Best Children's Parks Chicago Near Me

4worldlovers:
The Play Garden features a poured in place soft surface base and play elements that meet or exceed ADA minimum standards.

Large slides restricted to children 5-12 years of age ONLY- other restrictions may apply

***The Pyramid Slide will open for the season on Saturday, May 6, 2023

The southeast section of Maggie Daley Park is anchored by a 3-acre Play Garden, a first of its kind in Chicago. In the spirit of Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, play and plantings are intentionally different from usual garden and park settings, capturing the imagination, engaging different senses in all seasons of the year, and integrating landscape with custom-designed play structures and sculptures. The Play Garden has diverse opportunities for fun, adventure, exploration, and learning for children of all ages.

The unique space opens the door for choice, invention, relaxation, extroversion, introversion, and experimentation for children of different ages, abilities, and backgrounds. In the Maggie Daley Park Play Garden, play features are integrated into the larger landscape narrative. Children discover different play features through an unfolding series of interconnected spaces. The Play Garden offers the thrill of unexpected surprises, such as the short cut leading from the small intimate spaces of the Enchanted Forest to the high prospects within the Slide Crater.

“The Sea” is an 8,500 square foot play loop that features a large-scale custom built metal play ship with multiple points of accessible entry and exit as well as downs and ups, ladders, nets, a captain’s wheel, and multiple different vantage points. Further along in the Sea’s shifting wave-like topography of blue play surface, children will encounter a Whale and Lighthouse Tower that includes kid-powered light generation, talking tubes, viewing scopes and exit slide.

“The Watering Hole” is a 1,200 square foot animal-themed play space for younger children (ages 2-5) with three animal figures that can be sat on, petted, conversed with, or otherwise engaged. Small spray features are interspersed amongst the animals. At the center of the Watering Hole is a multi-purpose low wooden platform for sitting parents, or to be used as a stage for impromptu imaginary plays, and a large shade structure that provides protection from strong southern and western sunlight.

Between the two swing areas, nestled in among the garden’s lush plantings, is the access boardwalk to “The Harbor”. This boat themed 2,000 square foot play area includes a slightly raised boardwalk, a covered central marina area, and three full-sized play boats that can be occupied and moved around a bit. The grading of the blue play surface that defines the bottom of the Harbor allows for direct accessible access from the entry boardwalk, while also dropping away slightly so that the marina platform is raised in the center of the space, with an additional ramp down to “water” level.

The Enchanted Forest is a 3,590 square foot network of pathways and play zones dedicated to imaginative outdoor play and sensory exploration. Overhead along the Enchanted Forest pathways are archways defined by upside-down trees, where major branches touch the ground at multiple points and a single trunk rises skyward.

Distinctive tree species, like the Weeping European Beech, have been planted to add to the sense of an extraordinary place defined by natural materials. Within the Enchanted Forest is a Turning Stone, which is marked by a mammoth upright stone that rotates around its vertical axis, so that even a small child can cause it to move with a bit of effort. Other notable destinations within the Enchanted Forest include a very big circular tea party table with eight bench seats, set in a circular space surrounded by plants, and an open mirrored maze, called the Kaleidoscope, set in a grove of Quaking Aspen.

4worldlovers:
This small 0.41 acre park is located in the Lincoln Park community (two blocks south of Fullerton Avenue, four blocks west of Racine Avenue). It contains a play-slab with two basketball standards and a playground.


While there is no structured programming taking place at this location, we invite you to check out our programs located at nearby Trebesor Oz Parks.