Natural play spaces in Minnesota parks

Whitetail Woods Regional Park, Farmington

The new Fawn Crossing play area features a sandy area with water pumps for younger kids. Just down a path into the woods, bigger kids can build stick forts under a calming evergreen canopy decorated with hanging sculptures.

Dodge Nature Center, West St. Paul

The preschool at Dodge Nature Center has been a longtime promoter of nature-based education. Camps and stick forts can be found and made throughout the center's property.

Houston Nature Center, Houston

Against an inspiring backdrop of southern Minnesota's bluff lands, this 1-acre play space boasts a hand-operated water pump and log sluice, caves and tunnels, hay bales for builders, plus a labyrinth for more meditative types.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska

The Play Yard at the Arboretum is designed for the very young, with special sections designed for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

Lowry Nature Center, Victoria

The more formal playground at Lowry lets kids pretend to be animals in a series of simulated wildlife habitats, while a free-form natural play area lets them build their own habitat.

Maplewood Nature Center, Maplewood

Two Stillwater high-school students earned their Gold Girl Scout Award for creating a natural play area with a teepee and willow hut, a tree-trunk balance beam and other natural features.

Tamarack Nature Center, White Bear Township

The Discovery Hollow and Garden play area at Tamarack expands on the winning combination of sand-rocks-logs with climbing cliffs and a stream for splashing and damming. (Tip: pack extra clothes for the kiddos.)

COMING SOON: The Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley

In 2015, the Zoo will open a 30,000-square-foot-natural play area with caves, boulders, logs and other natural features.