Baxter's Bunch Playhouse, Fort Mill

Dreamed up by the author and illustrator of its namesake children's book series, Baxter's Bunch Playhouse entertains kids with healthy, fitness-minded activities. Originally developed in 2006, the educational tomes' main characters, each a different sports ball, emphasize important values such as why sharing is good, how teamwork benefits everyone, and why mushing twinkies into the shape of a carrot still doesn't count as eating a vegetable. The books' creators aim to carry the same principles over to Baxter's Bunch Playhouse, where little ones can bounce in a forest of inflatable playgrounds and expel energy in kid-friendly fitness programs. Parents are encouraged to join their children during playtime, but adult spectators can observe from a lounge area replete with computers, WiFi, a flat-screen TV, and poetry made solely from stock-market symbols.