New Zealand’s Top Three Playgrounds Revealed

Opened in 2015, the Margaret Mahy Playground near the Avon River caters to children of all ages. Summertime water cannons and sprinklers and sandpit digging and multi-story climbing zones, slides, spinning carousels, and nature-themed areas. It also has plenty of shade and relaxation spots.

This $20 million government-funded, post-quake playground was designed with input from local children and inspired by Canterbury's four main habitats. The Forest Zone with an agility play area, while the Wetlands Zone offers water play. The Plains Zone includes a lawn and gathering space, and the Peninsula Zone is home to slides, in-ground trampolines, and swings.

Standout features include a super-wide slide and a pair of racing flying foxes. And this playground isn’t just for kids—its large scale and sturdy design mean parents can parents join in.

One fan even called it "the best place to go after a night out in town because it’s lit up at night." As one person put it, "Who doesn’t love bouncing on trampolines drunk?"

Caroline Bay in Timaru is home to C-Play Playground—an epic-sized park. This brand-new, $3 million community-funded playground is possibly the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Well done, Timaru!

With over 40 pieces of play equipment, it caters to a wide range of ages and abilities. There’s an impressive shipwreck and a 10-metre-tall lighthouse – the starting point for two giant tube slides.

Older kids can try out the “Floor is Lava" obstacle course, a rock-climbing wall, and a scramble net. Younger visitors can enjoy a four-metre-long waka-shaped seesaw, a whare playhouse, and miniature train rides. They also made room for a 1960s playground staple, the iconic yellow horse.

But the standout feature is the 50-metre, sea-rescue-themed Double Flying Fox, perfect for racing your dad (or mum).

Built in the 1950s, Kowhai Park Playground is nothing if not nostalgic. As one visitor recalls, "My parents took my siblings and me there, then I took my children, and now we bring our grandchildren."

The park features historic, one-of-a-kind play equipment inspired by timeless nursery rhymes.

Like a giant concrete boot from The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe (Yes, a single mum struggling to feed her kids) a pre-tumble Humpty Dumpty, Miss Muffet, and Fred Flinstone.

It’s a fantastical experience: slide down a dinosaur's back, step inside a whale’s gaping mouth, or swing from massive concrete octopus tentacles.

Kids can enjoy water play fountains, explore a concrete mountain with tunnels, sail on a pirate ship, ride a merry-go-round, or blast off in a rocket ship to the moon.

Imaginations can go wild here, with a castle complete with a moat, towers, and a slide from top to bottom. There’s also a huge adventure fort nestled among the trees, with a thrilling flying fox. YeHaw!