Some playgrounds are just worth the drive— better yet for our Dayton readers, this playground is in your own backyard!
Located in Beavercreek, Rotary Park’s Owen’s Place Playground has a tree house village, slides built into a hill, handicap-accessible swings, pollinator gardens and more!
The playground encourages imaginative play with Carter’s Cottages; several kid-sized tree houses set on a wooden trail under the natural canopies. Take a walk through the handicap-accessible paved musical trail where kids can explore different sounds on many instruments before visiting the cottages.
Each cottage has space for kids to go inside and chalk, create scenes with nature, stack rocks, serve up grass + mud soup, and explore the above ground trail. Kids will love running and climbing on the winding wooden play space where they can slide, climb ropes, go up the rock wall or take a ride down the popular hydraulic Drop Zone Tower. (To be honest, I’m bummed there’s not a cottage playground like this in Cincinnati!).
On the other side of the cottages, kids can explore the community-driven pollinator garden with a cute little bridge to walkover and bird houses all around. The colorful caterpillar theme of Owen’s Place Playground attracts all the beautiful butterflies and bees while keeping our buzzing friends far enough away from the play spaces. One of our favorite parts of the playground are the colorful partitions that kids can run through and adjust the reflection of colors on the ground based on the sun’s location. A great way to incorporate STEM learning during play!
Kids looove the slides built on the grassy hill near the cottages. So much so, local Girl Scout Troop(s) created a dry, covered bin for cardboard pieces to be shared and borrowed for sliding! This bin melted my mama heart, what a sweet, sweet touch by the community! Bring your own to replenish the bin or borrow one of theirs— there’s plenty of space for kids to have a blast rushing down the hill.
With picnic tables nearby, restrooms just steps away, a covered pavilion, spacious parking and a gorgeous playground, Owen’s Place in Rotary Park is a place you can spend hours at and still countdown the days until you return again.