Play Around at Woodland Discovery, Memphis’ Most Awesome Playground

It's easy to see why my friends with kids have been raving about the brand new Woodland Discovery Playground at Shelby Farms: the thing is amazing.

Before they started work on the playground, the designers consulted with kids to find out exactly what they wanted in a playground. The result is stunning – several large "nests" where kids can slide, swing, climb, make noise and build sandcastles. Each nest has activities that are appropriate for a wide age group and range of abilities. As a bonus for the clumsy, the surface of the playground is made from bouncy recycled rubber.

The whole thing is encircled by a winding metal arbor that's going to eventually be covered in vines.

Update, 2013: The metal arbor isn't totally covered in vines, but's coming along nicely.

The Woodland Discovery Playground is part of the Sustainable Sites Initiative, which means that the whole playground with built to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Benches are made from responsibly harvested cedar, chairs are made from recycled plastic and more than 50 new trees have been planted in the playground area to replace privet that was cleared.

I wish there had been things like this when I was a kid. I can't be the only adult that feels this way. It would be awesome if Shelby Farms would organize and adults-only play night – despite being fairly small (and the playground being fairly empty), I felt weird about trying out any of the equipment when I was there this morning.

The Woodland Discovery Playground is located in the Plough Park area of Shelby Farms. There's plenty of parking, huge, clean bathrooms, and (best of all), it's free.

If you'd like to see more photos of the playground, they're right here.

Go there:

Woodland Discovery Playground

Shelby Farms Park

500 N Pine Lake Dr

Memphis, TN 38134

(901) 382-2249