My son gets up at 5:00 a.m. every day. By 8:00 a.m., it feels like mid-afternoon, and we are itching to get out of the house. Unfortunately, not much is open at that hour except Super Target and parks. Today, we decided to go to Hanrahan Park {Mundelein} as it is one of our favorites.
There are two separate playgrounds at Hanrahan Park. One for bigger kids and one for toddlers. The toddler section has a dinosaur theme to it. so we call this the “Dinosaur Park” at my house. The toddler section has 3 slides that are better for apprehensive or younger children. It also has a giant dinosaur head and tail to climb up to the play structure. Behind the playground, there are 4 bucket swings. The sign in front of the toddler play area says that it is for kids aged 2-5 years old. However, my son is 2 years old and prefers the playground for the bigger kids. I guess it really depends on your individual child.
The playground for older kids at Hanrahan Park features three slides. One of them is an open twisty slide, and the other two are closed tunnel slides. There are two sets of monkey bars and numerous poles, and ladders to climb on. There is also a wiggly bridge to run across. Behind the playground, you can see a swing set with numerous regular swings. This section is probably geared for kids ages 5-10. However, there are often a lot of kids in the 10-12-year-old crowd here playing on it, so it must be fun for them too.
One of the most popular things at this park is the giant climbing tower. I have seen these a lot at parks lately, and I have no idea what their official name is, web climber, maybe? Older kids LOVE THEM! But, they aren’t so great for toddlers.
Another thing that makes this park unique is what I call the “T-Swing.” I have no idea what it is officially called and have never seen them anywhere else. It is a pole shaped like a letter T with swings on either side. Parents or other children can push one person on a swing, and both swings will spin around the circle. These swings are a major perk to this park if you have older kids!
The ground underneath the playgrounds is all woodchips. It kind of takes points away from the park in my opinion. I have heard that woodchips can overtime get moved to different areas making the ground not as padded. However, the Mundelein Park District does a pretty good job maintaining the wood chips. There is a small section of the park with a little bit of sand. I have found it hard to find parks that have any sand lately! The sand box has two diggers. They are pretty difficult for toddlers to use, so we often bring our own sand toys to this park.
One of the things I love about Hanrahan park is the paved fitness trail. They recently re-paved the whole trail, so it is smooth and not too bumpy to be pushing a stroller or riding a bike through. The path is mostly shaded so you can easily take a baby for a walk on a hot summer day. The trail is a total of .375 miles all the way around, so you can consider that when working out. Hanrahan’s fitness path has some exercise equipment that you can use to supplement your work out there. Such as a sit-up bench, pull up bars, and some circles for standing and balancing.
This park is on our weekly to-do list for this summer! Have you been to Hanrahan Park? What’s your favorite part?
Hanrahan Park
East Noel Drive, Mundelein
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