The Adventure Playground

The Adventure Playground at the Berkeley Marina is a fantastically unique outdoor recreational area where preschoolers play, build, and paint to their little heart's content. The playground consists of towers, forts, and boats all designed and built by kids. Preschoolers can build using hammers, nails, saws, and donated material. Water-based tempura paint and paintbrushes are available to complete their masterpieces. Rounding out the fun are walls made out of old tires and spider webs created from rope. The Adventure Playground in Berkeley is one of only two Adventure Playground facilities in the United States. It was opened in 1979 and was formed to give children the chance to learn about cooperation, meet low-risk physical challenges, and gain confidence.

What preschoolers love about the Adventure Playground

Preschoolers can build new structures and tear down existing structures. Since this entails using hammers, nails, and saws, it’s likely your budding carpenter will be fascinated with these tasks. They are bound to like the fact that they can build or tear down anything they want in the entire playground.

Imagination runs rampant here. I've seen preschoolers pretending to be pirates on a pirate ship or giant bugs crawling on a humongous spider web. You may see a preschooler riding inside a large cylinder, pretending to be in a spaceship hurling through space. At the Adventure Playground, preschoolers are only limited by their imagination.

 The proper attire for the Adventure Playground is old, closed-toe shoes and play clothes that can get dirty and wet. What preschooler wouldn’t like to dress like that?

What parents love about the Adventure Playground

Your preschooler gets to play in a unique playground with items that a preschooler normally doesn’t get to use, such as hammers, nails, and saws. In addition, your preschooler can paint on anything that she wants to.

The Adventure Playground is run by an experienced staff, routinely giving guidance about construction. Staff members walk throughout the playground looking for hazards such as nails and sharp boards protruding from buildings or for structures that are unstable.

Parents get to play too. It's a great environment to spend some bonding time with your preschooler. Plus it's a requirement here. A parent is required to supervise their child if the child is younger than seven years old.

Rules are enforced. In order to be able to use a hammer or saw or paintbrush, a preschooler must find five pieces of trash, 10 nails, or a piece of wood with a sharp, protruding nail. This teaches a preschooler that maintenance can be fun.

The surreal landscape of the Adventure Playground is really quite interesting. If you tire of looking at funky buildings, old boats, and strangely colored furniture, then you can look at the beautiful waterfront.

What parents should know about the Adventure Playground

It can be dangerous here. Pay close attention to your preschooler as she uses the tools and runs throughout the structures.

Be sure that your preschooler wears clothes and shoes that can get dirty. Although water-based tempura is used, it may not wash out of some fabrics. And closed-toe shoes are recommended.

Your preschooler may not want to leave. With all the fun and adventure to be had at this unique playland, it may be hard to get your preschooler to leave.

Donations of materials are accepted. They need nails, large plywood pieces, 2x4's, small blocks of wood or tile pieces. They will not accept sharp wood with splinters.

General Information

160 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA.
(510) 981-6720
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/marina/marinaexp/adventplgd.html

Open Saturday and Sunday from 11AM - 4PM. The Adventure Playground is closed if it's raining.

Admission is free for groups of up to four preschoolers. For larger groups, you will need a reservation and pay an admission fee. Fees listed below are for two hours time slots.
- 5 to 10 preschoolers: $52
- 11 to 20 preschoolers: $74
- 21 to 30 preschoolers: $106
- 31 to 40 preschoolers: $125

Reservations can be made mid-week if staff is available.