Sugar Sand Park – Travel Journal

Disclaimer – Our trip was sponsored by The Palm Beaches.  All opinions are 100% my own.

I’m back to share our last travel journal of our trip to The Palm Beaches.  We came down here to explore and learn and enjoy all that this area of Florida has to offer and it was such a fun alternative to other vacations we have been on in the past.  You can read about where we stayed, what we ate, beach time and an airboat tour here.  And you can read about our other adventure to a Lion Safari Adventure Park here.  We spent all four days jam-packed (it’s how we vacay!) and it was such a delight to hit up our next and final stop – the Sugar Sand Park Science center and playground!

Now I have never been to a playground quite like this one.  The word “playground” is even a little bit of a understatement.  Playground is more like a couple swings and a tiny little plastic house with a plastic wheel and a slide.  THIS?  This is the mothership.  This is like the epicenter of all things play related.  It is pretty spectacular.

First – there is a tile mermaid and of course I was in aww and stroked it a little.  She looks like Ella, right!?  She just needs heart shaped sunglasses 🙂

Okay – so once you enter inside, the whole place is HUGE.  Like massive.  Three stories and with a floor that is bouncy which limits impact on joints (as someone who has torn their ACL twice…I can appreciate that!) And they are an all abilities playground so it made it easy for me to push the stroller around because wheelchairs can fit!  Isn’t that awesome!?  I remember my best friend growing up was in a wheelchair and she never went to playgrounds because they weren’t fun for her….but this one is all-inclusive so it’s perfect for anybody!  There is a little splash pad area, a quiet space (you know…for kids that get overstimulated…I have one of those!), sensory walls, and even interactive games where you learn about animals and virtually race them!  I really can’t list everything available – don’t ask me to try – I lost a lot of gray matter having babies 🙂

There is also a carousel….it costs $1 per ride (it’s based on tokens) so bring your cash!

The inside of the main building is called the Children’s Science Explorium and it’s amazing.  This has a suggested donation of $5 per person….which is basically nothing when you consider that you could spend all day in a safe, air-conditioned, learning environment with your kids.  This is basically unheard of.

The kids were dying to play on the playground and I was able to get ONE picture before they scattered like little fairies in the wind.  They LOVED it.  They even asked why we don’t have a playground like this one.  Um….get on that Loganville.  And please make it free like this one is.

Some of these things Max had never seen before….so it was a real treat to see him try his skills!  He is such an athletic little dude and basically afraid of nothing so he wanted to do all the things.

Also he is so darn cute so it’s easy for me to follow my little shark-bait around snapping photos!

Weston was extremely excited about the carousel – which of course, he chose the ‘fish horse’.  He is my ‘fisher Weston’ – that’s a self-adorned nickname by the way.  UGH why are his legs so long?!  I swear yesterday he was pudgy and fit into a toy dump truck.

And this was truly one of the prettiest carousels I have ever seen outside!  A lot of them are raggedy but this one was painted beautifully!  It makes me want to paint a horse!

Look how sweaty LJ got!  He had so much fun zipping around the playground!

Inside, we got a quick tour of the facilities – I asked for it so that I could share with you all that they had available.  There is a community center for adults and children’s classes, a pavilion that you can rent, a field house (it’s $5 for open play indoor basketball, pickle ball, and volleyball), outdoor basketball courts, a roller hockey rink, nature trails, picnic areas, the Children’s Science Explorium, and this Willow House theatre.

In the halls, they display handmade art and some of it is for sale!

LOVE it when art and science are encouraged for kids!

Weston and LJ crack me up 🙂

So what is an Explorium exactly?  I was wondering the same thing.  Apparently there are two giant rooms with different learning stations.  You can explore science while having fun!  I majored in bio ed so of course, I got really geeked out about this.  Isn’t it so fun to see your kids do something you liked to do?

They displayed it all in such an artistic way too.  Major props Sugar Sand.

So one room is a permanent interactive learning room and the other changes every now and then.  While we were there, it was all about physics….which inherently kids love physics….I mean, it’s learning about sound and light and force and energy and gravity and motion.  Basically it’s the definition of children 🙂

The kids spent over an hour in this room.  They did all the activities twice – sometimes three times!  It was great!  And Ella fell asleep so we didn’t need to worry about sunscreen or crying babies or anything like that.  It was a wonderful place – very similar to a Children’s museum – except WAY cheaper.

LJ toppled his magnetic tower and would giggle so hard.

All that to say – thank you to all of you who recommended this place.  And I completely understand why you did – it was PERFECT for kids!  I think we could have spent DAYS there and not done it all.  If you are interested in more info about the park, here is their website.

And to see the rest of our vacation – here are the links….

Lion Country Safari Adventure  (it’s a drive-thru experience AND a splash pad AND we fed giraffes!!!)

Our Beach experience, Air boat ride adventure and Gumbo Limbo Nature Center visit  (that gator! Ella in a bathing suit!, those trees!)

And that is our wrap up of our visit to The Palm Beaches!  It was a fantastic vacation and we loved each bit of it.  And if you have any questions about planning your own get away to this beautiful part of Florida – just pop them right there in the comments and we will answer them.  Now back to daydreaming about those warm waves and the kids learning ALL THE THINGS 🙂