Ashley Okland Star Playground — Attraction in Des Moines

The kidlettes love this park. It is highly maintained and the traffic (child count) stays relatively low. It is the perfect park for kids of the younger sizes 2-5 and for bigger kids too 6-9ish. Bathroom facilities, swings, acres of manicured fields, local biking trails in/near the nearby woods, and disc golf adjacent the property. There is a smaller secondary park across the highway (geared toward 4+) that is a great overflow playground, field, parking, etc.

In the early mornings the park is usually very clean. The ground crew mow early and frequently and are usually done by about 9am or so. Occasionally a raccoon or two will get in the garbage, but very very rare. Not a ton of seating , so bring a chair or blanket. Also, if anyone reading this happens to have a spare plastic steering wheel, the park is missing two child's play steering wheels.

Oh hey, almost forgot; on one occasion, someone dumped a truck load of used tires in the nearby creek adjacent the pedestrian bridge. Not an issue that is too alarming for the Southside of DSM, but I here is the kicker; on a separate occasion (unrelated), open alcohol containers and an alarming number of crushed pills and residue were left on the green table under the walkway. So that's a thing . Mosquitoes too.

Lastly, make sure to assess the stacked hexigons as they accumulate water after rainfall. Just FYI.

99% of the time this park is great. Give...

A Stellar Family Adventure at Ashley Okland Star Playground

When it comes to family fun, Ashley Okland Star Playground is the ‘universe-al’ choice! As a father, I’ve seen my share of playgrounds, but this one is truly ‘out of this world’. My partner, the kids’ mother, and I had a ‘galaxy’ of a time watching our little ‘stars’ shoot down the slides and swing to ‘Mars’ and back.

The equipment is ‘meteor’ than ever, with safety that ‘orbits’ our expectations. It’s the perfect ‘space’ for kids to ‘explore’, and for parents to have a ‘blast’. The laughter here echoes like a ‘comet’ streaking across the sky – bright, brilliant, and beautiful.

So, if you’re looking for a place where joy ‘gravitates’ and fun is always ‘sky-high’, Ashley Okland Star Playground is the ‘constellation’ prize for every family. It’s a ‘supernova’ of happiness where memories are made at the ‘speed of light’. Two thumbs ‘up,...

This park amazed me! It is so lovely. My children ages 3 and 4 absolutely LOVED it. This was one of those parks I had to bribe them to leave. There is parking and restrooms. They also have beautiful walking trails and after playing on the park we took a nice walk just the 3 of us and our pup love. My children made it through the entire trail and loved it. I left my phone and was a little nervous but felt safe enough to walk through the trail with kids. Not being from the area makes me nervous to go on hikes without my husband but here we felt safe and the beautiful hand built bridges over little water ways and an easier trail to take for the kids and I. Will...