KidSpace Park — Attraction in Shawnee

We held our 20 year reunion here this weekend on saturday and the park was nice but really not designed for little kids. All the metal slides were hot inside according to my older boys even though they are plastic on the inside, the metal exterior heated it up like an oven. The little kid climbing areas have black rubber mats on everything so my little ones were burning their hands, legs , and arms and wouldn't go on it. There are only 2 baby swings, 2 regular swings, and a joint swing which may be for differently able persons which is fine, but considering the swing set that was there before, it was sparse for the kids who enjoy swinging. My twins enjoyed running around but because there are no gates at any entrances I found myself having to chase them down to keep them from getting out into the parking lot and trying to send them through the tunnel and meet them on the other side didn't work out because by the time I got around to the other side they had back tracked and taken off again so I lost them for a terrifying minute or two. The games set up with the horseshoes and the corn hole were great, I don't think anyone thought through the layout of the ping pong tables though. The balls kept flying in towards the first few tables and past the grills. If you light a grill on that side, expect to have some ping pong balls mixed in with your burgers. The staff there are great and some of the equipment is really good, but this is not a park for little kids, more for 7 and up. Maybe when the weather cools off the slides won't be so hot and the little ones can climb in the little hexagon structures without burning themselves, but for summertime, this wasn't a great plan. Also, gates would help. Too easy to grab a kid and run to the parking lot. Please watch your kids...

The new park is pretty neat, there are plenty of fun activities to do (aside from not being able to play the table tennis, cornhole or horseshoes games without paddles and a ball, beanbags or horseshoes as none are provided…hence the absence of a fifth star), there's seating and shade provided and when the newly planted trees grow it will really be lovely and shady. We really liked the ninja course (but what I would like even more is if people ever learn to read the info provided along with things to understand how they work before unsuccessfully trying to work them smh) and the timed 40yd dash is cool as well. I did hear it said that it's not pretty enough to which my reply is that this isn't a garden, it's a park and not the national kind park but one for kids and if what you want is something pretty to look at then you should go to a garden or visit a different kind of park, but if you're looking for a really neat, family friendly space packed with functional equipment and fun activities to interest a variety of ages and keep your kids busy having a great time for long enough to wear them out then this park is for you. Just be sure to bring your own paddles and balls, beanbags and horseshoes if you wanna play with those things but overall I think it serves it's intended purpose well as a really fun park that a lot of thought and care went into. (Thanks to the city planners & all others involved in providing this and Thanks to the taxpayers for affording us all use of such a wonderful, awesome place) I just hope everyone takes care of it and it's treated with respect for everyone since everyone paid for it and we'd love to be able to go back...

There’s a few pros and cons to this new park. As someone who lives right down the street from this place and goes three times out of the week. I would have preferred that they just kept the old wooden park.

It’s a beautiful park, don’t get me wrong, but it’s more like an obstacle course rather than a playground. The biggest design flaw is the fact that there’s only one way up to the only two big slides there. I’ve witnessed on multiple occasions several children almost fall, which it is at least a 10 foot drop. They will all huddle and push past each other trying to climb up which only has space for barely one child. They should have kept the tire swing, considering that there’s only like five or six swings at the whole park. The kids LOVED the tire swing. I understand why others love it, but personally, there’s a lot of design flaws.

I won’t touch on the rowdy teenagers, or the vagrants that frequently cause scenes or damage to the park, but don’t be surprised if you see an altercation. The best hours to go are usually before...