For some reason, I have a major urge to document the many parks we’ve been to over the course of the past few months. Since Baby A turned eight months old, parks became a big feature of our lives. These spaces that I mostly ignored or walked past without stopping in as a childfree adult are now the places I frequent the most and care about and have so many opinions on! If there’s one thing you can do to make your neighborhood better, it’s to campaign for more parks and the betterment of parks that already exist. In the future when we’re all more enlightened, parks will be designed more thoughtfully for the parents’ enjoyment too i.e. aesthetics, double meanings, intellectually engaging pieces for an adult, art, poetry may be — the same way kid’s movies have evolved to be engaging for both the parent and the child – in some cases, they’ve taken it so far that it’s barely a kid’s movie — I’m thinking about Soul.
Parks are essential to our wellbeing. One thing that no one tells you about parenting is how boring it can be. It’s such a taboo to say this, and I feel vaguely guilty/ungrateful admitting it, but hey it’s true. Large parts of it are very boring. This isn’t to say that ALL of it is boring, or that there aren’t amazing and deep joys, but a large proportion of parenting a young child is repetitive tasks and limited depth of interactions because language comes pretty late. As an example of repetitive tasks: we have to wash Baby A’s high chair tray after every meal, clean the floor under it, wash his hands and face and then put his bib in the laundry, about SEVEN times EVERY day. Parks are a temporary reprieve from the drudgery of maintenance work: a haven where both the parent and the child can be outdoors, get some movement and get some socialization and where importantly, things that break the routine or are surprising are more likely to happen. To keep it interesting for ourselves probably more than for Baby A (little kids love repetition like the same book for bedtime), in the past few months, we’ve been going to a couple of new parks a week – and we were on the hunt for a park for Baby A’s birthday (read through to see which one we picked!).
The low down on East Bay parks
As an environmentalist, I try to be mindful of combining park trips with other errands to economize on gas e.g. we’ll go to a Berkeley park if we’re doing a shop at Berkeley Bowl, or I’ll go to a park nearby a pick up from the Buy Nothing group (you need to be on this to save $$$ and the environment). I track parks that we visit on Moji Mapper — as well as so many other things like Baby A’s nap times, and when we leave and get to places to measure commute times. This app is amazingly simple yet helpful (and free) – you just use emojis to record various things and it automatically captures the time and location and then you can visualize the data of your life through automated charts. Here’s the chart of the ~25 parks I’ve been to with baby A in the East Bay:
My favorites for kids 8 months to Toddlerhood
Bateman Mall park: the closest vibe to Teletubby land
This is a small grassy park with lots and lots of colorful play equipment that people have donated to the park like walkers, cars, little houses. The people who visit the park know each other well so it has a community vibe. Just watch out that equipment that is donated is not safety-tested and not in the best of condition sometimes so you have to supervise closely – Baby A managed to tip over one of the plastic slides. Other than that it’s got plenty of colorful stuff for kids to explore. I’ve seen mostly toddlers and babies here, including ones who’s parents bring a play center for their baby to stand in — it’s super cute!
Baby A on the music tables at Bateman Mall park 
Baby A trying to go up the slide. Be careful with loose lying structures like this!
Totland: Good family picnic or family date night park
It’s always nice when parks are designed specifically for toddlers because the play structures are smaller and more age-appropriate, and you may be less likely to encounter bigger kids running through them (one less thing to worry about is some big kid’s foot crushing your crawling baby’s fingers by accident). We got to Totland late one evening and the park had emptied out. Baby A had it to himself, and then we grabbed takeout from a nearby vegetarian Chinese place (does it get more Berkeley than this?) and had a (chaperoned) date night at the picnic tables at the park. The park has a nice clean restroom too, adorned with beautiful animal murals. It seemed like a good spot for an intimate family dinner. It’s probably very crowded during peak kids times though.
When the phone is more interesting than the park..Jk, he’s looking up places for us to eat nearby 
Nothing is more baller than going to the park in your PJs (for parents or for kids)
Frog park: Nautical themes but no damn frogs
Baby A loves the creek in this park. It’s small but he’s fascinated by the running water. There’s a ship structure, and many donated toys. The sand pit is a big hit too – sand pits always are, unfortunately for your car (but that was long trashed and besieged by many other substances anyways). It’s also right next to Whole Foods and a bunch of dining options, so great to combine with a grocery trip, Amazon returns, or dinner out at the Filipino restaurant across the street.
An urban creek that didn’t seem to be totally bug-infested or full of rubbish – hoorah! Wouldn’t let baby splash in it though 
I could see the “Noah’s Ark” being a cute photoshoot spot
Temescal creek: easygoing and toddler-friendly play structures
Temescal creek is one of the largest playgrounds I’ve been to. I like that it has a lot of different play structures to play with including ones that encourage balance skills and imaginative do-what-you-want play like this log structure that Baby A is always doing gymnastics on. It’s next to a dog play area so if your kid likes dogs, this is a great place to see SO many dogs! It does get a wide range of age groups so you have to watch out for the faster-moving big kids, but there are also a lot of toddlers here so you’re in good company.
These types of low-lying play structures are great for infants and toddlers to build balance skills 
Baby A loves going in and out of this log tunnel and checking what’s on each side. Somehow never gets old!
Willard Park: a glimpse into a relaxed life, a Berkeley classic
Willard Park is very nice because it feels like its not just about the kids but also has a lot of young childfree adults just having a good time lounging on the grass in groups and playing games like spikeball. These people don’t know how carefree their life is, but as a wise observer you do and it’s nice to see! It’s a park for everyone. The playground has some unique play structures too. It’s a pretty big park with extensive well-maintained grass (which can be hard to find in the East Bay as lots of parks are covered in astroturf or that softened playground material), old trees and tennis courts, and a music area. I have it earmarked for when we go to Berkeley Bowl for grocery shopping to have one of us dropped off there with Baby A.
Willard Park is one of few parks with a tennis wall for solo play 
Baby A contemplates the meaning of life. Or may be just how to get into that hole.
Tilden park: a jackpot that’s far out
This park has a (free!) farm where kids can feed the cows and pet the bunnies, hiking trails and even a little railway. There are nice grassy plains surrounded by majestic trees. You really feel like you’ve escaped the city…the problem is you have – it’s a bit of a trek to get out there, but worth it for a full day out.
Moooooo – these cows love celery 
Though beware not all the trails are stroller-friendly as we found out further down this one…and Jewel Lake is a misnomer, it’s no jewel
San Pablo park: the most aesthetically pleasing and most musical park
This park has the most exciting play equipment I’ve come across — interactive musical buttons, a built-in keyboard, colorful xylophones. If your kid likes music, this is a must-visit. And it has a lot of amenities: bathrooms; benches; shaded areas; a sandpit; a separate toddler playground which is distanced from the big kids playground. The big kids playground has an amazing slide that you have to climb a rope pylon to get on – it’s on my bucket list to do it whenever we graduate out of the toddler playground! This is the closest park to my dream of a park that is designed thoughtfully for children and parents…we chose this park for Baby A’s first birthday celebration!
You can see in the background how artistic and beautiful San Pablo park is – it’s visually amazing 
The Rainbow xylophone at San Pablo. Sure to capture anyone’s imagination…if they are tall enough to see it.
Aquatic park: best elaborate wooden play structures and aquatic bird sighting
Aquatic park is right by the water as its name suggests. It’s windy here so bring jackets. It’s like an obstacle course made of wood, and lots of wood chips. This is such a fun playground for older kids, not the best for toddlers who may try to stuff their mouth with woodchips, but I rate it highly still because you can go for a walk by the water, watch ducks, and then grab dinner at this amazing Indian restaurant Vik’s Chaat which is right next to the park and has plentiful parking and outdoor seating. Ok, it’s making the list because sometimes you got to pick a park for the parents.
Wooden adventure ground galore. This park is more brown than an Indian wedding 
Stroll by the water, just watch out for frisbees
Becky Temko Tot park
Admittedly don’t jump in your car to go to this park if its far away from you, because it is only one lot of land like the same size a large house would be built on. But what’s special here is the story. This is a tiny, well-designed park that originated by a group of neighbors buying land together and developing it. Imagine how much coordination and community it took to do that! It’s nestled in between houses so there are signs reminding people to keep the volume reasonable. And it’s small but so satisfying for toddlers, because in a small area it actually packs in a lot of stuff: a sandpit complete with a water button, slides, swings, toddler picnic areas and these sphynx-like statues. It reminded me that children don’t need the best most elaborate things to make them happy, sometimes the small play areas or a patch of grass or a pile of leaves gives them so much stimulation and joy. And it make me think may be the same is true of adults too, but Instagram and the likes have caused us to lose our way and chase extravagance. This park is close to Berkeley Bowl (Oregon street) so worth a stop if you’re picking up produce there. It was a small little park with a philosophical history whose very presence is inspirational.
Stay tuned for the next set in my series which will cover parks that are overhyped in my view, and for your people-spotting/anthropological guide to the characters you see in a park. You can sign up for my mailing list, I don’t post often so you won’t be overloaded, and no spam, or just bookmark this page to come back! Adios for now, amigos!
References/research
Visits to these ~25 parks: Dover, Colby, Becky Temko, Cedar rose, Grove, Temescal Creek, Linden, Mosswood, Piedmont, Willard, Tilden Regional Park, Lake Temescal, Bateman Mall, Virginia-McGee Totland, Doyle Hollis, San Pablo, Aquatic, EBGIS, Frog, Oak Grove, Cerrito Vista, Upper Canyon trail park, Ohlone. Not strictly parks I guess but I’m also happy to share my take on Morcom Rose Garden (not very stroller-accessible, but a pretty space), Lake Merritt (Love Lake Merritt for sunset walks, getting food from Vegan Mob and the path is stroller-friendly) and Albany Bulb (beautiful for sunset, has a lot of dispersed rustic artwork around the area too).
