Rotary PlayGarden

This place is definitely a must go. They have very unique play structures that are eye catching to many kids of all ages. One downside, no shades hovering over the play structures exception to the bench area. On a hot day, we didn’t last more than half an hour. I would highly recommend if your kids are feeling bored or get their energies out!

We were in San Jose visiting some friends and had a few hours to kill. We searched Google and came across the PlayGarden. We showed up at 9 thinking «Oh, it’ll be open, it’s already 9 a.m.» Much to our 3-year-old’s disappointment, it wasn’t. So we left and came back at 10.
When we finally did enter the park, our son went nuts! He, and we, loved it! There were so many structures for him to play on. From small animal structures to sit on to huge dragonflies he could make move simply by spinning a wheel, to an angled climbing wall! This place was a playground that did not disappoint.
The only negatives we found were the hours (which I already touched on) and the cement slides. The slides are extremely hard and you slide so fast, you could practically shoot off the end if you’re not careful!
Congrats San Jose on a little gem of a playground!

Very clean park, new modern-​feel playground. Thank you volunteers for keeping it clean! No shade so load up on SPF30+. No dogs allowed which is great for running around the grass without worrying about stepping on dog poop. Be careful of the concrete slides, there is a toddler one 2 – 5 years of age but my daughter still wanted to give the steepest one a try for kids 5 – 12 of age. The park does have a soft padding ground so that’s nice. There is a play sand area for kids but they stand and play which is better than a sand box to sit in. It has everything to a grass area for relaxing, benches, climbing ropes, swings and a seesaw.

This place looks so awesome and I was so glad I found this place for my son to play in. This is a gated playground so that means there’s someone there managing the park and someone have to open and close this playground, so do check to make sure if they are open before coming. The playground is very well padded, I mean when I walk on it, I feel like bouncing. The slide is made of concrete and the park is very clean. The only unclean is the bathroom, which smelled really bad last Saturday on 5÷28÷2015. Other negative is that there’s not enough shades, so when it’s like 90 degree, it’s pretty hot there.

Great park with lots of play structures. Only problem is the many people who visit. Very busy park so not very relaxing as a parent. At least for me.

Great playground for a 2 year old. Lots of play structures for a little kid to explore.
Only concern are the huge concrete slides along the walls. These can get quite fast because of how steep they are — just keep an eye on your kid.

Came here with school and teachers for picnic. Highly recommend this for kid and family. Clear layout and very clean. The restrooms are within the park itself and kept clean. it’s fenced so it is very safe. It is modern facilities to me. Actually, the entire park is for all abilities. Will be back.

I have a 3 yr old and 16 month old and they absolutely love this park… great views of the city at the top and area is enclosed so the kids are free to explore

The Rotary Play Garden is a downtown SJ gem! The entire park is for all abilities to play, it’s fenced, clean and there’s an attendant at the entrance. The tree aren’t mature, so bring a hat. There are two bathrooms that are kept clean, at least during our visit it was clean.
I hope to see more parks like this around San Jose!

Great playground for kid. If free park and there are attendant at the entrance of the park too. Highly recommend this for kid and family !!

The honey and I have been talking about this park for almost two years. During my previous commute we’d drive by he construction area and then the park every morning and mention that we’d visit some day — since our money had helped build it.
The Rotary Play Garden was partially funded by Whole Foods and the donations shoppers would make after bringing in their own bags. Since then we’ve always wanted to visit, however the space has minimal hours, mostly on weekends and we’d never had a chance to swing by.
Not so now! This weekend we wanted to do some park strolling and the honey mentioned «our park» the park where about $ 1.00 or so of our money had gone. So we dropped by.
Some interesting notes, they have a «Lifeguard» type bouncer, which is great for safety, but doesn’t come across as anything more than someone in a vest loitering. It’s also a super cute park, but entirely ageist in that anyone over 11 might have a hard time spending any significant amount of time there — beyond sitting or playing with the kiddos there isn’t much for adults to do.
The play equipment is also a bit more heavy duty than we expected — the ground was bouncy but it was mixed with concrete, a little disconcerting and while others might bring active preschoolers here, I honestly wouldn’t feel comfortable bringing a niece or nephew under five.
As a final note, they may want to re-​think the recycled water irrigating child playgrounds thing. If they can’t drink the water, it probably shouldn’t be anywhere near where someone might put their mouth. Have you met kids? That’s everywhere!
All in all we weren’t the target audience, so we probably won’t come back.

Wow I am very impressed and amazed at this park! It is truly unique and such a gem to be here. First off, this park is huge for all kids to run around. There are so many things to do at this park. Because it is a rotary park the on going theme was many things here spin! They have this awesome trampoline area, an area where kids can rock climb, slides for different ages (I really liked that it’s cement and smooth in comparison to plastic slides which shock you when you go down it lol), a musical chime to play with, awesome swings, a sand area, and these bird or bug posts that when you spin the bottom it appears that it flies! I also love that it just feels so fresh to be here and that it is also a garden. I will definitely be bringing my daughter here again this is my favorite park by far! It is also so colorful my daughter didn’t want to leave

My family loves this playground! It’s completely fenced in, which is a plus for young kids. The play garden is fantastically maintained and always very clean. My 4 year old calls it the windmill park because of the kinetic «windmill» sculptures on the hill that the kids can move. Both my boys love the cement slides; there are multiple size slides so it’s great for all ages. Lots of different areas for the kids to play, when it’s crowded it seems like there’s plenty of space. Another awesome thing about the play garden is everything is interactive or moves. Even the rope pyramid climbing structure spins!
Very cool place and a convenient location!

This place looks unique and that’s pretty much why I went to this park with my 3 yr old nephew. I’ve gone here once with him and we will be going to this park often to be somewhere different. I like how it’s gated and kept clean. There was just enough space to run around. The ground is soft, which is perfect for kids if ever they accidentally trip and fall. We both pretty much just enjoyed the rock climbing they had. Nothing more. My nephew was pretty happy about the rock climbing wall especially since it was his first time climbing one. Although we didn’t try to go down the cement slides ourselves, the slides seemed unsafe. I had a conversation with a parent about the slides as we watched kids go down very quickly and landed pretty rough.

Going to a new playground is always awesome. I recently went to the The Rotary PlayGarden, and being in the area it is located in I always wondered how they would keep the homeless people out. Well my question was answered when I pulled into the parking lot, there is tall fence surrounding the play area and a gate to pass through to get inside.
Once inside I was pretty impressed as was my son. We played on all the attractions from the rope trampoline, to the spinning rope tower, swings, see saw, concrete slides, purple balls, etc. etc. Everything was new and clean.
The polished concrete slides are cool and my son managed to slide down a few times without getting hurt. Even I went down the slides and thought they were awesome. I could see how some kids could get hurt on them, so just look out and decide if the slide is for your kid or not.
At the top of the bridge there are concrete chairs and animal sculptures on poles with steering wheels to turn so that they come alive.
The restrooms are within the park itself and kept clean.
Will be back.

Cool free park with lots of attractions! Can get crowded on weekends in terms of parking. Lots of modern toys, designed with safety in mind. The park is also well maintained and very clean. We were full grown adults and we enjoyed going down the cement slides, playing on the oversized xylophones, and climbing up the boulders.
PROTIP: Picnic area that is covered, just be sure you come early or it gets occupied really quickly.

This park is pretty cool! Took my son here and met up with a friend and her kid and sister and the kids had a blast.
Not your typical park, everything is more modern and kid safe. Cement slides are fun and surprisingly not hot on a warm day. It’s a clean park and very spacious and open.
Just wished there was a bit more shade but other than that it’s a cool park.

I love this playground and so do my kids.
It’s super clean and spacious. I love the steep hill equipped w/​the rock climbing foot holes. It is safe if your little one doesn’t know or doesn’t want to use it; Gavin and Tess did not utilize those things whatsoever. The cement slides seems like it was built for speed because I got scared. a little. Even though it was close to 80 degrees, the slides were warm, not hot at all and same goes for the cement seats at the top.
The trampoline was a delight and I liked the xylophone thingies; music is a lost art.
Plenty of parking and it’s clean even the restroom facility.

Whoever designed this park has never been with kids!
I have the same concern as others, why the heck are the slides made out of cement!!! That was my first thought when I came to the opening ceremony recently on a Saturday morning. I pictured children cracking their skulls or breaking their bones as they went down the slides. I haven’t heard of any fatalities yet so surely the constructors knew what the were doing… right??? But I can’t get over it, why the cement??? Was it cheaper? It scares me to take my daughter there by myself and she loves going to the slides. There should be one person to help her to the top and another person at the bottom to catch her. Why did the have to make it so freakin’ difficult? At least the ground is spongy!
This park is new so it’s still beautiful and clean. The structures are mostly for older kids, though. Come on, one baby swing??? If they can make FIVE cement slides, they could’ve easily made at least 2 swings! I felt sorry for the toddlers, they had to scoot away before getting stomped on by the bigger kids. I wish there was a different area for them.
Oh, and what’s up with the elevated, thin sandboxes?!? That whole thing is a mess! Kids don’t even fit in it. It’s not for sitting and playing in, it’s more like eye level/​arm level thingy… it’s weird. Kids are climbing on top and throwing sand all over the place.
It’s great that they made this park handicapped accessible but the little merry-​go-​round was the only thing that was accessible for them. Is that it? Maybe I missed something.
Despite my motherly paranoia, my toddler loves to play here. She goes on the big slide on her own even though I was against it. My husband insisted she would be fine and, dammit, he was right. She has not cracked her skull. Not once! So I guess we’ll keep coming back since she enjoys this park so much!

From the street this park does not look like much. But it is a nice green and engaging area for children to play in. A new, clean park is always fun!
When they were building it, it looked like a big pile of dirt. Now there are a bunch of good slides that look more dangerous than they are. There are a lot of places to climb. And wheelchair kids can play here too. They have a little sand area, which does not seem like a great idea. Actually, the sand area is a bad idea that was poorly planned. Sand always disappears from parks and gets spread around. It’s not a sandbox, it’s a sand rectangle or two or three. We came here for the grand opening this morning, it was fun. We saw the mayor of San Jose, I didn’t even know what he looks like. And they had a bunch of freebies. Also, BJ’s was giving out expired coupons for free dessert.