Splash pad and playground is a great, free activity for kids under 5 to do for a couple of hours on a hot day. Bring a lawn chair, so that you can sit underneath a shady tree. Also, have kids wear water shoes because the ground is hot. The splash pad consists of 10 or so (very little) jets of water, just enough for the little ones to get wet. Public bathrooms available. I believe the splash pad water starts at 11:00 a.m. When we were there there was an ice cream truck so make sure to bring cash just in case. read more

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This park is great! Super clean and had a play structure for bigger kids as well as little ones. Plenty of swings... 4 regular ones, 2 baby ones and 2 of the plastic chair type ones. It's on padded turf. There's a picnic area with plenty of tables. Lots of benches around the playground too. There is very little shade at this playground. Plenty of parking. read more

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Clean - has equipment for various ages and has bathrooms! I am also a big fan of pour in place surfaces.

This park has such potential but unfortunately many patrons abuse it's beautiful facilities. We came here a Saturday and it was very busy, logically as it was a hot summer afternoon. It's hard not to people watch and think about how pretty this park would be if people actually cared. So sad that disrespectful adults make disrespectful children, I observed children sitting on top the limited working sprinklers without letting others have a turn. Kids unsupervised running amuck. I would be wary of I had toddlers as many children here behaved in ways that made me cringe. Sadly, the thing that is hard to miss is the amount of litter. The bathrooms are disgusting and the trail is used a a dumping ground. Patrons picnic here and there are BBQ areas, we saw two birthdays today and half a dozen pizza boxes and other large garbage that should have been disposed of properly. It's incredibly frustrating to see such a beautiful park turn into this. I wish people took pride in their parks, and not use them as a dumping ground and most importantly teach their children to love and respect nature. read more

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My review is based on visiting on a Tuesday afternoon in July for Ponderosa Spray Ground use. I want to love this place but I felt it was overrun by people looking for a free time. From afar the landscaped grounds are beautiful and the park itself seemed perfect. There are a lot of beautiful grassy areas with and without shade that can be used for a picnic area. Packing a cooler is a great idea as there is only an ice cream truck available. I also noticed park grills and a picnic area similar to those on other parks grounds. You should also consider packing sunblock, a picnic blanket, chairs, towels, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, buckets/pails your child can fill with water and water fun spray/blasters/shooters/water guns. Water shoes are a Must! The area is covered in a durable rubber and burns if you don't have shoes on. I did see barefoot kids here and all I thought of was coxsackievirus. The major problem that we had with this place was disrespectful unsupervised kids that acted like wild animals that were seldomly released into the public that caused so many issues on the spray ground and playgrounds. Such as sitting on top of the only sprinkler available. It seemed there were possibly 6 small sprinklers and they were set on a 15-45 second delay alternating between them. Only 1 sprinkler jet was on at a time and every kid would fight over it, sit on top of it or roll across it. Rude little kids would trample your kid if you weren't watching. The playground area was nice. They did have newer unique equipment. If your child is wet from the sprayground beware they come shooting out of the slides like flying bullets and actually can get hurt. We did not use the restrooms so I cannot comment on that. If I were to return I would definitely go either first thing in the morning and hope it's empty or not go at all. My kids did love their time here and had no complaints at all. My rating for Sprayground is 2 stars. My rating for the Park is 3 stars. read more

Ponderosa Park - Parks Near Me - Scotch Plains, New Jersey

great place for the kiddos! my 7 and 3 year old loved it! i enjoyed it too! there is a little river and lots of fun for the kids! read more

Ponderosa Park - park rest area - Parks Near Me - Scotch Plains, New Jersey

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Cute and fun spot. Perfect fun for the entire family. Safe and cozy with all the perfect sunny and shadey areas. Enjoy "me" time with a warm heart and still have eyes on the kids. read more

Such a cool location for kids, it's a water park right in your neighborhood. They have a walking track in the back of the park too. I had a good time and I was sitting on the bench the whole time. Very clean and safe. read more

This is a great park for older kids. There are three large play structures with lots of cool features. The entire play area is padded rubber and in the center there are a few water jets. Ideally I'd rather the water feature be off to the side in its own space but I guess no matter where it is wet kids will be playing on the dry areas. There isn't a lot of shade so this playground isn't idea on a hot day (even with the water). And if you have toddlers I don't think this is the best playground for them. For my kids 5, 7, and 10 this playground was perfect. read more

Nice idea. Pretty park but this playground is poorly designed. The water area is small. Only a few jets shooting water up from the ground which are in the center of the playground. The soft play ground is scorching hot so water shoes are a must. The tall climbing nets I feel is dangerous as is the spinning thing that you hang from. Kids were actually sitting on top of it while other kids whipped them around. The one slide is more like a water slide. The kids come shooting out of it when wet. Very little shade there. Bring chairs or a blanket to sit on. read more

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Came on a monday in august, place was fun until families with 4-5 kids show up and let them run around like maniacs. Its tough to have babies and 8 year olds running around the same sprinklers and playgrounds. Bring sunscreen and dollars for the ice cream trucks read more

One of my favorite parks. It's a nice place to take your kids to cool off in the summer. I love the soft padded ground and the kids love the sprinklers. There is little shade but you can always cool off in the water. read more

Very nice park. Have been here many times. Kids never get bored and there is lot to do for ages 3 to 6

I am so excited to be the first to review Ponderosa Park. It opened last June and I have brought my 3 year old here half a dozen times. This is a great place to bring your children especially on hot day. There is plenty to do here. It has water sprinklers in the center of playground (my little one wears swimsuit and water shoes). It has playground equipment for toddlers 1-3 and another set of playground equipment for older kids 3 and up. There are swings for disabled kids as well. Playground has a climbing monument, rock climbing walls, monkey bars, slides, and swings etc. There are picnic tables in shade around the playground. The actual playground does not have shade so be sure to lather your kids up with sunscreen and bring a hat. There is a walking trail and soccer fields as well. Bathrooms are located near playground and they are clean! There is lots of parking, but on a hot day spots are taken quickly and park gets packed. Beware your kids may have too much fun here. read more

This park has a cute setting and looks nice from a afar. But it is littered with garbage which makes no sense because there are garbage cans and recycling bins everywhere. It's a shame how disgusting people are. To top it off the bathroom is the dirtiest I have ever been I at a park. I do not understand with all the money spent on that park they don't have someone to clean up. read more

I love the fact that they have two sets of playground. Once is for younger kids and the other for older. There is a lot of grassy area but bring sunblock because there is very little shade. The playground has some new and unique features. The ground is covered in the soft, rubber like material. The spray area itself could have been designed better. It only has jets shooting from the ground up. read more

I love the park Especially during the summer when they have the sprinklers on i enjoy that