Kracklauer Park is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year as well as being Mundelein’s oldest park. However, don’t let its age fool you. It isn’t just an “old” park. With its free Sunday concerts, multiple play structures, creek, and dance studio it makes it a perfect park to check out this summer with your kids of all ages.
Kracklauer Park, Mundelein
Kracklauer Park is the place to be on Sunday nights all summer long. The park has free concerts from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. every Sunday through August. The shows are free; all you have to bring is a blanket or a chair to sit on and some food if you would like. Children can play at the park or dance in the spacious field while listening to music on cool summer nights.
This park has two large play structures—one for older children and the other for younger children. The one for older children features four swings, a sandbox with diggers, five slides; four of them are parallel racing slides, and one is a bumpy slide. This play structure also has things to interact with, such as mix and match animals and a wheel to turn.
One of the best features of this play structure for older children is the wiggly suspension bridge. My eleven-year-old cousin had so much fun jumping and running across this bridge. However, I would say that this play structure is best suited for older children about age four to about age twelve because of this bridge. My two-year-old kept falling when walking across this bridge because of how steep it is. After some tears, I directed my son over to the smaller play structure.
The other play structure is geared towards younger children, probably under age six. It features four baby swings, a crawling tunnel, horses to ride on, and six slides!
One of the slides in this play structure is pretty special, in my opinion. See, my son has always been afraid to go down the enclosed tube slides at parks. He would always sit up at the top of the slide, waiting to go down but would be too scared actually to go down them. Kracklauer Park is the only park I have seen so far with a tube slide with a transparent roof. Because my son was able to see outside of the slide he was no longer afraid. He went down that slide about fifteen times.
Other features of this park are tennis courts, a gazebo available for rentals, a spacious field, picnic areas, swinging benches, a table with a chessboard painted on it, and of course, the creek! Kracklauer Park has a beautiful creek that runs behind the entire park. The water is only a couple of inches deep, and throughout the summer, you will see kids splashing in the water.
A highlight of this park is the dance studio on site. The studio operated by the Mundelein Park & Recreation District offers lessons for dance enthusiasts aged 2 1/2 to adult. This would be great for families who have multiple children. While one child’s class is going on, parents can entertain the other child by playing at the park just about fifty feet away from the dance studio. No more bored children sitting and waiting around for the class to be over.
Although this park does not have a bathroom or a drinking fountain, a Mcdonald’s is literally a few feet away from the park. You can change the baby’s diaper and buy lunch all right there. Then all you can do is hope that the kids will actually take a nap on the car ride home!
Kracklauer Park does not have its own parking entrance off Rte 45. When I come to the park I always park in the parking lot next to the Dance Studio located at 100 N. Seymour Avenue.
Kracklauer Park – Kracklauer Park is located between N. Lake St. (Route 45) and N. Seymour Avenue, just south of Division in Mundelein. (Right next to McDonald’s and across the street from Santa Maria del Popolo)
Amenities: Two play structures, slides, baby swings, regular swings, a sand play area, spacious empty field, swinging benches, picnic areas, gazebo available for rental, tennis courts, dance studio, free summer concerts.
Shade: Partial. Some areas are shaded while others are full sun.
Restrooms: No. However a McDonalds next door to the park.
Ground cover: Woodchips
Good for: All ages. I would only recommend it up to about age nine.
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