Kiwanis Park - Iowa City, Iowa

M S.

Gorgeous park w/ various areas - picnic, watch the sunset, playground, biking/ walking trails. The small bridge over Willow Creek adds to the ambiance.

Molly B.

Edit 2024:
Coming back to edit my review and add new pictures because this park has been completely redone! While the new equipment is great and definitely was due for an upgrade, much of the surrounding brush has been cleared, destroying the "secret hideaways" that took this park from good to magical in the eyes of a child! It's still a great park, but I was disappointed to see this change. The information about bathrooms and shelter still apply from below!

Review from 2022: This is truly the best park ever for child-led imaginative play! In addition to the fun tunnels and bridges, multi-tiered sandboxes, and slides on the hills, there are tons of little hideaways and forts built into the landscape around the playground. Let your children explore! The restrooms for this park are next to the parking lot on Teg Dr. No changing table, and they are not open in the winter. There's a shelter with picnic tables, a grill, and a drinking fountain right by the playground.

Doma

Love this cute and quiet park. It’s very convenient for walking/running/biking because it loops in a circle. The kids playground is conveniently located in the middle and there is a sitting area with a shelter close by. In the summer it’s nice to see the plants that are being grown in the beds in the middle.

Edit: This park is becoming a prairie in progress and they also have leveled sandboxes by the playground in the middle. The shelter has a BBQ grill that needs to be replaced because the bottom of the grill now has a large hole through the bottom from the rust.

Holly R.

Such a sweet park, I love the natural elements and how immersive it is! The community garden to the side is also a plus.

Joel I.

Great park with a uniquely fun playground area for the kids. Lots of tunnels, bridges, and non-typical playground type adventures to be had in an area rather secluded from much of the open space and trails that compromise the remainder of the park. There is also a nice and fairly new commercial grade playground with slides and monkey bars but no swings. There is a nice sandbox complex with lots of sand and dirt for the kids to play in. It looks like this park also has tons of trails and huge open grassy areas in which to play. If you park on the west side of the park, you'll be nearer the big shelter and playground, but you'll have to park in front of someone's house along Abbey Lane (via Mormon Trek). If you park on the east side off Aber via Sunset, there is an actual parking lot (albeit a tiny one -- like, six cars?) near the bathrooms, but you'll have to walk a hundred yards or so to the playground.

Jen S.

Loved this park! I’ll be taking my 3- and 5-year-old back for sure!
The playground is well away from the roads (can’t even see it when you park), is built right into the landscape, is surrounded by grass and shade trees, and has a covered picnic area right in the middle. There are and water fountain. There are also paths, a story walk, and a community garden that we didn’t take advantage of.

Jon B.

This was a very cool park. Inclusion of the multi-level sand boxes was a really nice touch. A second park with a bigger playground is within walking distance and you pass by a nice native garden along the path. A story book walk started at the second park and led back to this park.

Jillian D.

Beautiful park, though fairly small, with a great outdoor playground! It's unique in that it uses more landscape features as play equipment (concrete tunnels, multilevel sand boxes, slides that begin at the top of a small hill or mound, and a fun bridge.

There's also a little network of trails running through it which connect to places outside the park.