Magic Ground

This location is not too bad but is definitely up and coming. It is located on the 3^rd floor of the building that Target is in in Columbia Heights. Parking is easy as you can park in the parking garage and take the elevator up to the 3^rd floor.
We arrived and were greeted and told how the pay structure works. We paid $ 10 for our little one to play for an hour. We were given a wrist band and let it. Inside there is a huge climbing area with a small ball pit, slides, and an air gun. Lots of fun to climb through with my little one. When I went however it was pretty empty (only 10 or so other smaller children there). I believe the age group for entrance is 18 months — 12 years old. I really think they need to consider having a toddler/​kid hour where the ages are 18month — 4 years old. I can’t imagine having my little one in there with a bunch of 8 year olds running around!
Upstairs was a café but food was still not being served from it. There is also a deck so you can view children playing on the climbing area.
Overall, I am very happy to have a location in DC to take my little one when it is cold and miserable outside. It was clean and allowed my little one to expend some energy.
Staff was okay and seemed nice. In terms of the drop off option: I would never personally do it. I don’t think they have the right security measures in place right now (or the right staffing) to do so. You really just need to be in charge of your own children while here. We will return.

PARENTS, BEWARE: This past weekend, my husband and I were going to the Washington Sports Club that’s next door to Magic Ground. As we started walking up the stairs to the third level, a toddler (best guess, under age 2) was walking down the stairs, apparently unaccompanied. I followed her to make sure there was a parent nearby, but realized no one was looking after her after she walked through the busy Sunday afternoon crowd to the top of the escalator. As she made a few tries to get on the escalator, I scooped her up and took her up the stairs, suspecting she had wandered off from Magic Ground. She was too young to answer any of my questions, but the moment I walked in to the busy waiting area of Magic Ground, a staff member came from the play area, through the gate, and took her from me, saying only, «There she is, thanks!» This experience, and the statements it made about their organization, ability to manage the children in their care, and their reaction when a stranger/​non-​parent shows back up with a child they’re supposed to be in charge of, was all terrifying. Think twice before you entrust the safety of your child to this business!

I’m surprised by all the negative reviews on this. I have a 2 and 4 year old and we have been here a couple times a week for the last month. The kids love it. The staff seems very caring to me. I have no complaints.

This place smells like weed and its soooo crowded. I would never drop my kids off here. The toys here are all beat up. It’s so chaotic and small. You got big kids trampling over the little toddlers. The toys were all beat up. We paid for an hour and was ready to leave after 10 minutes.

It’s nice to have a play gym in the neighborhood and we were generally pleased with Magic Ground. There are so many fun things there for kids to play with such as the trampoline, ball pool, slides, swings, rock climbing wall, art center, and toy cars and trucks, etc. We got an hour pass for $ 10 for my 5 year old to get some energy out on a cold day and he had a lot of fun. The reasons I am giving this 2 stars and not 4 – 5 are: 1) there is a toy air gun there that kids can use to shoot balls at a net that is not only startlingly loud, but why would there be a toy gun at a kids play gym when some of these kids are so young to not even know what a gun is/​this should be a peaceful play place and 2) there does not seem to be any rule enforcement or supervision of the kids and what is happening by the staff, and as such I observed some potentially dangerous situations with overcrowding in certain areas. There is a drop off option for kids but I would definitely not leave my child there and instead encourage parental supervision.

I wanted to love this place because the idea of the indoor playground is smart. Safety reasons and winter is around the corner so it’s perfect. However this place is not meant to be for toddler whose 18 months+ like they’ve said. More like 2+… I find it very sketchy that they allow you to leave your kid there without your supervision (parent night as they call it, and such)… I would personally never leave my child here alone. The guy at the front desk told me that they have 8 people working everyday and the most I’ve seen is probably 4. Seems like it’s a family business and only family works there. Not sure if they’re even certified in childcare. Know that them watching your kids is standing around in one place looking up at the playground. I couldn’t imagine my child getting hurt up somewhere on the playground and they have no idea what exactly happened. They have a full on restaurant that I’ve never seen anyone in the kitchen working… So this is a great place if mom wants to run some errands while dad watches the kids (that’s what we did) and vice versa. Perfect place to get all the energy that your little one have out of them! HA. I wouldn’t recommend leaving your kid’s here by them self.

This is a welcome and much needed indoor play space. Lots of space for climbing, sliding and swinging which is great. A few quieter spaces for art work etc. My 3 year old enjoyed it but was definitely overwhelmed by some of the bigger kids. There is a trampoline kind of tucked away behind the main equipment that my daughter loved but was hard to see her based on the design. Also, there isn’t any monitoring or rules on how many kids can be on the trampoline at once either which is troubling. As we were leaving I asked the woman at the front (presumably one of the owners) what the allowable number of kids was for the trampoline and she said 6 – 8 kids at ONE TIME! This trampoline is probably 4x6ft max in size. More than one kid or two small toddlers is dangerous. They also allow kids up to age 12 in the play space which seems way too old. That was my biggest issue with the place. We will be back as long as I can monitor my own kid. Definitely do not leave your kid there as a «drop in». While I did see too employees «monitoring» the play space they definitely do not enforce any rules etc.

Finally, an indoor play area for the little ones! Just in time for the winter.. . Seems a little disorganized at first glance (delayed opening, sparse web site, etc.), but the kids don’t seem to care.
The space isn’t huge, but they’ve made good use of it. The main feature is the climbing structure that looks really fun, and along the side are the different play centers, including a salon and an arts and crafts area. Upstairs are tables and chairs where you can eat and hang out while the kids run around. Sort of reminds me of Port Discovery, except it’s much smaller, cheaper, and closer.
Think it’s $ 10 for 1 hour if the grownup sticks around, which isn’t cheap but totally worth it on a rainy/​snowy/​generally crappy day. $ 20 for a 2-​hour drop-​off sounds like a bargain for the luxury of shopping or eating in peace. Maybe not for really little ones, but probably fine for older kids and non-​helicopter parents. I am surprised, though, to hear that they accept kids as young as 18 months, who are most likely not potty-​trained, for drop-​off. Really? You want to change my kid’s poopy diaper?