kids get a kick out of seeing the toys that their parents collected years ago. Big Fun Toy Store is a veritable retro toy museum. It stocks Mister T memorabilia, Transformers, Star Wars action figures, superheroes of all shapes, Popeye ware and a host of other toys that were all the rage a few years or decades ago. Browse the model making kits. Explain the rules to old board games, and perhaps invest in a few items for your child. Bring home some gag gifts to share with friends. Plan on spending at least an hour in the store; even though it's not big, it is packed to the rafters with merchandise and displays.
Big Fun Toy Store
1814 Coventry Rd.
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
(216) 371-4386
bigfunbigfun.com
Spend a Day at Cedar Point Amusement Park
(CC) Cedar Point Amusement Park by Larry Pieniazek/Wikimedia Commons
Cedar Point Amusement Park is a daylong activity for you and your kids. This is an excellent venue for kids of all ages. The park map reveals that a water park is immediately adjacent to the amusement park, and it provides much needed cooling off during the hot days in summer. If there are great age gaps among the kids in your party, split up the adults to accompany older kids to the rides. The other adults may take the youngest ones to the play areas designated for them.
Within the park, there are roller coasters, old-fashioned carousels and scaled down rides for toddlers. There are also water rides designed to get riders soaked. A height guide posted to each attraction clearly spells out the required size of the rider; that makes a parent's job of approving or denying access to a ride a lot easier. The most restricted rides are the Mantis, Raptor and Witches' Wheel; they are open only to riders taller than 54 inches.
Cedar Point Amusement Park
1 Cedar Point Dr.
Sandusky, OH 44870
(419) 627-2350
cedarpoint.com
Ohio Caverns
(CC) Crystal King in Ohio Caverns by Cody Hough/Wikimedia Commons
The Ohio Caverns are a natural attraction that is open all year. The caves offer vistas that display stalactites and stalagmites in cool below-ground formations. Guided 45-minute tours provide an educational backdrop to the trip. Keep in mind that some of the underground passages are narrow, and bringing along a stroller is not a good idea.
There's a park above ground that offers play space and picnic tables. Another above ground attraction is the gem mining station, where children may practice panning for gems, fossils or minerals in prepackaged bags of mining soil.
Ohio Caverns
2210 East State Rte. 245
West Liberty, OH 43357
(937) 465-4017
ohiocaverns.com
