Water Play

When it’s hot in Adelaide, it’s really bloody hot. So here are some great parks where you can find FREE shade, water play, and some playground fun to keep the kids happy and the electricity bill down. As always PLEASE be very careful with your kids around water. We love kids exploring, having fun in nature and having a splash but you need to watch them at all times! And don’t forget to slip, slop, slap and wrap!


Thorndon Park Reserve Playground, Paradise

Find it at: Hamilton Terrace, Paradise Thorndon Park playground has been voted Australia’s Best Playground (Winner of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects award for best play space 2023) The upgraded (in 2023) playground at Thorndon Park is amazing! A hen (water play sculpture), wren (climbing structure) and crane (swing) now call the park home and don’t forget the biggest bird, a heron (slide structure), which takes...

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Waikerie Water and Nature Play Park

Find it at: Leonard Norman Drive, Waikerie Opened in December 2018 the Waikerie Water and Nature Play Park was the idea of local couple Clive and Donna Mathews who received a $150,000 Fund My Neighbourhood grant from the SA Government and also raised a further $100,000+ from the local Rotary Club, Council and Go Fund me campaign. (how good is that!). The playground also now includes an accessible roundabout for wheelchairs and an accessible...

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Cowell Water Park

Find it at: Cowell Foreshore Precinct, Thompson Drive, Cowell Cowell Foreshore Precinct underwent a $9 million upgrade in 2023 with the addition of an aquatic playground featuring a Splash Park and Water Slides, a Basketball Court, a Jumping Pillow and increased car parking (including long parks) for all those caravanning families! Cowell is a beautiful coastal town situated on the Franklin Harbour, approximately 490kms (around 5 hours drive)...

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Dunstan Adventure Playground, St Peters

Find it at: Winchester Street, St Peters This wonderful playground upgrade, completed in 2023, includes new adventure-themed play equipment, toilets, picnic and BBQ facilities and park furniture. The Dunstan Adventure Playground is full of excellent equipment for adventurous kids. A lot of the equipment is aimed at older children though, so your kids will need to feel pretty confident, the slide is beyond huge and kids will need their balance...

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Morialta Mukanthi Conservation Park Playground

Find it at: Morialta Conservation Park, Woodforde The eagle has landed at Morialta Playground… in a 7 metre tall nest – and your kids can climb it! Yep, the Morialta Conservation Park playground is AWESOME! Best suited to kids aged 5-15years, it is great to see a play area perfect for older families. With over 100 car parks and walking trails to guide you, it makes a visit to the park even easier to navigate for families. The...

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Bridgewater Mill Playground

Find it at: Mount Barker Rd, Bridgewater This stunning playground is just about everything we love about a day out in our beautiful Adelaide Hills. Coffee, stunning scenery and a fab playground for all ages. Located just below the Bridgewater Mill, the playground is fenced along the road and edges but NOT on the creek bed, which in my opinion is great because it allows kids to take there shoes off and go for a good explore in the creek bed....

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Marshmallow Park / Pityarilla Activity Hub

Marshmallow Park on Glen Osmond Road, in the Adelaide Parklands is a firm favourite with our families from the 2 year old to the 10 year old. With its huge new renovation, there is now heaps more to explore at this site – also known as Pelzer Park or Pityarilla activity hub! The renovation includes some brilliant new nature play features, alongside more traditional swings, slides and climbing frames. There is a great water feature...

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Splash Town, Moonta

Did you know that Splash Town at Moonta Bay Foreshore on the Yorke Peninsula is an entirely FREE waterpark for kids and families? Think waterslides, tipping bucket and a whole heap of waterplay fun. It’s a fantastic community facility, open for every one to use. South Australia has some really great little water parks and water slides, however a lot of them are hidden in various tourist parks and only available for use of their customers,...

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Bonython Park Playground / Tulya Wardli

Find it at: Port Rd, Adelaide What a beautiful playground for kids of all ages! Renovated back in late 2012, the Bonython Park Playground has a some very cool features not found in the typical suburban park. Some of the best equipment includes two 25m flying fox lines fun for kids of all ages and an extensive water play area complete with pumps, gates and a watermill. Kids love playing and experimenting with water and this...

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Tanunda Recreation Park

Find it at: Bilyara Rd, Tanunda Huge news out of Tanunda with the opening of their fabulous new inclusive playground in December 2022. The new Playground has been made possible by State Government grant funding of $330,221 and a Council contribution of $782,800, making it a total budget of $1,113,000 Features of the Inclusive Playground include a flying fox, trampolines, climbing/elevated play, slides, swings, sand and water play, barbecue...

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Tusmore Park Wading Pool

Find it at: Stirling St, Tusmore Opening in March 2022, the Tusmore Park Wading Pool is fast becoming a favourite spot for visitors to cool down. The design features a fully fenced and shaded wading pool, lawned areas for picnics, a new creek style section, tiered seating and water play equipment for plenty of splashing and playing during the summer months. A few points worth mentioning: It’s fully fenced!! Hoorah! It’s unsupervised...

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Solandra Reserve Playground

Find it at: Solandra Cr, Modbury North Pack up the change of clothes kids, we are going to sand and water play nirvana! Solandra Reserve out at Modbury North has had a fab upgrade, with the space transformed into a brilliant community facility. Featuring the already mentioned sand and water play features (undercover too we might add!), chuck in a great little pump track and a range of equipment to suit the big kids and little ones, this one...

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Glenunga Hub Playground

Find it at: L’Estrange Street, Glenunga Glenunga hub playground opened in 2017 and quickly became one of our favourites – if you visit this summer you’ll probably see us there! As you may have noticed, many of our recent favourite playgrounds include those with ‘active’ options for kids – water play, sand play, climbing, nature play etc, not just swings and slides. Glenunga hub playground is one of these...

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The Paddocks Reserve

Find it at: Maxwell Road, Para Hills West Well isn’t this a little bit sensational! The new playground at The Paddocks Reserve is OPEN and we must say, this is one of the best new playgrounds we have come across in a while, with some pretty spectacular pieces of equipment to keep the kids busy for ages! With access best via Maxwell Road, there is so much to talk about here its hard to know where to start. We have to start off with the...

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Heron Way Reserve, Hallett Cove

Find it at: Heron Way, Hallett Cove This is a great new playground with amazing views over the ocean. The reserve includes a new 5-way swing, tunnel slide, water and sand play, nature play, fitness equipment, shade sales, toilet, seating, shelter and BBQ facilities. The playground is unfenced, and there is a drop down to the rocky beach that parents with fast moving smaller children will need to be mindful of. There is parking close to the...

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Freedom Park Two Wells

Find it at: Mary Lee Street, Two Wells Well isn’t this one totally worth the drive out north! The new playground, Freedom Park, within the Liberty at Two Wells development, is the latest milestone in a $1.2 billion residential precinct way out north. We absolutely loved it when we took the drive to check it out, with our intrepid playground reviewers claiming it as one of the best playgrounds they have visited. High praise indeed! Lots of...

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Roy Marten Park, Taperoo

Find it at: Military Road, Taperoo With a $6.4million budget for the 2018 upgrade, the great thing about this playground is that it caters for ALL age groups. Something we love for Adelaide families as it keeps everyone happy oh and occupied. The equipment is quite spread out and has been zoned for ages . It incorporates lots of challenging climbing structures for the older kids and has a toddler play area along with sand pit and water play for...

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Wilfred Taylor Reserve Nature Playspace

Find it at: Wheatsheaf Road, Morphett Vale The Wilfred Taylor Reserve is now open for families to explore! The $2.2 million nature playspace, located on the corner of Wheatsheaf and States Roads at Morphett Vale, has been designed for people of all ages to get outdoors and engage with nature.  Nature themes are featured as a tribute to the site’s importance for Kaurna people, and the site’s history as a working farm from the 1840s to...

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George Street Reserve

Find it at: George Street, Marion The City of Marion have opened up yet another fabulous playground (they are really setting the standard aren’t they), this time a spacious playground at George Street. With an in-ground trampoline, swing, sandpit, water pump and 2 historical-themed cubby houses, including a village store and a workers cottage, this one is really cool. There’s also a miniature fire pole, slide and logs to jump on and an...

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Adelaide Aquatic Centre

Looking for the perfect year-round destination for family fun? Look no further than the Adelaide Aquatic Centre. Heated to a balmy 27°C, the Leisure Pool has been designed for families with little ones to enjoy with play spaces, fountains, and shallow water. Waterslides also operate at specific times throughout the day. Little kids will have no problems in this pool, which has a maximum depth of 0.9m. The pool also has accessible lifts to...

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Taylor Riverfront Waterpark Precinct, Renmark

Renmark is the largest (and possibly prettiest?) town in South Australia’s Riverland and it is a great base for exploring the Riverland with kids. Renmark makes a beautiful family weekend or regional SA holiday break, with so much for the whole family to see and do, a visit with the kids is a must for your bucket list! We did the trip in around three hours from Adelaide. We recently spent some time enjoying the FREE waterplay in the town...

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Lightsview Adventure Park

Find it at: South Parklands, Lightsview A fabulous adventure playground has been added to the Lightsview development, which is well worth the trip! Opened in April 2021, the nature play themed park includes water play, a huge number of logs and balancing beams to test out kids and parents alike! Throw in a climbing hill with slide, a basketball court, sand play area, in-ground trampolines, swings and even more slides, we love this park for...

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Central Avenue Reserve Hallett Cove

Find it at: Central Avenue, Hallett Cove A fabulous new addition to the City of Marion’s range of playspaces opened up in March 2021, with the brand spanking new playground at Central Avenue Reserve. Using the site’s slope to the fullest advantage, the highlight here is a super quick flying fox which takes kids (and parents!) from the rock-climb inspired slide playground and basketball court, right down to the sand play and shelter...

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Susan Wilson Memorial Playground Beachport

Find it at: Railway Terrace, Beachport The fantastic playground upgrade at Beachport is complete and it is fantastic! The playground is headlined by easily one of the best playground pirate ships in the state, with plenty of sand play, climbing rope equipment, flying fox, slides and swings. There really is so much to do for all ages and how about the view! Just a stunning attraction for families in the region and all those from the city who...

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Hazelwood Park Playground | Wombat Waterhole | Burnside

Find it at: Greenhill Road, Hazelwood Park Hazelwood Park Playground is a beauty for families of all ages and abilities. Upgraded in 2010, this shady park with plenty to do was one of the first (and still one of our fave) parks with a nature play feel. Set in the corner of the huge reserve there is plenty of space, plenty of shade and plenty of play equipment. In the summer the Burnside Outdoor Pool is also open to the public with large, clean...

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Kenton Reserve Oaklands Park

Find it at: Kenton Avenue, Oaklands Park Another nice little playground for the locals, with a range of equipment outside of the normal combo of tower slide + swing. They do have some swings, which our crew got around, with a normal swing, toddler swing and dount net swing to entertain the troops. The big horizontal climbing net provided a good challenge for the older kids and the sound pipes are always fun! We loved the adjacent bike and...

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Wirrabara Playground

Find it at: Wongabirrie Park – Wirrabara in the mid North Located on the banks of the Rocky River (which is great for exploring or yabbying when wet) is Wongabarrie Park up at Wirrabara. Where is that? Head to Pt Pirie and sort of turn right and you are about on the mark. The playground is a fantastic facility for the locals and travellers alike, with toilets a large rotunda (great for parties) and BBQ areas aplenty. Right next to the...

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Quentin Kenihan/Rymill Park Accessible Playground

Find it at: Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka (Park 14) Disability advocate, writer and actor Quentin Kenihan has been memorialised with a new inclusive playground built in Rymill Park. The $1m playspace, promised by the Premier Steven Marshall to be “the very best inclusive playground in the country,” includes sensory elements, waterplay and features that encourage shared play and will be suitable for children and parents with...

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Dwyer Road Oaklands Park

Find it at: Dwyer Road, Oaklands Park Folks, the future is here! Remeber the Jetson’s? The cartoon with the family from the future who flew around in flying cars and lived in houses in the sky? Well they probably played at playgrounds like this! The Dwyer Road playground at Oaklands Park is the first high tech playground in South Australia. With $750k of Federal funding, plus a bit from the Marion Council as well, this playground has come...

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25 At Home Water Play Ideas

Kids LOVE water play, it’s cheap, and usually pretty clean and well a bit messy but that’s ok, only water right? With hot days ahead it’s always a fun option. Here are some of our favourite activities involving good old H2O that will keep your little people both cool and entertained this summer. An old baby bath, a clam pool and a hose with a changeable pressure and water distribution nozzle are some of the things we find...

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