Civic Green Park

I took the kids to Civic Green Park in Highlands Ranch for a MOMS Club meet up.  It's southwest of Broadway and C-470, next to the Highlands Ranch Library.

The park itself is gorgeous.  To enter the park, we passed a plaque thanking dozens of private donors for making this free public park possible. We then walked over a small, man-made waterfall that cascaded into a little river. Around the river bend, kids splashed and played.  Oliver loved watching the water crash!

There was very little shade at the park.  We have very little cloud cover in Colorado due to our altitude, so the sun is brutal.  We walked by a small splash pad, but I just couldn't fathom stopping to let my kids play there in the hot sun.  There was also a play ground, but, again, there was no tree cover.  The equipment looked hot and uninviting.  Across the field, away from the library, we found a second splash pad.

The second splash pad was larger, and it had a large gazebo that provided shade for all the moms there with their young kids.  Oliver, who had gotten crabby walking under the hot sun, improved quickly in the shade.

I was only able to talk him into checking out the water feature a couple times. Every time the water pressure dropped low enough, he'd start to show interest. He'd get close, the geysers would erupt with fervor, and Oliver would step back.  He was definitely a bit nervous about the water geysers.  There were a number of other small children who stayed away from the water, too, but there were just as many little kids who loved it. The kids who seemed to really enjoy themselves were a little older.

Oliver chickened out:

Besides the severe lack of shade, another big problem with this park was how slick the water area was.  We were only at the water feature for about 20 minutes, and I saw two children slip and fall.  One girl was about 10, and she landed right on her tailbone.  Ouch, it looked painful!  If you go, be sure to bring water shoes that have really good traction.

The park is so lovely, that I hate to make it sound like a bad place. It's very charming. There were oodles of older kids shrieking and having a great time in the water geysers and in the little river. I think it would be an ideal stop for kindergartners and elementary school kids. I can see Oliver having a great time here in a couple years. However, as a mother of an infant and a toddler, the lack of shade, the slick ground surfaces, and the strong water pressure were just a little much.