The Playground Diaries | Volume 1 | Ralston Central Park
One of the things I love about Colorado is the abundance of park and playgrounds. Some cities have a park nearly on every corner. It is so wonderful to have so many options for where to take our children for a fun, free day in the sun, but it can also be a little overwhelming to choose the best park in the Denver area.
What is the Playground Diaries?
The Playground Diaries aims to help you choose the best park for your next outing. Every Friday I will post a new blog featuring a new park from Ft. Collins to Colorado Springs focusing mostly on the Denver Metro Area. If you would like more information in the blogs than I am already posting, feel free to comment your suggestion and see if it makes it to the next post.
Ralston Central Park
5850 Garrison St, Arvada, CO 80002
Substrate: Padding
Bathrooms: Indoor building (Male/Female)
Big Playground: Yes
Small Playground: Yes
Picnic Tables: Yes
Pavillion: Yes - First come, first serve
Theme: Woodland
Proximity to street: Away from street
Playground shade: Big has some, small has none
What makes this park special?
One of the unique things about this park is that it has an interesting slide. The entire slide is made up of little rollers. It does make it harder to climb up for those bigger kids who think that is fun, but it also makes for a bumpy, fun ride down for the little kids.
Ralston Central Park also has a splash pad that adds another super fun element to the summer. Near the entrance to the large parking lot, there is also Hernor Family Memorial Garden equipt with places to sit and LED lights. Then spanning the park is a large area popular for walking a dog or playing in the grass.
Note this is a very popular park, especially on warm days when the splash pad is mighty intriguing.
Our mini diary
This was one of the first playgrounds we went to this summer, we arrived early and hardly anyone had arrived yet. Sarah started out being excited for the little picnic shack that is in the small play area - pretending to have a party with her friends. But it didn’t take long for her to start her climbing adventure.
Since we had not been to very many parks in the past, it was great to see her learning to climb the little mini rock climbing stairs and finding every slide she can. Before too long she was over in the big kid area. This park has enough bars and safety measures that I wasn’t too worried that she would fall and continued to celebrate her successes on the playground.
Now, up until this park she has been skittish of climbing anything too tall and only would make it up a rung or two on a ladder before heading back down for safe ground. But this park, she wanted to follow her friends up to the tallest part of the park for the tallest slide she had seen. She kept telling herself that she was brave and she could do it. And she did, all the way up the ladder and to the tallest part of the big kid park to come down the biggest slide with a huge grin on her face. It may seem like a little feat but it was a big accomplishment for her.
I would love to hear about your adventures at this park or if you want us to review a park near you, refer a park in the comments. Until the next time, happy play time!