We love this park, we love having a nature preserve close by. In order to foster an appreciation of nature in my children then they need to be around it. Hopefully that appreciation develops into a love of nature that lasts a life time.
Durant Nature Preserve offers a couple of great programs for tots that are FREE. Periodically they will have nature and sensory play days, a day of a variety of activities that is fun and MESSY. The other free program is Wee walkers, a naturalist led “hike” geared just for little ones, you can read more about it here.
Durant has 237 acres of hiking and mountain biking trails, a lake, picnic shelters and a playground. The trails are pretty nice to run, especially if you are fairly new to trail running – they are not too technical and reasonably easy to follow the map. Although I still managed to get a tad turned around. We take the kids on short hikes there – you will find a small stream around a 1/4 of a mile into the trail near the picnic shelter/playground area. Super nice to take off your shoes and walk in the cool water while the kids splash around. They also have a butterfly and bird garden, both take a bit of a walk to get to.
Playground
But most of you read this for the playground reviews, so lets get to that. This playground has one significant disadvantage: you have to walk down a pretty significant hill to the playground, bathroom facilities, and picnic shelters. It’s a gravel road that is closed to vehicles. It’s not a bad walk and I enjoy walking. It’s nice and shaded. The issue is coming back up. It’s uphill and gravel so not super stroller friendly. I’ve been there before, no stroller and 2 kids in the middle of a meltdown. Carrying 2 crying kids up a significant hill is enough to completely exhaust any caregiver. So it can backfire on you.
Once you’re to the playground you will find a pretty large sand area, a couple of bucket and belt swings and a play structure. It does have some tree shade and we tend to come here more during the summer months.
Bottom line: when we visit, it’s not just for the playground. If you are looking for playgrounds nearby try Landfill park or Abbott’s Creek. When we go, which is fairly often the playground is just part of our excursion. We are usually there for one of the programs or because for a short, kid friendly hike.
So, if your kids love the outdoors then they will love Durant Nature preserve as well.