When I realized that Hike it Baby enjoyed meeting up at mud parks, I was all in! The desire to visit one of these parks was immediately relit. Learning where some of the favorite mud parks were located, I was surprised to hear that Nerima had it's own mud park - Nerima Children's Forest. I had heard of the forest before, but didn't realize it was defined as a mud park. I was ready to host a "hike" (well, playdate) at this place of intrigue.
I chose to schedule the playdate when my son's school had an early release day. That way we would have plenty of time to play and it wasn't on a weekend (which I assume would be more crowded).
My son and I headed over by train because I didn't want to be late. We hadn't been there before and I didn't want to get lost on my bike (which has happened more than I'd like to admit).
As soon as we walked up to the park, we were hypnotized. My son immediately ran off, not even greeting the other Hike it Baby families that were there. He saw a tower he just had to climb to the top. I stayed focused and introduced myself to the other families. They had arrived early because they came from Yokohama just to go to this park. Their kids were already playing in a water fountain manufactured from a hose and a gutter with holes. Although it sounds pretty ghetto, it was really creative and the kids loved it.
After chatting for a bit, I started exploring the park a bit more. There were hills of dirt with kid-sized shovels available for anyone to move some dirt.
There were hammocks and rope swings hung all over for kids to ride on.
I loved seeing the "washing station" where kids were cleaning the dirty hammocks by stomping on them in buckets of soapy water.
There were art project opportunities and construction time, if kids wanted to partake.
There were kids from age 1 to 10, all having a blast doing various activities. While talking with a park employee (of which there were several on hand helping the kids get dirty and be very creative in their play), I learned they even have a gardening program for elementary aged children. The options really were endless.
My son was all about chasing the wildlife. One of the park employees gave him a butterfly net, which he ran around with chasing a white moth. I noticed a couple other kids caught beautiful butterflies and were hauling them around in little plastic insect boxes. At one point, my son caught a frog. He brought it over to show us with pride. It was very fun and interesting until he put it down and expected it to still be there when he got back. I screamed a bit as it tried to jump away. I was soon rolling with laughter knowing what I looked like, being both freaked out and entertained all at once.
Whenever it got too hot, I would duck into the shade of one of the many trees, vine canopies (mostly kiwi), and man-made sunshades to cool off. Even though it was a kid's playground, it was visually beautiful in many ways. I liked that it wasn't all dirt or mud. There was also lots of green and color. Some of the kids were making a piece of flower art on one of the dirt hills that was just stunning.
Finally, it was time to go. We had played there for over 3 hours. I helped my son scrub some of the dirt off in the water facet and gave him clean clothes to wear home. As we walked away, he said "Mom, that was so much fun. I want to go there again!" So do I, little man. So do I.
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