Rosedale Community Center is an epic recreation center in Kingman Park near H Street NE and Hill…read moreEast. There's street parking and a small parking lot by the center. Here's what you can find within the community center: 1) Playground: There's a large playground that's D.C. landmark-themed. There's the Washington Monument, Air & Space Museum, the White House, Hirshhorn, etc. with fact cards next to each one teaching kids (and their parents) about our city. The playground comes with a sheltered picnic area to escape the sun. It's a little run down and often there's litter scattered throughout the playground. Despite that, it's a fun place for kids. 2) Library: There's a library within the community center. 3) Courts/fields: There are basketball courts that are often in use in the evenings and a large field for workouts, soccer, etc. 4) Pool: From Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, the outdoor pool is open with a small waterslide. Sadly, during the 2020 season, the pool closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you get hungry, there are a few restaurants north along Benning Road NE, including a walk-up/drive thu Chick-fil-A three blocks west.

I walked this park for over a decade going to Peabody and…read moreStuart schools. Be careful crossing the confusing streets. The play- ground in west section is separated from the east section popular with dog owners. The National Park Service operates strict leash policy and poop rules. Cherry blossoms and Obama townhouse are legendary. Impeachment politics prevented Edwin Stanton from getting a statue. Instead General Greene points way to Capitol. My favorite example of L'Enfant's DC plan to include buildings, parks and street views.

Perfect place to see the cherry blossoms without any tourists (besides me!)…read more Lovely park recommended by a local bookstore owner. Basically if you want to be left alone while still getting a quiet, uninterrupted view of the famous DC cherry trees, this is the place to be! Lots of benches, doggies playing fetch and the perfect light breeze to rain down cherry blossom petals every now and then. Idyllic really. And ten times better than heading to the national mall and watching people just be weird with their selfies haha. I promise I was not one of those people!

We were biking around the area looking for a fun neighborhood park that offered some low key fun…read morenearby! This park definitely hit all the high notes! It's conveniently located near all the popular stores without feeling like it's wedge unsafely or unnaturally in the area. We stayed on the playground portion but the water area also looks cool & refreshing on those hot days of summer! Highly recommend checking out this park with your little one.

this park appears to only be open if you participate in a paid preschool co-op. We are visiting. It…read morewas locked when we came at 8 AM on a Tuesday in May.

During the winter break, they opened it for parents to bring their children to play. They also…read moreprovided a Togo lunch and popcorn for the kids.

Just south of Mount Olivet Cemetery is a large recreation center in Trinidad. During the pandemic…read morethe inside if closed, but the outside gives you many reasons to go: 1) Access: There's easy street parking and a Capital Bikeshare dock in front of the recreation center. 2) Amenities: There's plenty of grass, benches, a large playground, a field and a small skate park (hard to find in the city). 3) Art: There are four D.C. statehood murals on the recreation center. If you go and get hungry, you can easily walk to Compact Supermarket, a local corner store with two murals painted on the outside.

Sherwood Recreation Center is a recreation center just south of H Street along 10th and G Streets…read moreNortheast. The rec center itself is large, but it's closed due to the pandemic. What is open is the playground and it's spacious leaving room for families to safe distance. Still, masks are required. Near the tennis courts (yes, the courts are open too) are a few D.C. statehood murals part of the mayor's campaign to make D.C. the 51st state. There's a rainbow-colored mural, a rose mural (D.C.'s flower) and a few others by local artists.

This park is SOOOO COOL! Especially for kids of different ages. There's multiple swings (although…read morethe baby swing is broken right now - if that doesn't get fixed I'll update this review accordingly), multiple play areas, outdoor musical instruments, and SO MANY SPOTS FOR CLIMBING especially for bigger kids. There's a bug field with a walking path. We will definitely be visiting this park more often!

Lovejoy is a quiet, little park in Capitol Hill East. It has a playground, grassy area, a compost…read morearea, benches, and a community garden. It's a safe, family friendly park.

Lovejoy Park boasts a small well-tended-to playground for the little little ones and plenty of…read morespace to toss a ball (foot/base/soccer -- your call) for the bigger little ones and the plain old big ones. Also good for letting your dog loose. It's an eco-friendly public space and a good picnic spot above the H Street scene next to the Lovejoy Lofts.

Everyone calls this Turtle Park because there's a giant turtle statue in it. However, fun fact,…read morethere are many other parks with the exact same giant turtle statue. There's even a giant turtle statue just a few blocks away on the other side of Eastern Market. This is a place I never even noticed until we had kids, then it became central to my life. We have come here every single day for weeks on end. We have come in the dark, during the daylight hours. It's not well maintained and always has a myriad of crappy broken down plastic toys thrown about. The drinking fountains are not operations and that's probably a blessing, however I have seen the maintenance guys come by and there are many roaches living in the recesses of the fountains. The park has some shade--not a lot. During peak summer hours it's unbearably hot and there is no water available. If you are thirsty the convenience store across the street is your only option ($5 card minimum purchase btw). During summer months this park has pretty bad mosquitos, so bring bug spray and sunscreen with you. The areas that are shaded are under trees where grass can't grow. The park is generally a bit rocky and dusty/muddy in the grass areas. It appears to have had several trees cut down because their stumps remain. Most of the patrons of the park are pretty conscientious except for the nannies. Some nannies tend to leave a lot of trash behind and I suspect it's just one or two people, but my kids tend to find and pick it up. It's so disgusting in most cases. One funny phenomenon that happens here is many families come here for dinner. There are some miniature tables setup on the side of the playground and families use them for daily dinners with the kids. There's also two picnic tables which are typically occupied by nannies or large parties of people. The far end of the park is devoted to dogs and a few homeless people sleep on the benches. The dog area of the park is also disgusting, lacking grass and being full of dog excrement. A police station is located across the street from the park so much of the surrounding parking is taken up by police cars. Interestingly though, I have never seen a police officer enter the park. They keep to themselves. All in all this is a nice city park. I wish it had a splash area and shrunk the dog run to include some other features, like maybe basketball. But for kids or dogs this is a great Capitol Hill destination, far better than other parks like Garfield or Lincoln in my opinion.

Marion Park is a peaceful oasis a stone's throw from the US Capitol Building. It's right off of a…read moregym in a Capitol Hill neighborhood. Which means all the dog walkers come here. If you're a dog owner, stroll over here and meet your fellow dog owner neighbors. There are benches along the park making it a great place to read if the weather is nice.

A favorite spot for a nice walk…read more If you don't like dogs, be prepared that some people will often bring their dogs unleashed to the park (although not allowed). The green boats program (which offers hour long kayaking sessions where you also pick up trash from Kingman lake,via water) is one of my favorite activities on the program, in addition to enjoying all of the lovely trails. It's a great (less traffic filled) short cut to get from Benning road to Oklahoma avenue, if you are on foot or bike. The trail can be bumpy and rocky in places so I don't recommend for road bikes or scooters and absolutely no motorized vehicles.

A little known fact is that Washington, DC has several islands throughout the city where you can…read moreescape from the hustle & bustle of city life and commune with nature right within the city limits. I used to visit the Kingman and Heritage Islands Park quite often when I lived in the DMV. They tend to have a lot less foot traffic due to their NE DC environs.

Recently renovated and expanded, the Arboretum Recreation Center may be the best rec center in D.C…read more Open Monday through Friday, the building's design mimics the nearby U.S. National Arboretum. Inside, there's a small gym, a basketball court, a computer lab, a rec room where movies are shown, and a soft play room for kids. Outside are two playgrounds, tennis courts that double as pickle ball courts, basketball courts, a workout area, a community garden, and an amphitheater.