Activity Ally: The Santa Cruz Startup That Makes Kids’ Activities Way Less of a Nightmare

See Activity Ally at Santa Cruz Works New Tech on March 4, 2026

Parenting in 2026 is basically a full-time job you do while also doing your actual full-time job, plus you’re expected to be a chauffeur, a chef, a therapist, a party planner, and a human calendar that never forgets when “Crazy Hair Day” is. Meanwhile, your kid has the audacity to say, “I’m bored,” like you haven’t been running a one-person logistics company since 6:12 a.m.

So when a company shows up and says, “What if finding kids’ activities didn’t require 47 tabs, three Facebook groups, and a whispered prayer to the gods of scheduling?” I listen. Begrudgingly. Because I’ve been hurt before.

Enter Activity Ally.

This Santa Cruz-based startup is making the internet feel less like a dumpster fire when you’re hunting for activities for kids ages 0-18. Their whole pitch is simple: one place to find, compare, and book local kids’ programs, instead of bouncing between ancient websites, random PDFs, and that one parent who somehow knows everything.

If you’ve ever tried to sign your kid up for soccer, coding camp, dance, or literally anything, you know the current system is a scavenger hunt designed by chaos. Registration portals that look like they were built during the dial-up era. Listings that say “call for details” (details: it’s sold out). Camp info posted as a blurry screenshot of a flyer that’s been forwarded twelve times. You start out trying to be a Good Parent who provides “enrichment,” and end up negotiating with a broken checkout page at 11:48 p.m.

Activity Ally says it exists to fix that.

Founder Amelia Samuels, who raised her son as a single parent, built the platform after repeatedly discovering great opportunities only after deadlines had passed. It connects parents directly with the people who run activities, including coaches, teachers, instructors, and program operators.

For parents, the value is obvious: less time searching, more time actually living your life (or at least pretending). For activity owners, the benefit is also real: stop posting the same class info across five places and hoping the algorithm smiles on you. Fill empty spots, reach the right families, and spend more time teaching kids than doing marketing.

The real parenting question, though, is always the same: “Sounds great, but does it actually work in my area?” A platform like this lives or dies by inventory (are there enough programs listed?), accuracy (is it up to date?), and usability (can I filter by age, location, schedule, and cost without throwing my phone into the sea?).

Still, the idea is solid: build actual infrastructure for the part of parenting that quietly eats your time, your patience, and your will to schedule anything ever again. If Activity Ally delivers on the promise, it’s not just another parenting site. It’s a small, rare gift: fewer tabs, fewer headaches, and one less thing parents have to “figure out.”