When your kid starts climbing things ― I caught mine standing proudly atop the coffee table the other day ― it’s time to make playgrounds part of the routine. Luckily, Santa Barbara is full of them.
But not all parks are created equal, and not all play structures work well for that toddler-to-preschool phase when they’re smaller and slower than the “big kids” and can create log jams, or worse, get flattened like a traffic cone.
The following seven parks, spread across different neighborhoods, hit the sweet spot when it comes to apparatuses rated specifically for 2- to 5-year-olds (as opposed to the 2-12 or 5-12 levels). They offer just the right amount of fun and challenge, and finding them will give you the excuse to explore another part of the city.
