Valleyview Park Spray Park and Playgrounds

Open for the 2021 season!
Location: map
Community: Dover- 28 St and 30 Ave SE

Parking: There is free parking in two parking lots – one off of 28th St and one off of 26th St.
Surrounding Park Area: Beach volleyball courts, baseball diamond, soccer field, artificial pond, bike path, pathways

Valleyview Spray Park

Typically open from mid-June until Labor Day. Open 9am-9pm. Open for the 2021 season.

Gordie’s Review (2 years old): Cold.
Age Range: all ages although it will probably be best used by 1-6 year olds.
Ground Cover: concrete
Features: Multiple spray park features. Washrooms are open seasonally.
Accessibility:  The spray park is completely wheelchair accessible as long as you don’t mind it getting wet!

Shade: There is limited shade in the spray park itself and a small amount nearby. If you have a park umbrella, it would be a good idea to bring it.
Seating: There are a couple of picnic tables near the washrooms by the spray park. There are also a couple more picnic tables over by the preschool playground. It would be a good idea to bring a blanket to sit on.

Overall assessment: This water park is set up really well for little kids. There are a lot of small sprays on the edges of the splash pad and the larger sprayers don’t do anything unexpected. There was even a small sprayer that reminded me of a water fountain that my friend’s 1 year old loved.

Gordie felt very comfortable at this spray park and happily ran all over the place while I stayed back and watched. One of the best things is the whole area is fenced with 2 latchable gates along with the preschool playground so younger kids can have a lot of safe freedom. Older kids will enjoy being cooled off but I wouldn’t expect them to want to stay a long time. Luckily the school-aged playground is just up the hill.

The sprays appear to run continuously during operating hours and there was a staff member who knew first aid at the spray park while we were there.

Valleyview Preschool Playground

Gordie’s Review (2 years old) –  the motorcycle bouncer!
Age Range: 18 months – 6.
Ground Cover: recycled tire flooring.
Features: space ship climber with ladder; house climber with slide; climber with slide and climbing wall; scoop climber; 4 seater bouncer; standing spinner; bowl spinner; motorcycle bouncer.

Shade: limited. The trees nearby are still young. The two picnic tables in this area both have an umbrella.
Seating: There are two picnic tables by the preschool playground and a couple more by the washrooms.
Accessibility: The flooring is completely accessible allowing kids in wheelchairs or with reduced mobility to get right up into the play. There are a number of things to spin or bounce on for kids who benefit from vestibular motion. The area is also completely fenced with two gates that latch.

Overall assessment: This playground is one of the best 5 and under playgrounds I’ve seen. This held Gordie’s attention for a really long time. He loved everything. I loved how the equipment was able to challenge and interest him without making me nervous.

I’m all for letting kids take some risks but sometimes it’s just nice to be able to sit and chat with a friend. Watch out for the bowl spinner though. It is great fun, but is balanced so well that sometimes kids can kind of get stuck spinning around in it. We saw 1 kid fall out and 3 stuck spinning while we were there.

Valleyview 5-12+ Playground

Gordie’s Review (2 years old) –  I like going under!
Age Range: 5– 12+.
Ground Cover: Recycled tire flooring.
Features: 2 saucer swings; double bench shark/dolphin bouncer; large ring spinner; large climber with tall slide and spinner; large web climber.

Shade: Limited.
Seating: 2 near the playground. Lots of picnic tables and benches in the surrounding park area.
Accessibility:  The flooring is completely accessible allowing kids in wheelchairs or with reduced mobility to get right up into the play. The tall climber has steps all the way up to the top. There are a number of things to spin, swing or bounce on for kids who benefit from vestibular motion.

Overall assessment: This playground is really geared towards older kids – I suspect even teenagers could have a good time here. There should be a lot of opportunities for challenging play for all ages. The equipment is excellent and not found in a lot of playgrounds in Calgary. This playground is up the hill from the spray park area, so if you had older kids that didn’t need direct supervision, but you still wanted to be able to see where they were, this would be perfect.

Younger kids can also enjoy themselves here though, the bouncer and swings will be big hits and Gordie really enjoyed climbing through and crawling under the web climber. If you do bring little kids here, watch out for the tall climber. It has steps all the way up and is really tall! Although this is great for kids with low motor skills, little kids can get themselves into trouble in a hurry.