Play Away Indoor Playground, London

As much as I hate to admit it, summer is coming to an end and soon the weather will not be suitable for playing at the park. Thankfully, indoor playgrounds are starting to open up again to provide an outlet for our kids to burn off some energy.

Located at 2469 Aviation Lane, in east London (near the airport), Play Away indoor park occupies the niche of being an indoor play facility designed with the little ones in mind.

Play Away indoor play park

Full disclosure, we were invited, by Play Away, to come for a play, provide feedback and review the facilities. We agreed, with the caveat that we would provide an honest review in our own words.

I know not everyone is comfortable yet with the idea of visiting an indoor facility. We still, partially, fall into that category. However, a number of facilities, including Play Away are offering private, short term “bubble bookings”. These are where you book the entire facility for yourself and those within your social circle, with limits on number of people for your booking. Check out their website for more details.

Let’s start our review with the boring but important and useful information.

Currently, drop in play sessions are limited to 25 (according to their website) so I’d recommend reserving a spot ahead of time.

There are usually loose toys, like blocks, baby jumpers/exersaucers, foot powered cars for the race track, high chairs, etc out on the floor during play times. These are still available but you need to request them. By bringing out toys upon request the staff can ensure that they are cleaned for each new use.

Play away’s website lists their COVID safety precautions. I can confirm that they really do go through the playground and clean all the surfaces between each bubble booking / play slot. At the end of our play time we had to run back into the building to pick up something we had forgotten and the staff was already climbing their way through the playground cleaning all the surfaces.

Like almost all indoor playgrounds, this is a socks only facility. No shoes or strollers allowed past the coat room / entrance. There is no outside food or drink allowed (except water bottles) but there is a snack stand that sells various drinks (including coffee!), pizza, and snacks.

Ok, now onto the fun!

The “Toddler Landing” area at Play Away

Some of the additional features and views of the “Toddler Landing” area at Play Away. I love how they give a nod to their location near the airport with some of their features.

We have visited Play Away a number of times over the past few years, so I feel pretty confident in saying that the Toddler Landing area is manageable even by non-walking babes. A confident crawler will enjoy playing here, climbing up the ramp, crawling through the tunnels, and (maybe holding their hand the first couple of times) sliding down the small slides. There’s a cute caterpillar tunnel, or if your kids are like mine, they’ll likely use it as a climbing frame, and also some wall mounted toys for the wee ones to play with.

The toddler tunnel has plexiglass windows so that you can still see your crazy monkeys, I mean precious children, as they crawl through. Joy gives her stamp of approval.

The main play structure has 3 levels to it and can be accessed easily by a ramp that has those little speed bump steps. There is also a net ramp for access, and a multi-level platform to climb up. Within the structure there are small tunnels, obstacles, and a few slides.

My youngest was a little timid of the net ramp access point, but otherwise was able to climb up and run around the big structure without any problem.

The big kids had a blast running through here, playing a hybrid game of tag/hide-and-go-seek.

The best part about this is, although the structure is large and there is a lot within it, you can clearly see your kids while they are playing. You won’t need to go climbing through it just to find your kid!! But…. you may need to climb through it to try to get them out of there when it’s time to go. Ha, ha!

Even Joy, who is afraid of heights, was having a good time on the big playground.

These side-by-side slides make for good races.

Some of the different obstacles and platforms within the play structure.

In addition to the main play structures, there is a few arcade games, coin operated rides, and my kids favourite, the bouncy pillow.

So what do the kids think? “That was so much fun. We can come back next week, right?” All four of my adventurers give this place a thumbs up. They were able able to happily and safely play, and at no point did they say “I’m bored”.

Overall, I like that this place is designed for younger kids. My kids range in age from 24months to 7 years old, and they were all able to play with very little intervention from mom or dad.

My oldest kids will probably outgrow this facility in a year or two, and while that will be sad, it’s probably not a bad thing. After all, it’s nice having a place that is designed particularly for the younger kids in mind.

I think the best praise I can give this place is that, when not busy (or during a bubble booking), I could bring a book with me, plop myself down on one of the comfy couches and actually manage to read a few pages, while still being able to keep an eye on the kids.

I know that this review is a departure from our city parks pet project, but this pandemic has hit a lot of our locally owned businesses very hard, and I think it’s important to give them our support, in whatever form that may come. So when you are ready, and able, please go visit a local business, and until then, you can always show them your support by liking their social media pages and sharing.