Sonoma County's hands-on kids museum: indoor science and art exhibits plus Mary's Garden outside, with a water-play creek, climbing structures and a nature zone.
A lake with a paved loop for scooters and bikes, a swimming lagoon in summer, and picnic tables in the shade.
A destination playground: an Old West town and a Native American village to climb through, built for all abilities. Around it, a mini train, carousel and boating lake.
A community-built county park with a playground, skate features and sports courts, made as a neighborhood unity project.
A post-fire rebuild with brand-new equipment and clean surfacing, climbing and swings for a range of ages, and a big lawn.
Downtown Santa Rosa's shady green: a well-covered climbing structure mid-lawn, bocce and picnic tables, steps from the downtown core.
Peanuts headquarters: comic-strip exhibits and hands-on cartooning at the museum, then public skating across the street in the rink Charles Schulz built.
A spray ground with 15 water features and two picnic areas with shade covers.
A 400-acre African wildlife preserve above Santa Rosa and the Bay Area's only true safari: open-jeep rides past giraffes, rhinos and zebras, aviaries, overnight tents.
A natural play area for climbing and digging at the trailhead, then big-view hikes up slopes where cows graze.
A toddler play area for ages 4 and under, a mega play structure for 4 to 10, and a Saturday-morning Little Leapers hour at Sky Zone for ages 6 and under.
Kids under 6 get in free, and on Open Cockpit Saturdays (one a month, April to October) they can sit inside some of the planes.
A shallow instructional pool next to the lap pool and a 140-foot water slide; kids need to be 48 inches to ride it.
An accessible playground is the center of this park, with sports fields and a concession stand.
A winery started by a retired fire chief, with a vintage fire truck in the barn that kids want to see.
