Shaded playgrounds and parks in Berkeley

Berkeley's beloved community-built tot lot: fully fenced, a wooden play structure with a mural-covered clubhouse, and a steady rotation of shared sand toys. The default morning meetup for North Berkeley toddlers.

Home of the famous 40-foot concrete slide that big kids bomb down on cardboard - plus a creek, a fenced toddler area, and the Berkeley Rose Garden through the pedestrian tunnel across Euclid. A Berkeley childhood rite of passage.

West Berkeley's go-to: a long hillside slide worth the cross-town trip, a restored creek older kids migrate to, and the Hidden Cafe right in the park so parents get real coffee without leaving. Basketball and tennis at the south end.