Today the kids and I went to a new playground that just opened last Fall. It is a farm and nature themed park divided into several sections. Overall, it's a huge park that includes several acres, but each section is fairly small. We were there for almost three hours and it was plenty of time to do everything, feel like we had lots of time, but still leave while they were having fun and not bored and restless. The park is in Gevena, so it is a bit of a drive, but it is free, and closer than some of the other places we sometimes go (it seems that everything is about an hour away, no matter which direction we drive).
My general impression is that is is a fantastic park and very well designed, but gets very crowded and a little dangerous for kids. I would not recommend it for very little kids. Dorothy, age four, did just fine, but there were several kids around Malcolm's age (7) and a little older who seemed completely unsupervised and the combination of huge sticks, rocks, and water was not the best with several of the small kids.
When we got there, both kids made a bee-line for the tree house playground. This chute system was easily their favorite thing. Right next to it was a pulley system, but unfortunately, the fabric bucket had been ripped off.
Dorothy sending down pinecones, sticks, and rocks. Malcolm ran right in, on his way to collect more treasures.
He liked being at the bottom and watching the stuff come down.
There were neat little rock trails to climb up and down to the different levels of the tree house. There were also various rope ladders and bridges, but the kids didn't like using those. Dorothy tried, but got stuck about half way up.
Dorothy was really into the King Fisher Crossing, where they could create mud art on the walls.
Malcolm liked it too, but didn't do it as many times, or have the focus for it that Dorothy did.
By far, the kids' favorite part was the water area. They loved climbing in and out and getting their feet wet.
Malcolm is in the water area in the front of the photo, and you can see the tree house playground behind him.
You can see a little of how crowded it was. The sidewalks weren't overly wide, so it was sometimes hard to get past the people just standing and watching kids.
Malcolm really liked the little cascade where the water started and came down into the little stream. The fence behind his head is where they were painting with mud. There is a red water pump so they can wash their hands and he loved working it.
Behind the water pump is a "bird's nest". Not pictured is also a beaver burrow that is very similar. For both, there are long branches that the kids can use to build the nests. It's a great concept, except that several kids took the really long (taller than me) branches and were swinging them around in the water area. I saw a few little ones little ones get whacked and several near misses.
Right next to the little stream is a small spray fountain area. Malcolm and Dorothy didn't do the spray area since we did not bring swim suits (I did have dry clothes in the car though). It was overcast and not overly hot today, but I bet it feels great on really sunny days.
By 11:30, the entire area cleared out as several large groups left to have some lunch. I let the kids play for a while while it was less crowded and it was much better. It picked back up again by 12:30.
The final little section of the play area was a music section. I don't think Dorothy went in there at all, but Malcolm checked it out a couple of times. Of all the possible instruments, these had the best sound quality.
This pipe xylophone was up on a little stage. I couldn't convince my two to do it, but there were often a couple of kids dancing up there to the "music."
Bongos! I kind of hated these. They were the loudest of the instruments, and there was a constant thudding the entire time we were there. Definitely bring some headache medicine.
In theory, this should make a nice tone, but it either isn't tuned at all, or there is too much crud inside.
Off to the side, is an observation silo that we climbed up.
Looking out the window from the top of the silo, over the playground area. The park is beautifully landscaped throughout. You can also see one of the two covered picnic shelters in the lower right.
They worked up huge appetites! I had assumed that they might be extra hungry and I'm glad I brought some extra food, because they ate it all. Both of them have bug bites on their poor faces from camping over the weekend.
There are two covered picnic areas, plus a few more scattered tables here and there. We chose this quiet spot a little bit away from the chaos and it was lovely.
Olive fingers!
Sucking them off, one by one.
Malcolm finished lunch first, and while he was waiting on Dorothy, he went over the the "sheep herding" area. He just used these as balance beams though.
After lunch, we took a little prairie path down to a pond with a dock.
I can't believe they both actually looked at me and smiled. That never happens.
Running out on the dock.
This was labeled as a "teaching dock." I don't know what kind of classes they do out here, but it was a really nice set-up.
We went back and they played at the playground (mostly in the water) for a little bit after lunch. On the way out, we went into the butterfly garden which was really cool and possibly my favorite part.
When we went in, the lady working there handed each kid a laminated chart to help them identify the butterflies. They both loved matching the pictures to the butterflies they saw.
Malcolm was able to read the names of each butterfly, but Dorothy did just fine matching pictures and asking me what they were called. It is so great that he can read enough to be a bit more independent.
There were so many butterflies, I decided to see if I could get any good pictures. My results were mixed, but a couple weren't terrible.
Overall, I really liked the park, but I'm curious to see how it holds up over time. It just opened last Fall, and already there are several things that are broken (bucket for pulley and about half the mallets in the music area are gone), or showing a lot of wear and tear (the wood xylophone is missing chunks, the tunnel chute is flaking lots of paint). Many of the exhibits were being abused, and I imagine there is going to be a lot of time and money spent on upkeep to keep many parts safe and functional. The kids are already asking to go back and we were all wiped out and napped when we got home. For a free, semi-close to home park, it was really nice and a welcome change from a typical playground.
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