Last weekend my family and I enjoyed the day exploring the Santa Ana Zoo at Prentice Park. The kids loved walking through the aviary, watching the playful monkeys and riding the electric train.  This post, however, is about the amazing Santa Ana Zoo playground found within the zoo!  Right next to the zoo snack bar sits a decent sized playground.  There are two sets of play equipment that kept both my 2 and 7 year old kids entertained.   Although my husband and I love playing with our kids during our park adventures, it was a nice treat to sit, rest our feet, hold hands, and relax while watching them play.

Location: The Santa Ana Zoo playground is directly off Interstate 5 at the First St/Fourth Street exits. The parking lot is off Chestnut Avenue.  I’ve mapped the zoo on our playground map, but the zoo website has excellent directions (click here).

Highlights:

• The playground is right inside the entrance plaza
• Nice Prentice Park shade is provided by canvas overhangs (designed to look like giraffes) and beautiful trees
• As a mother of a fearless 2 year old, I was thrilled to see that one of the openings at the top of the big kid equipment was closed off.  Truly, I even had to take a picture of it for the slideshow!
• Monkey bars set up like the “rings” we used to play on as kids on a winding track
  
• The zoo!  The 20-acre zoo is a great place to explore with its Zoofari train ride, endangered animal carousel, and interactive exhibits

Be Aware:

• You have to pay admission to enter the zoo and have access to the playground. Children 0-2 are free. Children 3-12 and seniors 60+ are $5 and adults are $8. CASH OR CHECK ONLY.
• There is a snack bar and gift shop next to the playground.
• The playground gets very crowded.
• No swings.

Checklist:

• Parking is free.  Zoo Admission ranges from FREE-$8.
• Recycled rubber and sand play surface
• Restrooms in the snack bar building
• Drinking fountain
• Shade from playground shade cover and trees
• There are plenty of places to sit while keeping an eye on the children.
• Click here to find information on zoo admission and hours

Serendipity led us to Santiago Park across Main Street from the Discovery Science Center. My daughter spotted it when we turned into the parking lot. I’ve been to the center countless times, yet never noticed the playground nearby. In researching this post, I found an amazing website about the Santiago Park Nature Preserve and Santiago Creek Trail. You can be sure we’ll be exploring this website and all the natural wonders they’ve spotlighted.

Location: From Interstate 5, take the Main Street exit. Drive past the Discovery Science Center and turn right on Memory Lane. Turn right on Lawson Way into the parking lot. The playground is a walk back toward Main Street. There’s a path on the Memory Lane side of the parking lot, leading through a tree grove and over a bridge directly to the playground. [Address: 2535 E. Memory Lane, Santa Ana] MAP to Santiago Park in Santa Ana

Highlights:

• Wooden play structures are the best! (according to my kids)
• The structure for the youngest visitors has spring animals and nearby
• The big-kid structure has bridges, zip tracks and slides
• Picnic tables with grills surround the play area
• There’s a nice trail for strolls along the creek
• It’s a bird sanctuary and part of a nature preserve

Be Aware:

• No baby swings
• No stalls in restrooms
• One person I talked to said it might not be too safe to walk on the trail under the street and there’s suspicious characters every once in a while. I felt very safe there in the middle of the day. Just be aware. (You’ll notice one commenter warned to accompany your children to the restroom).

Checklist:

• Parking in lot off Memory Lane or walk in from the Science Center
• We walked to the park from the Science Center. There’s a path that goes below Main Street, but we were warned against going that route. However, Main Street is busy – so be careful crossing.
• Sand play surface
• Restrooms very near playground, but no stalls on doors
• Shade from eucalyptus
• The park has a cabin available for rental (Santiago Cabin reservations)
• We didn’t walk far enough, but there is also lawn bowling (Santiago Lawn Bowling Club House)

Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl: Home Sweet Home
at the Discovery Science Center
June 20th-October 4th

The Discovery Science Center is Orange County’s only Smithsonian affiliate – and helps hundreds of thousands of students and families experience science each year. Their newest interactive and educational exhibit encourages families to spend time together outdoors, inspiring children to discover and care for the natural resources that sustain our world.

Location: The big black “cube” and outdoor life-sized dinosaur is very noticeable off Interstate 5 at Main Street. When I come from the south, I stay in the outside right turn lane–so I can make the immediate left into the parking lot at the first light. There is an attendant in the lot for paying the $3 parking fee (or to show your annual parking pass if you purchased one). MAP<

Highlights:

• Everything felt very authentic – just like the “real” visitor centers we frequent at all the wilderness areas we visit. The ranger station and lookout tower felt especially real – although kid-sized.
• My kids were enthralled with the campfire. Press one button to “light” the fire and hear it crackle. Then tip the water bucket to hear a splash and extinguish the flame. Pretend marshmallows on sticks made their way from the campfire to the tent and back.
• The next most popular attraction was the Woodsy’s puppet tree where kids can create a performance using cool audio effects and costumes. For readers, there are story starters posted promoting conservation messages.
• I found the exhibit to be very effective at bringing the outdoors inside. There were opportunities to learn about the water cycle, recycling, composting, urban ecology, tree planting, water safety and first aid.

Be Aware:

• My photos do not do the exhibit justice. I didn’t include photos of everything – so you should do some discovering on your own. It’s really worth a visit. Just make sure you follow up with a trip outdoors!
  
• Fee for parking and admission (Discovery Science Center website for info)
• Can be really busy on days with school field trips

Checklist:

• Parking in dedicated fee lot
• Exhibit is on the 2nd floor. After you pass the ticket counter, there are 2 stairways to your left. If you choose the stairway closest to the rock climbing wall, you’ll walk right into the Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl exhibit.
• The elevator is straight to the back of the center (from the entrance). Take it to the 2nd floor and you’ll walk right into the Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl exhibit.
• Restrooms are near the elevators.
• Nice and cool inside on hot summer days.

Suggestions:

• Check out Peace Love and Momminess post on Discovery Science Center
• After your visit, consider walking across Main Street to Santiago Park (pictured below).