When we think of the playgrounds for toddlers we think of fences, swings, toilets, lots of tiny equipment and, even better, a nice shaded space. These things are not always possible (why can’t ALL playgrounds have fences ALL the way around?!), but check out these playgrounds around Adelaide that we think your kids – and you – will love
If you want a short list of our all time top 10 toddler playgrounds (say that three times quickly) here’s the ones we think are the very best.
Find it at: Jeffcot Road, North Adelaide This beautiful spot might well be Adelaide’s best toddler playground. Let us know what you think! Set amongst the parklands adjacent the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, this fully fenced playground is shaded by the huge trees in the area and is just such a lovely serene place for a play. What I like about this playground Lots of parking available either on the street or in the Adelaide Aquatic Centre...
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Find it at: Corner of East Parkway & North Parkway, Lightsview Any parent to a toddler knows that finding the right playground to safely entertain them is no small feat. Not only do playgrounds often cater to a mix of ages but they regularly feature slides and climbing equipment that can entice little humans to bite off a little more than they can chew. For this reason, the Lightsview Toddler Playground is a hidden gem. Situated in the...
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Find it at: Brighton Road, Brighton (Highet Avenue is a side street nearby) Fully Fenced Playground! That is usually music to the the ears of a lot of people, because knowing your little tacker can run around and not actually escape is just bliss. Thankfully the newly developed Gladys Mathwin playground at the Brighton Oval sports complex is fully fenced and with a load of other must haves for parents (except toilets which weren’t readily...
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Find it at: Dwyer Road, Oaklands Park Folks, the future is here! Remeber the Jetson’s? The cartoon with the family from the future who flew around in flying cars and lived in houses in the sky? Well they probably played at playgrounds like this! The Dwyer Road playground at Oaklands Park is the first high tech playground in South Australia. With $750k of Federal funding, plus a bit from the Marion Council as well, this playground has come...
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Find it at: Norman Road, Aldinga Beach Ah Silver Sands. God’s country this is. One of the best spots along our coast for beautiful beaches, incredible views and serenity. Also not far from the Victory Hotel which is a fab spot for lunch. But did you know apart from all the natural wonder there is also a great little kids playground, located right on the beach front opposite the Aldinga Bay SLSC. With a nautical theme (naturally), this one...
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Find it at: Mitchell Street, Millswood Wow what a fabulous toddler playground this spot is. It is fully fenced, with sensational shade from both the shade sails and the beautiful big trees (probably gum trees…all big trees are gum trees right?). With lots of lovely toddler orientated equipment, a little bike/scooter track around the perimeter and lots of seating, I can’t remember feeling so relaxed at a playground! It really was...
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Find it at: River Lane, Mannum Mannum is one of SA’s most beautiful towns, located on the River Murray about an hour or so from the city (Great footy team too…Go the mighty Roos!) and home to most of the gorgeous houseboats you see floating along the Murray. Such a magnificent spot for a day trip or a base for a family holiday on the Murray. Recently, they have upgraded a fabulous little playground (fully fenced too I might add)...
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Find it at: The Parade, Kensington Park With a recent development (Opened September 2020) of the existing playground, this has been transformed into such a beautiful toddler playground. Nature play is the theme here with the playground sitting nicely with the local scenery, but the trade off for this is it probably is only a playground for the up to 5 years crowd. There is shade, toilets, a water fountain and tables, but it isn’t fully...
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Find it at: Wilkinson Road, Para Hills The City of Salisbury has spruced up the (FULLY FENCED) play space at Prettejohn Gully Reserve in Para Hills, with new play equipment including a multi play unit, activity box, monkey bars, musical equipment, talking tubes, carousel, two-person springer, sandpit and swings. While the kids play under the recently constructed shade structure, you can relax under the new shelter which features a picnic...
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Find it at: James Ave, Renmark We love a cracking regional playground and this one is a beauty. Located on the corner of Eighteenth Street and Renmark Ave, this multi-purpose play space has plenty of parking, is close to large undercover BBQ facilities which overlooks the playground, (and is also undercover) which is suitable for toddlers to teens! The playground has swings, slides, lot of climbing equipment for the avid ninjas in your crew and...
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Find it at: Hayfield Avenue, Blakeview We love a little suburban playground that is just a cracker for the locals. Hayfield Reserve at Blakeview is exactly that! A quickly expanding area with all the new developments, this partially fenced spot has fantastic equipment which will suit from the toddlers up to the 10-12 year old mark. With a BBQ, plenty of space, some seating and shade, a bit of grass for a kick and a catch and add in some funky...
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Find it at: Norman Street, St Marys A beautiful little spot this one, located near the Kenilworth Football Club at St marys (gates go through to the ground). There is an extensive water garden, BBQs, seating and tables plus a water fountain too which is very handy. Lots of green space for general muck around/ball play and good climbing trees to boot. The playground is perfect for the under 8s, with nature play the theme here. Enough climbing,...
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Find it at: Ash Avenue, Unley What an absolute beauty this place is! Talk about a hidden gem that I am sure the locals would want to keep that way. A beautiful, fully fenced play space featuring a lovely playground, sandpits, swings and a heap of smaller play equipment scattered around the park. One thing I found amazing was all the toys left lying around, which are free for everyone to use and return once they are finished. How fantastic! Sand...
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Find it at: George Street, Parkside A nice little set up, with a heap of Pros but a few Cons too. Parking was a nightmare, a little side street not far from Greenhill Road was a tough parking challenge, but once you stop it is quite nice what they have done with the space. Fully fenced which is fab! The area has been fenced off into a large playground space and an open grassed section for sports, dogs etc. The playground is also fully shaded...
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Find it at: Rugby Street, Malvern Tucked away is this cute Elephant themed nature play space, complete with sandpit, wooden and metal musical instruments to play and a whole lot more to explore! (Can’t ruin all the surprises can we). There is a lot of climbing equipment which the kid will love, slides, balancing equipment and don’t forget the basketball too with courts here as well. (located at the school, so after hours use only)....
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Find it at: Market Cres, Old Noarlunga As a southerner most of my life, who grew up around this spot and visited constantly and went to a zillion kids parties here, I never thought of it as much of a ‘hidden gem’ but it is kind of the definition of one! Tucked away in beautiful Old Noarlunga (a township that is bypassed by all the main roads), the Market Square is a magnificent setting for a playground, picnic, feeding the ducks by...
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Find it at: Springvale Drive, Blakeview A fantastic spot for the Blakeview locals, with a good sized playground set up which is right next to a lovely big grassed area. The playground itself has a range of swings (our kids are loving those big circle swing things lately which are EVERYWHERE), a slide and a there is a basketball ring too so bring a ball along for a play. There is enough equipment for all ages to be kept amused too! Lacking a...
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Find it at: Greenglade Drive, Paradise Do you have a Dinosaur loving kid? Greenslade Playground at Paradise is a lovely little spot with a really cool dinosaur that you (or the kids…but don’t let me stop you!) can climb all over and through a little dino-tunnel! How cool! The dino is enough to make this stand out from the playground crowd, but it also has a great range of equipment too. With a fabulous 5-swing, which is more...
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Find it at: Wycombe Street, Underdale This place was such a secret it took us years of playground hunting to find it! Located on the river linear park at Underdale, this playground is for the little kids around the 3-5 year mark. We loved the fireman’s pole and the two small forts and bridges, with a lot of cool climbing equipment for which is just the height for those pre-school kids. We always love a flying fox, but this one was a bit...
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Find it at: Furioso Drive, Woodcroft A beautiful little spot that is amongst suburbia but will make you feel like you are a million miles away from anyone. We were lucky enough to visit on a sensational sunny Sunday and it was such a relaxing visit. With huge trees (I want to say gum trees but with zero confidence in my tree identifying ability), heaps of grass to run around on, seated shaded area and easy on street parking on the nearby back...
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Find it at: Crown Terrace, Royal Park What a fantastic spot this is, tucked away in the very quiet back streets of Royal Park. Heaps of space, including the nearby soccer oval and surrounding beautiful grassed area, this is such a good family playground. With heaps of off road parking, you will find fantastic equipment to suit all ages including a massive rock climbing tube slide tower and rope climb aparatus for the older ninjas. Then for the...
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Find it at: Victoria Terrace, Port Victoria A stunning beachside playground with lots to choose from. A challenging experience for little ones with rock climbing walls, balancing paths and lots of climbing. There is seating nearby and toilets are a short walk away (near the jetty). The BBQ costs a couple of dollars so if you want to cook bring some gold coins. After your play I’d recommend taking the stairs down to the beach and either...
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Find it at: Bowman Park Road, Crystal Brook The incredible new nature play space at Bowman Park Crystal Brook is now open! The photos below just look incredible and we can’t wait to head up and have a look on our next road trip. Designed and built by the uber talented folks at Climbing Tree Consultancy (Simon has been promising to show us his shed…which we expect will be EPIC!), built in only 9 weeks (meanwhile painting a toy box...
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Find it at: Delhi Avenue, Hillcrest Check out the new Delhi Avenue Reserve playspace in Hillcrest which is now open. This new cool little playground features an adventure play space, slide, swing, climbing net, hanging bars and loads more. The locals love the addition and it is a fantastic improvement in the space. Alongside the playground there is a new nature play area and new half court surfacing. Total cost of this new playground was...
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Find it at: Drummond Ave, Findon Here is a great fresh playground with something for kids of all ages including at least four separate climbing opportunities. Set in a quiet suburban street, Don Klaebe is not fully fenced, but feels safe and is definitely worth diverting a little out of your way for a play if you are in the west. Adjacent the baseball club, there is ample access to a big semi fenced lawn if you want to bring the dog, kite or...
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Find it at: Laurel Avenue, Linden Park Sometimes all you need for toddlers is a little iddy biddy fenced and shaded spot with a few playground bits and pieces and a great big oval next door. Stunning Tregenza Oval at Linden Park is like a little Oasis amongst the backstreets of this leafy suburb. A small fenced and shaded playground sits off to the side of the oval, but the equipment is mainly a few small pieces for the little kids to climb...
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Find it at: Riverside Drive, Felixtow Tucked away in the backstreets of Felixstow, away from the busy main roads, this fantastic playground with modern and updated equipment is not only great for those in the area but just about worth a drive to visit. This playground is massive. With huge shade sails covering the majority of the fenced (yep entirely fenced!) new play equipment with a mix of rubber and bark flooring, not only will you and your...
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Find it at: Flinders Parade, Newton Flinders Parade Reserve in Newton is a nice little spot for those in the area who have little ones who love to ride around, but want a safe space to do it. With a great bitumen riding track complete with traffic signs and a few little routes to take, located on a quiet back street this is a good addition to the usual small backstreet playground set up. The playground right next to the track is a big modern...
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Find it at: Illyarrie Avenue, Surrey Downs A great little Northern suburbs park that is a great spot for a picnic or birthday party. Illyarrie is a nice big space with plenty of natural shade. There are two playground areas with equipment including a tunnel slide and toddler slide, a few different swings including a nest swing and a great climbing frame that little ninjas will love. Little kids will love the fire truck and you can even BYO ping...
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Find it at: Balham Ave, Kingswood If you like ducks then Balham Ave Reserve in Kingswood is the playground for you, sitting right next to the Urrbrae Wetland this is a small and fairly basic playground with a cool, apex rope/spider climbing frame and a dual swing set. The centre piece of Balham Ave Reserve is a pirate-themed multi-purpose unit including a rope climb, slide and monkey bars and several other pieces of equipment which I don’t know...
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