My quick rating: A wonderful inclusive playground with unique equipment and a fun baseball theme. Great spot to play for an hour or two, especially good for toddlers and kids who love musical equipment.
Variety KC is a great little inclusive playground located in the College Boulevard Activity Center. While it doesn’t have any regular swings and is a fairly small playground, it still has some great features. There is a unique inclusive merry-go-round, and a playlet that has very long, low ramps as well as handicap accessible musical equipment. The ramps are also great for toddlers who love running up and down hill, and the play set is marked with the bases and home plate for extra fun. It has a variety of small slides and other fun activities built into the play set to keep kids busy!
Basics
- Address: 11031 S Valley Pkwy, Olathe, KS 66061
- Hours:
- Bathrooms: yes (closed for winter)
- Water fountain: yes
- Fenced in: no
- Walking trails: no direct access, close to meadow lane trail
- Dogs:
- Crowd: not usually busy, especially during the day
Playground
- Ground: bonded rubber
- Accessibility: stroller & wheelchair accessible.
- Swings: saucer swing
- Good for toddlers: yes!
- Good for big kids: ok
- Shade/Sun: mostly sunny, a few shady spots.
- Water feature: no
- Special features: tons of accessible equipment (carousel, musical equipment, ramp play set)
Amenities
- Seating: shaded benches in play area, bleachers nearby for baseball field.
- Pavillion: no
- Picnic tables: no
- Grill: no
- Sports: tons of fields for the Olathe school district.
- Parking: multiple parking lots. park in lot B for easy access to the playground.
PHOTOS OF CBAC INCLUSIVE PLAYGROUND
My opinion & notes
- Overall Opinion: We frequent this inclusive playground because it’s close to our house, and we enjoy walking/biking there on a nice afternoon. It’s typically not very busy so it’s a great quiet spot to get away and play with two kids. It’s not technically fenced in, but it’s located between several fields with fences around them and there is a large open field between the playground and Lone Elm. This makes it easy to keep track of Sammy even when I’m carrying Sky around or feeding her. We also loved coming here when Sammy was crawling because he could crawl up the entire ramp and explore. It’s not the kind of place that keeps him entertained for an entire afternoon now, but we can definitely spend a solid hour or two there. We typically make this a short stop on our walk or bike ride, rather than a big excursion.
- Seasonal Notes: This park is mostly sunny, although there are a few shades strategically placed over benches and parts of the play structure. It’s a great place to go in the cooler months since the wind is mostly blocked by the building and it gets plenty of sun.
- Recommendations/Tips: There isn’t a great way to access this park right from the sidewalk on lone elm unless you cut across the grass – we typically go around and up through the parking lot when we walk or bike here. The activity center has several parking areas but lot B is right next to this playground.
- Events: For more information on the College Boulevard Activity Center and it’s fields, check out this article on kcparent.com
LOCATION
Other Inclusive Playgrounds Nearby
8.4 miles (14 min drive)
Shawnee Mission Park Inclusive Playground
Amazing fenced-in playground with tons of unique equipment.
3 miles (8 min drive)
Mill Creek Streamway Park
in
2.3 miles (6 min drive)
Neighborhood Playground
in