Larry E. Moore Nature Playscape

If you’ve got a toddler who wants to dig, splash, and climb all in the same afternoon, this is your spot. The sandbox and water feature are the real draws here — kids go absolutely feral for them in the best way — and the log climbing structures keep things feeling more like actual nature than a typical plastic playground. Shade trees and covered seating mean you’re not melting on a bench in July while you watch. It’s genuinely easy to keep an eye on little ones from basically anywhere in the space, which matters more than people admit. Des Moines doesn’t have a ton of playscapes like this one, so locals with the under-7 crowd figured it out pretty quick.