Hunt Center Toddler Sports - So Fun!

Love sports? Kids love em, too, or at least you want them to?

If you live in or near Holly Springs there is a wonderful program for little ones at the Hunt Center through the Parks and Recreation Department that offers soccer, t-ball, basketball, hockey/golf, yoga and more for ages 18 months to 3 years.

Dani (2) tried soccer and had such a great time. Of course, it's mostly just fun activities that center around a soccer ball, rather than actual soccer skills, but there is some of that, too.  Dani spent most of her time hanging on the door handles and running through the bleachers, but she pretty much ran the whole time with a smile on her face. Oh, and she screamed throughout the class, as did some of the other kids. They all seemed to have a good time.

The woman who runs the class is patient and wonderful and started the program years ago when there was nothing available for toddlers in the area of sports for her own kids. She said she started a lacrosse class years ago but didn't have enough interest to fill classes. I would love for her to start that class up again. Her biggest obstacle is getting enough people to fill the classes. In fact, my 3-year-old was signed up for basketball but they didn't have enough kids to fill the class so it was canceled. She's also very open to new ideas. I suggested she teach a volleyball and track and field camp and she said she'd love to do the track and field camp - maybe in August - and offered that maybe I teach the volleyball camp, if that's something I would like to do.

For Holly Springs residents the program is $14 for two, 30-minute sessions on weekdays. I highly recommend giving it a shot. I was unable to get pictures as Dani was running all over the place, but we had a blast. I asked her if she had fun in the car an the way home, she giggled and squealed, "soccer ball!"

Jordan (3) was out sick from school and watched one of the classes. She said, "mommy, can I play next time?" How do you get a better endorsement than that? So we opted to take the T-ball class, too. Both girls love it.

Hunt Center

301 Stinson Avenue

Holly Springs, NC

HIGHLIGHTS: Great way for your toddler/preschooler to get a "taste" of sports without the stress of making them participate or expectation of them having any kind of skill at this point. The coach is fantastic, and it's 30 minutes long - just long enough for the kids to run around and get the wiggles out without them getting bored.

LOW LIGHTS: At $14/per person for two, 30-minute classes it's a bit more than I'd like to spend. For non residents of Holly Springs it is more. Also, there are two weeks between classes so the kids get excited about it and they have to wait two weeks to participate again.

COST: $14/per child for Holly Springs residents, $21 for nonresidents.

Green Acres Was the Place to Be! For Pumpkin Patch Activities, that is

Green Acres Farm in Cary was a fantastic fall activity. Admittedly, though, the pumpkins at this "pumpkin patch" were not! Although, I'm pretty sure they don't claim to be a pumpkin patch, for some reason I was under the impression it was. If you're looking for a great deal on pumpkins, this is not the place to go. They didn't look great, nor were they priced very reasonably. But we didn't care; we didn't go to buy pumpkins. We went to have fun, and we did just that!

It was a wonderful time! There were three bounce houses for the kids, a petting area with goats, pony rides (for $5 in addition to the $10 admission fee per person for 4 & older), hayrides, tractors to climb, a sand area for the little ones to dig and play, a corn maze, wagon rides (I believe these were also $5 per person) and so much more. They had food, drinks and picnic areas for birthday parties. I will do this again and again! It was not inexpensive, but it was worth every penny. Our whole family had a great time, as well as my best friend and her family.

Also, on the way there was Phillips Farm (Cary), which has a haunted hayride and corn maze. If only my kids were older I could tell you how that was! I don't think you can miss with all the great pumpkin patches in the area. I also heard about Mrs. Ruth's Pumpkin Patch (in Apex, NC), DJ's Berry Patch (Cary), Green Level Gourd Farm (Apex), Hill Ridge Farm (Youngsville, which is a hike but comes highly recommended by my mommy friends),  The Maze at Hector's Creek (Fuquay-Varina), Ganyard Hill Farms (Durham) and Vollmer Farms (Bunn).

Here is a great link for the area's pumpkin patches, hayrides and corn mazes:

http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/NCppumpkins.php 

1132 Morrisville Carpenter Rd
Cary, NC 27519

HIGHLIGHTS:Too many to name them all - but hayrides, bounce houses, pony rides, horses, goats, petting area, sand pile for little ones, swings, mechanical bull, corn maze and more. 

LOW LIGHTS: My allergies went nuts there, as well as my toddler (ha, ha). There were a lot of people, parking was ridiculous and there was a police car just up the road to help direct traffic, it wasn't cheap and the pony ride was $5 extra.

COST: Children 0-3 free, $10 per person otherwise, $8 for seniors, $5 pony rides, $5 mechanical bull, $4 face painting.