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Highfield Discovery Garden: Adventures with Toddlers

Highfield Discovery Garden

We love Highfield Discovery Garden! This unique park offers so many things to discover and is one of our favorite shaded playgrounds in Cincinnati.Ā 

BONUS: If you wanted to get some exercise first, there is a 1.0-mile paved trail in the Glenwood Gardens, before you enter the Highfield Discovery Garden. Bring your littles in a stroller and meet a friend to get some exercise before the garden opens at 10am.Ā 

**Note: There is an admission charged, $5.25/person or buy a family annual pass to support the Great Parks.Ā 

highfield discovery garden

The Magic Treehouse Playground

This is the main attraction! So much to discover in this treehouse playground. Try your hand at the matching game on the side in the green boxes or play hide & seek in the little nooks around the base of the treehouse. The structure and surroundings offer great shade!Ā 

The back of the treehouse has a ramp to enter so everyone can see the fun! This is also helpful for parents who want to join in the play but might not want duck down in the other parts of the treehouse.Ā 

The kids can scale the steps to the top and check out the a telescope lookout.Ā 

Magical Fun & Fairy Garden

highfield discovery garden
highfield discovery garden
Highfield Discovery Garden
Highfield Discovery Garden

Hunt fairies, have a tea party, explore the beautiful gardens and more!Ā 

There are adorable little gardens dispersed throughout the grounds to discover and explore. If you’re lucky, you’ll find some butterflies. We loved the mazes.Ā 

There’s a little tiny house, a la Alice in Wonderland, perfect for little ones to have a tea party. BYO tea as the dishes are not out, per covid precautions.

highfield discovery garden

GRAB SOME GARDEN VEGGIESā€‹

There are some really cool raised gardens featuring peppers, tomatoes, beans and tons of other veggies. You can explore the gardens with your little ones to see how the veggies grow. Pre-covid, you were even able to help water the gardens using an old fashioned water pump! There are usually some great free veggies to take home and try!

Trolley garden

All aboard! A mini train display runs throughout the Trolley Garden and kids can walk under the bridges and find all the trains! Kids can pretend they are the conductors and press the light up buttons in the train station to make it go.

During normal operation, theĀ  nature center hosts cute nature programs as well as hands on things for kids to do. Check the Great Parks website for a calendar of events here.Ā 

Stay for lunch. You can enjoy a snack or have packed lunch at the tables with umbrellas just past Natureā€™s Niche Gifts & Books where you purchase your ticket to enter the garden. The gift shop has some really cool, unique gifts, so be sure to take a look around. It’s air conditioned, so it’s a great place to cool off!

Highfield Discovery Garden
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10 Shaded Playgrounds in Cincinnati

Cincinnati Parks

We LOVE parks with great playgrounds. But shaded playgrounds in Cincinnati are my FAVORITE because we can all hang longer, even on super hot days! Check out one of these places next time you’re sick of the pool but it’s too hot to do much! Bonus, there are also a few places with a splash park where you can cool off after you play!Ā 

1. Land of Make Believe at Lunken Airport

4750 Playfield Lane, Columbia Tusculum
If you’re looking for some great shade, this is a great place to check out! There are trees and lots of shade, multiple playground areas, swings, monkey bars, slides, covered picnic tables, benches, and a great tall fence surrounding it making it safe for kids of all ages to roam without you worrying about them running off.

This park costs $1/person, ages 2-12, to enter as you pass through the front air-conditioned building which has clean bathrooms – always a PLUS – and concession snacks and drinks!

Nearby: bring a picnic or enjoy takeout or patio seating at the Sky Galley Restaurant to watch the planes come in at Lunken Airport!

2. Cincinnati Nature Center

4949 Tealtown Rd, Milford
Sure, this isn’t your typical playground, but this place is perfect for shade! No swings or slide, but lots of options for play. Check out the playscape for the younger kids, but expect them to get dirty! Check out my post on the Top 10 Things to Do at Cincinnati Nature Center.Ā 

3. Blue Ash Nature Park

4343 Cooper Road, Blue Ash
This park is behind the Blue Ash Recreation Center. There are 2 playgrounds as you walk through the mulch nature trail. Bring one of the nature hunt ideas on this blog post to do as you walk.
If you keep walking beyond the picnic shelters and amphitheater, you will find a shaded play area perfect for little ones and a dinosaur themed play structure!Ā Blue Ash Nature Park has separate structures for different ages. There are several playgrounds & a ropes course.

4. Highfield Discovery Garden

things to do with kids in cincinnati

10397 Springfield Pike Evendale
Tons of shade options at this unique park! Whether it’s playing in the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ style house, on the giant magic tree structure or hunting for fairies, there are some great options for shade.

Highfield Discovery Garden (admission fee is $5/adult, $4/kiddos 2-12) at Glenwood Gardens is where nature and fun intersect. They have a kid friendly tree house called the Discovery Tree in the middle of the park where they can climb and explore. They also have the most adorable little gardens dispersed throughout. My kids LOVED the water pump to fill watering cans to water the garden.

Enjoy tea in the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ tiny house perfect for little ones. Or hunt for fairies and wizards in the Fairy and Wizard Garden.

5. Juilfs Park

8249 Clough Pike, Anderson

With a shaded canopy playground for the little ones, 3 & under, and a full shaded sand area, there is tons to do here! Bring sand toys because it will be hard to keep the kids away from the giant sand area.

There is a super cute farm themed splash pad that is surprisingly shaded. Plus, the bathrooms are directly behind that area for easy changing. The larger play structure has some shaded areas, but its mostly in full sun. The swings are also in full sun.

Bonus fun, bring the scooters or the kids bikes. They can ride the paved path while you get a little exercise. At the start of the trail, there is a small little ‘gas station’ for kids to pretend to gas up their bike and make believe! There are also plenty of shelters around to enjoy a picnic lunch!

6. Swaim Park

Corner of Cooper and Zig Zag Roads, Montgomery

There is a decent amount of nature shade from trees on the playground area.Ā 

There is a tot lot, perfect for little ones plus a school age playground. Bonus, this park has a short paved trail for Bikes & Scooters.

7. Alms Park

shaded parks in cincinnati

710 Tusculum Avenue, Mt Lookout
This playground provides a great shaded place to play.Ā  Don’t forget to check out the long concrete slide and the amazing “castle” with views to the river & a birds-eye view of the planes take off at Lunken airport.

Sit on the long, serpentine wall to watch the planes come in at Lunken while enjoying a picnic! There is no shade in the viewing area.

8. Dogwood Park

3721 Pleasant Street, Mariemont
The Tot Lot has great shade provided by the surrounding trees. And a major bonus, the park is fenced in! Even the swings offer some shade!

Covering over 20 acres, Dogwood Park contains ball fields, playground equipment, nature trails, the swimming pool, and a memorial to the Native Americans who once occupied the area.

9. Cottell ParkĀ 

5847 Irwin Simpson Rd, Mason
The playground has plenty of shaded canopies and is entertaining for all ages. There is a designated spot for toddlers. You can walk along the paved paths or run their energy out in the wide-open spaces around the park. Bonus, if you time it right, you might see the gorgeous sunflowers in bloom across the street!

10. Washington Park

shaded playgrounds in Cincinnati

1230 Elm St, OTR
The playground area of Washington Park is fenced-in and great for all ages. There is a castle-like play structure, a few swings and some outdoor musical toys to explore. There is a small sand area there also. There is natural shade in most parts of the park provided by the mature trees. Bring suits if you want the kids to play in the interactive fountain in the main area of the park.Ā