Things To Do In Houston: Levy Park

Many of you know that I live in Houston and I love it. When I first moved here 14 years ago I hated it with a passion and couldn’t wait for the day that we got to move back to small town life. But as the years have passed I’ve found myself falling head over heels for this city and the many things that Houston has to offer.  What can you do in Houston? Where should you visit in Houston? What is there to do on a normal day here in the Space City?  Let me help you with one of those answers: Levy Park.  Many months ago my friend, Big Kid Small City, posted about the opening of a new park here in Houston. The pictures she shared were amazing and it looked like a fun place that I needed to visit. Trust me, we’ve tried to visit Levy Park several times since I saw those photos. Twice the weather killed our plans and one day we just decided to do something else.  Finally we made it and then I kicked myself for not trying harder to get there before. Here’s just a few things that Levy Park has to offer:

• Community garden
• tables and chairs to sit and relax at galore
• green space
• splash feature for those really hot days
• modern style free play area
• dog park
• putting green
• art cart
• board and card games cart
• books and magazines to sit and read

Walking up I felt more like I was in a park in New York city. The old stately oak trees provided a lot of shade and made the atmosphere with lighted orbs hanging in the branches. The community garden was spilling out over the edges with huge plants that made me wish my green thumb wasn’t so black. There were a ton of tables and chairs placed all along crushed granite paths, the perfect place to catch up with friends, watch your kids play on the green space or to grab a book from the selection available to borrow and just simply read for awhile.  That was cool enough to bring me back but then we walked into the play area for kids. First I loved this because there’s one main gate in and out and one smaller gate in the very back. In a big city such as Houston, feeling safe with your kids is a bonus.  Secondly I fell in love with it because it’s not a normal play area. There’s no big metal structure that will be too hot in the Houston sun to actually play on. Instead there’s a lot of hills covered in springy astro turf that just beg for a kid to run up them and possibly roll back down the other side. In one of these hills there is a big slide that fits 5 kids across it. The other side holds a rock climbing wall.  Walk along the springy path (no really – it bounces a little as you walk) and you’ll go to another hill with little hobbit holes cutting a path through it.  Toward the back there was a weird square looking contraption in the ground that no one was sure what it was until a kid jumped on one of the squares and we discovered they were bells. My kids took turns doing all manners of jumps to make different bells ring and even a few cartwheels to see how that would sound.  The best part was when I realized that not once had I said “don’t do that!” or “don’t climb on that!”. The entire play area is made with kids imaginations and sense of exploration in mind.  You can even walk along an elevated path in the play area that simply goes up into the tree branches and then back down again, without leaving the gates of the play area.  Towards the front of the play area there’s two huge orange structures that act as giant water sprinklers. Sadly my kids didn’t have a change of clothes to play in the water but plenty of other families were there enjoying them on the extremely hot day.  After we left the play area we headed toward a second green space where they had giant soft tinker toys set up for kids to play with. There was also a putting green with 2 baskets, one full of golf balls and the other full of clubs. You simply just helped yourself to one.  There you’ll find more tables and chairs as well as a few rocking chairs.  My kids grabbed paper, markers, scissors and glue sticks from the art cart and sat down for awhile to create. Other kids were sitting at tables playing cards from the games cart with their parents and friends. If card games, art supplies, putting greens, or giant tinker toys aren’t your thing, there was also ping pong tables and foosball to choose from.  The sheer amount of options in this smaller city park was mind blowing.  I was really impressed by Levy Park.  If you’ve read this blog for awhile or follow me on Facebook or Instagram then you know that I’m a huge park lover and slightly nature obsessed but without a doubt, I think this is my favorite park to date.  If you’re visiting Houston is it worth a stop? Yes, especially if you need to let your kids just run or you need to sit and unwind for awhile.  If you live in Houston is Levy Park worth the drive? Yes. And if you don’t love it as much as we did, just head straight down Richmond Ave. to the museum district or go the opposite way to the Water Wall or Galleria. But I think you will love it. I really do.