Yes, this one’s a bit outside Seattle in Kenmore, but it’s worth it. The playground is massive, built mostly by volunteers with input from area kids—and has a large, fort-style wooden play structure as well as a fenced-off area for kiddos under five. The park itself also has 3,000 feet of shoreline to explore.

Up in the north end, Carkeek Park has an extremely Seattle playground, complete with a salmon-shaped slide—like, you go through the salmon.

This Loyal Heights park’s most visible feature is a play structure that looks like two circus tents—or maybe a a tilt-a-whirl. It’s fully equipped with a merry-go-found, a sandbox, a swing set, and an extremely popular zip line.

One major favorite of Seattle kids is Meridian Park, surrounded by a garden wall and featuring a sculpture of Carl from Good Dog Carl. The landscaping is designed with both kids and history in mind—a historic apple orchard remains from the site’s time as a home for young girls, and Seattle Tilth built a children’s garden atop a filled-in swimming pool.

Until recently, Wallingford Playfield was one of the city’s last holdouts with wood-and-steel play structures. But this summer, it got a big renovation, and it’s still pretty cool, with a two-story fort, a percussion area with bells and drums, and a combination climbing structure and merry-go-round.

There’s all kinds of stuff to do in Volunteer Park, from the Seattle Asian Art Museum to the Conservatory to an amphitheater, so it makes a perfect family outing—but it also has a great playground, last renovated in 2013 with musical elements, a climbing wall and climbing rocks, and creative slides. Lake View Cemetery is visible in the background.

The coolest part of this Central District playground is probably the multiple pretend vehicles for kids to drive around in, including a fire truck. Another play structure takes the form of a rocket ship. The largest structure features climbing walls and slides with a spacey-looking design.

The second in a more recent effort to get playspaces into Seattle’s downtown core, this Pioneer Square playground plays on the Occidental’s Gold Rush aesthetic with climbing structures and swings that appear to be made out of logs on top of rubber turf, fenced in by a circular, wood-slat bench.

The real highlight of this International District park is a bronze dragon sculpture by Gerard Tsutakawa that kiddos can climb on, but it also features more conventional play equipment and drums. A 2012 renovation added three more sculptures by Stuart Nakamura.

While the centerpiece of this park is the titular whale tail, it features several nautical features perfect for integrating into a beach day, including a lighthouse-inspired play structure and a boat.

Jefferson Park’s large play area features not just fun equipment to climb and play on—including a big zipline—but a couple of slides leading down to a splash pad.

This is one of Seattle’s newer parks—put in just under two decades ago as part of the mixed-income New Holly development—but has rapidly become a favorite, with both a large play area and a community garden. The park is also home to an outdoor preschool.