Marshall Park

The Chelsea Anderson Playstation at Marshal Park is phenomenal!  In fact, it is such an amazing park, I would consider it a 5 star playground like Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum Playground, or RiverPlay Discovery Village Playground.  Your kids will be thrilled if you drive across the river and play at Marshall Park because this 5 star playground is quite close, and the others are an hour or more away.  Chelsea Anderson Playstation seems to have everything!  I believe there are 8 slides, a tire swing, track sliding bar, log roll, big arch climber, spiral staircase, fire truck structure for 2-5 year olds, nature area, chain links to climb and cross, a balance beam and so much more!  I remember when I took my oldest six or so years ago, I was overwhelmed trying to keep up with him as a toddler, but now that my kids are five and older this park is amazing!  However, I imagine that this park could be a bit stressful on a busy day, but if you are up for an adventure cross the river and have fun playing at Marshall Park!  It is an adventure that will give your kids a thrill!

Click on Vancouver-Clark Parks & Recreation to see their description of Marshall Park.

Click on maps for directions to Marshal Park.

A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village

Playing is essential to learning and A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village illustrates their motto well by being a place to learn and play. The children museum does a fairly good job in educating kids, as there is quite a lot to explore and learn in areas such as history, science, and humanities. Most of the exploring your children will probably participate in will be outside via the elaborate play structure. It is huge!  And, there is so much to do: tube slides (one dark long one which may be frightening for little ones), a wide slide, wavy slide, sand pit, giant chess game, tic tac toe, tire obstacle, swings and so much more! The other parts of the museum that are worth mentioning are the PlayArt room by Ed Tannenbaum (known as Recollections), the shadows room (known as the Undersea Cave of Frozen Shadows), and the outside bubble arena. Those attributes were my favorite and filled with fun, but there are other great rooms to explore. Overall this museum is a lot of fun, but it seems like it could use some upkeep or better maintenance. The inside of each house smelt musty, and although I didn’t see any spiders, there were tons of enormous spider webs outside and throughout the play structure. This did make the museum a little less enjoyable. In addition, the cost seemed a bit spendy for a whole family (I think adults should be free), but if you have an ASTC membership (we got a membership at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum) or an OMSI membership it is free! You can also get a membership card from your local library. Despite those few negative factors I plan on returning because the playground is like no other, and I want to play in the recollection room again! Also I must mention outside the museum there is a beautiful long walking bridge that crosses the Willamette. My kids loved crossing the big bridge and throwing rocks in the river. We will return! So get the kids ready for an hour drive and have fun playing at the A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village!

Click on A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village to see their description of the children’s museum.

Click on maps to find directions to A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village.

Stringfield Family Park

Stringfield Family Park is a delightful park in Oak Grove, Oregon and part of the North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District. This park provides a peaceful atmosphere with fun playground equipment, nice restrooms and a beautiful walkway. There are two bridges in which you can walk over a little stream, climb a few rocks and see the beauty of nature. One fun factor about this park is the enclosed spinner that could fit more than one child and the cool arch climber. This park defiantly has a relaxing feel in which you and your kids will enjoy. Have fun playing in Portland!

Click on North Clackamas Park & Recreation District to see their description of Stringfiled Family Park.

Click on maps or Stringfield Family Park for directions to this park.

Murase Plaza

Murase Plaza is a fun modern section in Memorial Park in Wilsonville. One of the main attractions at Murase Plaza is a large red hill with a slide in which my kids call “the volcano slide.” The big red hill/volcano slide has steps down one side and then the big slide down the other. There is a smaller replica of the “volcano”, but without a slide or stairs. In my opinion the big slide is a bit dangerous, but kids love it!  Many kids bring their own piece of cardboard (the size of a small carpet mat) so they can slide down as fast as possible. Usually there are a few scraps of cardboard pieces at the bottom of the hill so you don’t necessarily have to bring your own. One thing to keep in mind is cardboard greatly increases the speed of going down a metal slide! It can be dangerous and your child can quickly drop off at the end of the slide into the sandpit, and have their breath knocked out of them. (If your child uses cardboard try to explain they need to land on their feet, and then it isn’t so dangerous.) PLEASE, BE CAREFUL, and do not let your kids slide on their stomach! You can encourage kids to just slide down on their bottom without cardboard, but it is a s-l-o-w experience. Besides the great “volcano slide” there are other great features at this park like the modern multiple kid spinner, two unique cement rock climbing structures, a large jungle gym, swings, sand, and a water feature!  This park also has paths that lead to a historical barn that you can go into and a walnut shed that isn’t accessible. Overall, this is a great park in which you could easily spend half the day at, so pack up a lunch and get ready for fun day!

Click on the City of Wilsonville to see their description of Murase Plaza.

Click on maps or Murase Plaza for directions to this park.

Waluga Park – East

The Eastside of Waluga Park is another nice park in Lake Oswego. The entire playground is designed ideally for children 2-5 years of age. There are two play-structures: a small structure for 2-3 year-olds, and a bigger structure for 4-5 year-olds. Despite the fact that this park is ideally for children 2-5 years of age, my son who is older than 5 has fun playing at Waluga Park-East. There are actually four poles that kids can climb or slide down (like a slide) that seem to be more adequately designed for kids older than 5 years of age. If you have children who are older and get bored, I suggest you walk over to Waluga Park – West.  A few things to note before walking over to Waluga West is it can be a bit strenuous if you are on the narrow trail and make sure your kids STOP at the end of trail because there is a mildly busy street in which you need to cross to get to Waluga Park – West. It is a nice adventure that is only .2 miles away and there is even a large rock on the path that you can stop at and rest. If you head over to the westside of Waluga Park ultimately you’ll become a park hopper because you made it to two playgrounds in one day! And, if you want to keep hopping, hop over to Westlake, which is only a little bit over a mile away. (I do suggest getting in a car if you’re going to go to Westlake.) One thing to keep in mind, Westlake is a park designed for all ages. Waluga West is a smaller park and geared more toward younger aged children, but they have spinners that are designed for older kids. There is also more grass to run and play at Waluga West. Getting back to Waluga East, my biggest precaution is to beware of poison oak! If you have a toddler who likes to take off you want to make sure s/he doesn’t go near the poison oak. There are clear signs marked where the poison oak is and it is a few feet away from the play area, but it is something to watch out for. Walugua East, like Waluga West for the most part are both relaxing parks. At Waluga East it is fun to walk on the trails behind the baseball fields, and there is plenty of shade and the smallest structure has one of the one of the coolest wide slides around. It probably fits two-to-three toddlers at once going down. (I think it would make a fun picture to take if you had two or more toddlers on the slide.)  Overall this park is nice to take little ones on a hot day because there is so much shade!

Click on Lake Oswego Parks & Recreation to find out their description of Waluga Park – East.

Click on maps or Waluga Park – East for directions to this park.

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum Playground

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum has a playground and it rocks! I mean, it literally rocks like a rocket ship! There are three main structures, which include a rocket ship, airplane, and helicopter. I always love climbing up the rocket ship and I’m sure your kid’s imagination will run wild as they explore the universe on all three structures! One great thing about this playground is – it’s free!  Granted it takes an hour to get there and the museum costs, but the museum attraction along with playing at the playground is worth the time and money. Plus if you would like to hang out longer, you can continue the fun at the new water park, which is open for an additional cost and looks amazing!  We didn’t play at the water park, but we will in the future. The playground was enough for us in one day as there are numerous slides, a translucent crawl tunnel along with a closed crawl tunnel, various climbing structures, swings, a teeter totter, a rocket ship hop scotch and so much more. I should mention there isn’t much shade. Alternatively there are tables with umbrellas where you can sit and relax. Also there isn’t a bathroom outside so you would probably have to pay the entrance fee to use the museums restroom but don’t worry if you get hungry there are restaurants in both the aviation building and space building. They also have wine tasting. There are literally hours of fun at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum! It is amazing, and a playground you don’t want to miss.

Click on maps or Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum for directions to this playground.