I think our whole family has a new favorite park: Ide’s Grove West in Woodridge is one of the most fun playgrounds we have ever been to! And that’s saying something, because we have visited a TON! This park opened in October of 2020, but was hit hard by the devastating Woodridge tornado in summer of 2021, so it was closed for a while clean-up efforts and re-structuring took place. Though it had to endure some setbacks, we can say with complete confidence that Ide’s Grove West, which features inclusive preschool and elementary playgrounds, is back and better than ever!
The first playground is for 2–5-year-olds and features multiple kinds of slides, drums, musical pipes, a shelter, seating areas and a drinking fountain. My boys loved playing on the rings, climbing the “mountain” structures and trying out the double swing, fit for a toddler and elementary age child.
I think my favorite part of the whole park, though, were the double slides that take you down the (rubber ground) hill to the elementary playground, suited for 5–12-year-olds. What a fun way to get from one park to the next!
The elementary-age playground is full of bells and whistles including swings, monkey bars, drums, a spinner, multiple climbing structures, and—our personal favorite—the zip-line! My five-year-old would probably still be riding this if we hadn’t had to head home for bedtime, and his two-year-old brother found immense joy in chasing him back and forth. I can’t lie, I tried it myself and had a blast.
As an added bonus, accessible walkways surround a pond that would be great for fishing (and happened to be full of ducks during our visit, too). Watching them was the perfect excuse to slow down and take a snack break before heading back to play. We can’t wait to come back here many times this summer!
Ide’s Grove West Park
1825 Compton Road
Woodridge, IL 60517
Want to explore more exciting parks? Head over to our list of New Playgrounds in the Western Suburbs!
