Out + About: Hundested Harbor Playground

A plague seems to be upon our house  – this weekend wasn’t the best.  Not one but two sick kids and not sure if it was a stomach thing or a food poisoning thing or what.  We hunkered down for the weekend for everyone to rest and get better, and gave our tot the day off from school today to recuperate, but three days indoors will have you craving the outdoors in no time at all.

Spring is a little slow in coming but it IS coming (right? RIGHT?) so we whittled away a few hours by making a list of some of the favorite playgrounds we’ve seen to start thinking about where to go back as the days warm up.  I realized that we hadn’t shared yet our outing to Hundested Harbor, and the playground there, right in the middle of the harbor, is pretty cool.A natural, inspired playground in Hundested Harbor on the Danish Riviera.  Play spaces in Denmark always seem to bring together the perfect intersection between nature and play for toddlers and children.Not that you only need warm days for playgrounds.  The great thing about Denmark is that you’ll find kids on them without much regard for the weather, but we do like to get out and about outside of the city, especially to the seaside towns, and we make more time for that in the summer.  Hundested is effectively at the end of the Danish Riviera and we finally made it there at the tail end of the summer (though you wouldn’t have known it by our need of sweaters and puffer vests).  It’s home to a little harbor, a small collection of artists stores and residences, a few waterside eateries (including a great little brewery restaurant) and this pretty cool playground.A natural, inspired playground in Hundested Harbor on the Danish Riviera.  Play spaces in Denmark always seem to bring together the perfect intersection between nature and play for toddlers and children.It’s not huge but it is pretty lovely.  And funny.  I mean, whoever built this life-sized lobster trap (eel trap?) for kids is a winner in my book.  I don’t think this kind of thing flies in the US, but it had me double over laughing.  The kids all climb in it but since they’re all moving around to keep their balance, the trap keeps rolling around like one of those old-school bingo ball baskets. So the kids are playing, and balancing, but they’re also hopefully learning a little bit about what used to be the mainstay of the former economy of the town. Bonus says the international economics degree holder.A natural, inspired playground in Hundested Harbor on the Danish Riviera.  Play spaces in Denmark always seem to bring together the perfect intersection between nature and play for toddlers and children. A natural, inspired playground in Hundested Harbor on the Danish Riviera.  Play spaces in Denmark always seem to bring together the perfect intersection between nature and play for toddlers and children. Next up, the carved, wooden sculptures/climbing structures of other lobster-type bottom dwelling crustaceans.  No garish primary colors on this one – just structures that through their natural shape gave kids plenty of places to climb on, and natural color complements all the painted vacation rental houses behind the playground.  She fell of these lobster prawn things a lot since they were rather slippery, but when she finally made it to the top, we had a hard time prying her off of it.  I loved the little brass plaques on the structures saying who carved each one and when… Maybe I’m a bit hokey but it felt kind of nice to think that your child was playing on something that was clearly thought through and built by an actual person.A natural, inspired playground in Hundested Harbor on the Danish Riviera.  Play spaces in Denmark always seem to bring together the perfect intersection between nature and play for toddlers and children.A natural, inspired playground in Hundested Harbor on the Danish Riviera.  Play spaces in Denmark always seem to bring together the perfect intersection between nature and play for toddlers and children.Swings…sandbox…those are more standard…A natural, inspired playground in Hundested Harbor on the Danish Riviera.  Play spaces in Denmark always seem to bring together the perfect intersection between nature and play for toddlers and children.Ropes are also pretty standard around here…first kids learn balance just by walking on them and holding on to the higher one.  But it doesn’t take very long for them to figure out how to climb up and down them, scurrying around like little castaway rats trying to hitch a ride into the next port.  Also, given that our daughter can now basically stand on one while lifting herself up on to the other one as both ropes move was a sore reminder to myself that perhaps some sit ups are in order.  Not for her, for me.  I can only dream to have that kind of core strength one day.A natural, inspired playground in Hundested Harbor on the Danish Riviera.  Play spaces in Denmark always seem to bring together the perfect intersection between nature and play for toddlers and children.In the end of the day, playgrounds here have what all good playgrounds have – lots of fun and lots of places to play.  A natural, inspired playground in Hundested Harbor on the Danish Riviera.  Play spaces in Denmark always seem to bring together the perfect intersection between nature and play for toddlers and children.

As a parent, that’s all you can ask for – but a lovely view of the boats coming into the harbor doesn’t hurt either!

A natural, inspired playground in Hundested Harbor on the Danish Riviera.  Play spaces in Denmark always seem to bring together the perfect intersection between nature and play for toddlers and children. A natural, inspired playground in Hundested Harbor on the Danish Riviera.  Play spaces in Denmark always seem to bring together the perfect intersection between nature and play for toddlers and children.

Out + About: Safari Park Playground!

One of the big toddler hits from this summer was a day trip outing to the Knuthenborg Safari Park – we’ll have a couple of posts on it coming up once we’re back from Norway (including a few tips we picked up for making the most of the drive through safari) – but in the meantime, I wanted to share with you the playground that they have onsite.

One of the coolest playgrounds for tots and kids alike at the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark, an easy day trip from Copenhagen . One of the coolest playgrounds for tots and kids alike at the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark, an easy day trip from Copenhagen .

In keeping with Danish tradition, this playground was cool.  With a capital C probably.  There is just something about this place that makes playgrounds fun – really fun – for kids.  They can run wild both regularly and figuratively…

One of the coolest playgrounds for tots and kids alike at the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark, an easy day trip from Copenhagen . One of the coolest playgrounds for tots and kids alike at the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark, an easy day trip from Copenhagen . One of the coolest playgrounds for tots and kids alike at the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark, an easy day trip from Copenhagen .

Like any playground, you do definitely have to keep an eye on things though you’ll wonder whether any other parents are doing the same.  Specifically the area around the splash pad can get really slippery, and around the splash pad is cement.  “No running” is not really a thing here so leaving on good grippy shoes is a good thing…

One of the coolest playgrounds for tots and kids alike at the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark, an easy day trip from Copenhagen . One of the coolest playgrounds for tots and kids alike at the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark, an easy day trip from Copenhagen . One of the coolest playgrounds for tots and kids alike at the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark, an easy day trip from Copenhagen .

The safari park itself was a blast but our tot could have easily spent much longer here in the playground so don’t forget to allot some real time to it!

One of the coolest playgrounds for tots and kids alike at the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark, an easy day trip from Copenhagen . One of the coolest playgrounds for tots and kids alike at the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark, an easy day trip from Copenhagen . One of the coolest playgrounds for tots and kids alike at the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark, an easy day trip from Copenhagen .

Out + About: Valby Nature Playground

It’s been a few days since a larger post here but the truth is, summer days kind of came out of nowhere here in Copenhagen.  And then of course, they up and left just as quickly.  A few days of 80 plus degrees were here, so like most CPH’ers, we dropped everything to run outside to the beach, to the park, and to adventures out and beyond.  I’ll share a few of those toddler explorations shortly, but in the meantime, wanted to post here a few snaps from our trip to the Valby Nature Playground.
An awesome children's playground in Valby, outside of Copenhagen,  Denmark visited by this forest school toddler.

One things you notice quickly if you have kids here in Denmark (and you’ll probably notice it even if you don’t have kids), is that playgrounds here resemble the way that you probably remember playgrounds of your own days growing up.  Then, if you picture in a whole bunch of green space to what your remember, and you will have an image pretty close to a Danish playground.  Tall slides, zip lines, wooden climbing structures…those are all the norm here.  Consent forms, legal disclaimers and hovering parents are not.   I have yet to see a playground with any kind of soft matting here, save one small one in Hellerup and said matting is around the trampoline portion of the park (Cool, right? Trampolines! ).
An awesome children's playground in Valby, outside of Copenhagen,  Denmark visited by this forest school toddler.
An awesome children's playground in Valby, outside of Copenhagen,  Denmark visited by this forest school toddler. An awesome children's playground in Valby, outside of Copenhagen,  Denmark visited by this forest school toddler. An awesome children's playground in Valby, outside of Copenhagen,  Denmark visited by this forest school toddler.
The Valby Nature Playground takes these Danish playground concepts nearly to the extreme.  It’s amazing how large this place is, with climbing equipment and play areas tucked in between forests and fields.  Part of the fun is just finding what’s next.  The park is also full of picnic tables and places to sit so that you can easily make a picnic and playdate (and incidentally, it seems to be a great place for birthday parties given that we saw three there when we visited).   It’s a bit outside of town so we took a car, but it seems like buses go there as well.  But after a place like this, you can be sure that the little ones will most certainly nap on the ride home.
An awesome children's playground in Valby, outside of Copenhagen,  Denmark visited by this forest school toddler.

An awesome children's playground in Valby, outside of Copenhagen,  Denmark visited by this forest school toddler.

An awesome children's playground in Valby, outside of Copenhagen,  Denmark visited by this forest school toddler. An awesome children's playground in Valby, outside of Copenhagen,  Denmark visited by this forest school toddler. An awesome children's playground in Valby, outside of Copenhagen,  Denmark visited by this forest school toddler.

Toddler Travels: 3 Awesome Playgrounds in Dublin!

When you travel with toddlers, to visit friends with toddlers, not surprisingly, your travel itinerary tends to be geared a bit more towards toddlers, and that was definitely the case when we visited our friends in Dublin a couple of weekends ago.

Three awesome playgrounds we found when traveling with a toddler in Dublin, Ireland.

Luckily, our friends are seasoned pros when it comes to toddlers, and while the visit was short (much too short for my liking – Dublin and Ireland, you are on my list to return to!), we managed to pack in an entirely new playground each of the three days we were there.  And each one had their own special flavor and proximity to “extras” that were just as entertaining for the parents, which means that these were winners all around.

1.  St. Stephen’s Green:  We were told that if you could only see one thing in Dublin, St. Stephen’s Green should be it.  Not only is it a beautiful park right in the middle of the city, but it’s got a great playground right in the middle.  Now, Copenhagen is home to some pretty amazing playgrounds, but one of the things you notice pretty quickly when you have kids here is that nearly all playgrounds are based in dark sand, which means you’re guaranteed a load of laundry (or two) by the time you get home.  This playground is outfitted with softer matting instead, making it possible to play your heart out and still look respectable for your fish’n’chips luncheon at the local pub.  The playground is laid out in a graduated fashion, so there are groups of structures and activities for kids to enjoy regardless of their size, and scattered benches that allow parents to take a load off.  As a bonus, the entry to St.  Stephen’s Green is right off of Grafton Street, which means you can do a little busker entertainment and window shopping on your way over.  And if you start on Suffolk Street by Trinity, you can pop by the Avoka main store, pick up a few Irish blankets to take home, and a pack up some phenomenal baked treats and salad boxes from their cafe in the basement for a lunch on the green.

2.  Herbert Park: Right between the Ballsbridge and Donnybrook neighborhoods is a huge expanse of green space called Herbert Park.  Our friends live just around the corner and I have to say, it’s pretty prime toddler space.  The park itself is huge, with a lovely pavilion area and ducks and swans which makes for a nice walk (or run for the ambitious) at pretty much any time of day.  The playground is expansive, with lots of climbing structures and a base of wood chips, which is also something we don’t find here in Copenhagen.   What was nice about this one, was how many people seemed to know each other and each other’s children – it has a really nice neighborhood feel to it.

3.  Dun Laoghaire Market + Playground:  This one is a little outside of Dublin with a quick ride on the local transit, but in a toddler’s eyes, it has it all: a train ride! the sea! ice cream! It only took me the entire train ride to figure out that Dun Laoghaire is pronounced “dunnleary”…and suddenly I remembered that this was where some of the characters in Circle of Friends lived (three cheers for Maeve Binchy! ) which made me love it even more.  On Sundays, Dun Laoghaire hosts a big open air food stall market: crepes, pad thai, falafel…they’re all on the menu – as are beautiful farm fresh eggs, soda bread and cookies the size of your head.  But don’t use up all your dessert chips just yet – after a lunch to everyone’s taste on the lawn (where you may get treated to an impromptu choir performance), head over to the playground (crowded but fun!) to work it off.  Once everyone has had their fill, you can follow the road down to Teddy’s for ice cream, a bit of a local institution.  We had to head back after that for our flight, but if we had more time, a nice walk on the water would have been an even more perfect ending.

So that’s the scoop on Dublin playgrounds – again, we were only there for a weekend so I’m sure there is much more out there.  For those that have visited or lived in Dublin with little ones, feel free to add your suggestions about playgrounds or other great things to do with toddlers in the comments below!

Image Sources: Herbert Park Playground, Dun Laoghaire Playground