Van Dyck Park — Attraction in Fairfax

With multiple small playgrounds, some educational aspects, a blacktop and a small but decent skate park area,this place really tries to cover everything. Add in a sheltered sitting area with picnic tables, a large open field,a long exercise walking path, and even a couple grills (camping style) and you can basically do anything here.

It is so large an area it is possible to lose sight of your kids, which might be a concern to some parents. Overall I like the spread out choose your own adventure style of the play areas, but if you like to sit and talk and just look up once on a while to see everything is OK,you might want a different (smaller) play ground. If you don't mind them really getting a chance to run though,this is a great place.

I especially appreciated the merry go round "Christmas tree" with the ropes in a cone going up the outside, feels like high adventure but the higher you go the slower they spin (thanks physics) so it really works out reasonably safely even for those who want to climb on the outside. Neat design, and good for those inside too.

The climbing wall is high, the hang and spin is about the same, making the main play areas great for big kids,while the bee and dragon fly themed smaller areas are great for the younger kids too. I admired the dragon fly teeter totter for a really nice design that won't pinch hands or go wrong as often as some other see saw styles I've seen.

Whole place is like that really, well designed work with enough danger/fun to appeal to the kids but enough smarts in the way it's put together that it's pretty safe (overall).

Nice park, will return for parties and...

I'm really impressed with Van Dyck Park. I live fairly close by, but it wasn't untill a random stranger that I met at a McDonalds mentioned that this super nice park was here. Based on his advice, I took my son to come play here. We had a blast!

There are several playground structures available for kids to play. The variety and wide open space is what makes this park amazing. My son didn't know what to do with himself because he had some many choices.

My son is currently very young, so his enjoyment of the park is the playground structures. However, as he gets older, he will enjoy the tennis courts, basketball courts, the skate park. Gosh, I bet there are other things there that we haven't even explored yet.

For the party planning parents, there is a huge pavillion here as well that you can rent from Fairfax County. It doesn't seem expensive but I haven't looked at the prices. Definitely a great spot to rent for a party since it is next to so many activities.

The park is clean and appears safe. I...

This is a large park with several separate playground areas to help separate big kids from little kids. The largest section has 11 pieces of equipment. I've only been once so I don't know if I was there at fortunate time or it's a regular thing, but there was a fresh layer of mulch. Parking might be an issue as there didn't seem like there would be enough during busy periods. The playgrounds were clean and the park in general seemed clean. There is a large restroom cube sort of thing with solar panels on top. When we arrived someone was using it, when we left is was being worked on by someone who seemed a little frustrated by something. As a side note, there was a tall young man, whose age I couldn't determine, who seemed to have a mental capacity issue. I don't know if it's a normal place he spends his days or if anyone was with him but he was there that day. He said hello to a few adults and seemed friendly but I didn't notice him approach any children...