Continental Ranch Community Park

This park is perfect for young ones! Sometimes at parks I worry because I have young twins (18 months) and all the older kids are running wild, totally unaware of the littles that are being knocked over and trampled (okay, a bit extreme, but the «knocked over» part is true!). But not so with this park! They have TWO separate playscapes — one for «big» kids and one for my littles! They’re covered so they don’t have direct sunlight midday, and (my personal fave), the «little kid» part has a swing set with TWO of the little baby swings (you know the kind — instead of a normal swing seat, its like a bucket seat). Even much bigger parks often only have 1 of those. Problem is… I have twins. And they get jealous. And they’re nearing their terrible twos. Hello, temper tantrum if 1 gets a swing ride and the other has to wait! Problem averted at this park! They both get to swing at the same time! Then they can both run over to the little kid jungle gym, climb up, honk the little steering wheel, and slide down the slide just to do it all over again. Bonus — this park is right by an elementary school. Go about 3pm and its EXTRA entertaining because all the «big kids» are getting out of school. My kiddos LOVE watching «big kids» play. So they can have plenty of little kid-​appropriate entertainment (sliding, swinging, etc.) and still get to watch the big kids all play at a safe distance (I’ve found that many of the parents take their kiddos straight to the «big kid» side of the playground as soon as school lets out to have them burn off some energy). Fun for all!

I love this park for young children. There is a baseball field, tennis courts, open field for soccer and a large covered play ground. That’s right, the play ground has two large shade canopies that extend past the play structures themselves ensuring your child is well shaded. Here in Arizona the weather’s usually great but the sun can take a toll on people and objects. Relatively benign objects become firey and dangerous to touch for adults let alone kiddos. The fact that this play ground is intentionally shaded is a lifesaver and worth the drive.