by Tracy The first time I brought my two-year old daughter to Walter Baker Park in Kanata was last fall and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t been there before then. I had always known Walter Baker Park for their awesome sledding hill, but somehow never noticed the beautiful gazebo sitting next to a small pond, the two play structures – one for toddlers and one for older children, the splash pad and of course, the fact that the once snow-filled sledding hill had transformed itself into a large grassy hill that attracts children big and small to repeatedly run up and down it (a great nap inducer for the younger athletes).

My daughter, who loves to explore new parks and try every piece of equipment on for size, found the toddler play structure too easy and quickly ventured over to the larger play structure to climb the rope “spider web” as well as the rope ladder and tackle the big slide before I could utter the words, “be careful!” One of my daughter’s favourite park activities is the seesaw and luckily for her Walter Baker Park has one as well as swings – which I pushed her on for at least half an hour.

The thing I like about Walter Baker park is that there are plenty of benches for caregivers to sit nearby and supervise, lots of grass for the kids to run around on and some mature shade trees creating perfect snack time spots. And if that isn’t enough, there is ample free parking and a nearby bathroom in the Kanata Recreation Complex. Of course the one reason I know I will be returning to Walter Baker Park more than once this summer is because my daughter loves cooling off in the splash pad.