Theme & Amusement Parks in Newark

With the help of her kids, certified personal trainer Jodi Hamilton-Eichensehr designed a family-friendly playspace celebrating the fun of fitness with games and obstacle courses centered on a giant animal-themed jungle gym. Guarded by a toucan and gorilla, the gym's labyrinthine interior conceals bridges, tunnels, ladders and slides, as well as a trapdoor to the Fountain of Youth. As kids traverse the gym, their bodies covertly enjoy a full cardio workout while building balance, hand-eye coordination, and confidence. Small-group fitness classes teach children about nutrition before building up their appetites with activities such as dashes through the jungle gym or sprints across a running track peppered with hurdles. Jodi also hosts adult classes, which emphasize fun, varied fitness, from cardio to strength training, to build parents' stamina during capture-the-flag tournaments at the office. Staffers also host unforgettable soirees for birthdays, which split guests' time between the jungle gym, party room, and video arcade.

The sprawling 18-acre family-friendly amusement park dubbed Funworks! initially began as a miniature-golf course, Putt-Putt Golf, before expanding to include a coin-operated-game room in 1989, which first bore the Funworks! moniker. Today, its current incarnation helmed by Freddy Foreman, the facility's foreman of fun, showcases multiple family-friendly attractions at two locations. The grounds house remote-controlled racing tracks, batting cages, and an expansive mini-golf course that weaves across 54 holes. Additionally, patrons will discover other curios of entertainment such as a mechanical rock-climbing wall and a teddy-bear factory where children can customize stuffed animals to fulfill carpool-lane requirements.