Cleveland With Kids Summer Bucket List 2024
Who else is ready for summer fun?!
We’ve created the ultimate summer bucket list for you to do with your kiddos. We’ve also designed a fun little checklist for you to print off at the bottom of this blog. We hang ours on our fridge, and we’ll be marking it off as we go throughout the summer.
Whether or not you check off everything on the list isn’t really the point. Rather, we created this list to help on those days when you know you want to spend quality time with your kids but are stuck on what to do.
Also, I think it’s important to remember that plans rarely play out how we expect. Every summer, I start off with this big long list, and then sometimes, I get to the end of the summer and feel discouraged because I didn’t get to every place I wanted or I feel like we didn’t have as much fun as we could have. Don’t beat yourself up!
The fact that you’re trying and intentionally creating moments with your kids will mean a lot to them (even if they never say it!), and it will make all the difference in the world.
So, without further ado–here’s the Cleveland With Kids Summer Bucket List for 2024
Visit 5 of Cleveland’s Best Playgrounds
The Cleveland area has some amazing playgrounds, and we have a full list of over 70 different playgrounds. Below we have listed 5 of our favorites. Feel free to check out the complete list and change it up to best fit your summer bucket list.
Lakewood Park
14532 Lake Ave, Lakewood, OH 44107
(See it on Instagram)
PLAYGROUND FEATURES & MUST KNOWS:
Ropes course (biggest we've ever found!)
Beautiful lakeside trail
Solstice steps
Volley ball nets
Picnic tables
Skate park
Public bathrooms
2. Lindsey Family Play Space
1 Upper Edgewater Dr, Cleveland, OH 44102
(See it on Instagram)
PLAYGROUND FEATURES & MUST KNOWS:
🧗♀️ Rock Walls
💙 A Bubble Wall
🚇 Tunnels
💃 LOTS of Climbing Nets
🏖 Sand Table & Pit
🌳 A Natural Tunnel
🌻 Nature Balancing Structures
Beach Access Nearby
Picnic Tables & Benches
Public Bathrooms
3. Preston's Hope
26001 S Woodland Rd, Beachwood, Ohio
(See more photos on instagram)
Oh my--we LOVE Preston's H.O.P.E.! It's 60,000 sq feet of fun! It's an amazing playground, AND it's wheelchair accessible. ❤️
We think it's one of the best Cleveland area playgrounds on the east side.
Some of our favorite things here are
-The dinosaur play pit.
-Tiny town with buildings you can go inside.
-castle theater (my kids love putting on little shows for us here).
PLAYGROUND FEATURES & MUST KNOWS:
Dinosaur play pit
Tiny town with buildings to play in
Castle theater for putting on shows
Summer Hours Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Friday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
4. Liberty Park
6363 Selig Blvd, Independence, OH 44131
(See it on Instagram)
PLAYGROUND FEATURES & MUST KNOWS:
Super slides
TWO ziplines
Rock walls
Play structures for 2-5 yr olds
Swings
Safety town (sooo cute!)
Storywalk
Large pavilion
Public Bathrooms
5. Clague Park
Westlake, OH 44145
(See it on Instagram)
This playground has all the bells and whistles AAAAND it’s accessible! 🎉
This is a large playground, but the layout makes it feel relaxed. Since it’s brand new, I’m sure it’ll be busy this summer.
PLAYGROUND FEATURES & MUST KNOWS:
💜 2 ziplines! A traditional zipline and a seated zipline with straps (my daughter’s favorite)
💚 fun slides built into the sides of hills
🤍 music equipment
🧡 tube slides
💗 bridges
💞 swings, traditional, baby, double person, and Accessible
💖 spinning equipment with climbing ropes
💙rock walls
🌳 TONS of picnic tables and lots of trees for shading
💕
VISIT THE CLEVELAND METROPARKS Zoo
Is it really summer in Cleveland without a visit to our amazing zoo?
We’ve been to a few different zoos around the country, and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is still one of our absolute favorites! The zoo is always clean and tidy, and the animal exhibits always seem well cared for for our animal friends. It’s a pretty big zoo, so plan accordingly. If you have littles that can still use strollers, we recommend bringing one. There are also strollers available for rent.
Our favorite exhibits include the giraffes, Australian Adventure, the monkeys, and the brand-new Susan’s Bear Hollow exhibit.
P.S. The zoo is free for Cuyahoga and Hinckley Township residents on Monday. But be warned–it gets busy on Mondays!
VISIT 4 ICE CREAM SHOPS
Our family loves, loves, LOVES going out for ice cream. Over the years we’ve found some great ice cream shops around Cleveland. Here are four of our favorites. But if you have your own favorite ice cream shops, then definitely support them!
Mitchell’s ice cream
1867 W 25th St, Cleveland, OH 44113
(see it on instagram)
Visit Mitchell’s Ice Cream and enjoy some of Cleveland’s finest, hand-crafted ice cream and watch it get made right in front of your eyes.
2. Malley’s Chocolates
26628 Lorain Rd, North Olmsted, OH 44070
(See it on FACEBOOK)
We love to visit the North Olmsted location for Malley’s so we can sit on the old-fashioned carousel. The last time we were there, the carousel was broken and couldn’t rotate—but we were still able to sit on it. The ice cream comes in these cute, old fashioned style soda shoppe glasses and we think it’s real tasty.
3. Dairy Grove
35455 Center Ridge Rd, North Ridgeville, OH 44039
(See it on instagram)
I personally recommend the donut ice cream sandwich! And one of our favorite parts about Dairy Grove is that after the kids eat their ice cream they get to play on the playground on the side of the building.
4. Sweeties Soda Shoppe
6770 Brookpark Rd, Cleveland, OH 44129
(See it on instagram)
Sweetie’s Soda Shoppe has this super cute barn design on the inside. I especially love the chicken coupe and egg crate lighting! The ice cream homemade right on the premises and they have 36 flavors available made with locally sourced ingredients. After you’re done with your ice cream you can walk around the world’s largest candy shop and play putt-putt on the candy themed miniature golf course with purple turf.
If you want to switch it up and try a different ice cream shop, you can check out this list to see some more of our favorites.
Visit Huntington Beach
Huntington beach is part of the Cleveland Metroparks and its really come a long way over the last few years. We enjoy walking along the beach, playing on their brand new nature play, and grabbing an ice cream cone from the ice cream shop. It’s perfect for those warm summer nights.
Visit 4 Splash Pads
Splash pads have been our go-to since the kids were super little, and we’ve been so happy to see how many new splash pads have popped up over the last few years. I love that splash pads provide space for littles (especially those that can’t swim just yet) to cool off and have fun on hot summer days. Here are four of our favorites.
MCKELVEY PARK
30 E Bridge St, Berea, OH 44017
(See it on Instagram)
Located right in the heart of downtown Berea is McKelvey Park’s Splash Pad. This one doesn’t have all the bells and whistles and reminds me of ones from my childhood. But it’s always a huge hit with my kids and it’s actually one of their favorites.
It’s right in the downtown Berea area and next to Coe Lake, which has a HUGE playground. So, it’s easy to pack a lunch and make a day of it.
Last year the hours were from 9 am - 10 pm. Waiting to hear confirmation for this year’s hours, but I bet they’re the same.
2. MEMORIAL PARK
14600 State Rd, North Royalton, OH 44133
(See it on instagram)
There’s a new splash pad at North Royalton Memorial Park! It’s FREE and open to the public. 💃 My daughter said it was the ultimate splash pad. She had an absolute blast!
The splash pad is open daily 10am-6pm. There’s also a large playground next to the splash pad that is mostly fenced in. You can pack a lunch and eat under the pavilions, or at the picnic tables.
There are also bathrooms next to the splash pad.
3. CROCKER PARK (across from bibibop)
224 Crocker Park Blvd, Westlake, OH 44145
(See it on Instagram)
Crocker Park has lots to do in the summer, and one of our favorite activities is to visit their splash pad. It’s open May 24th – Sep 2nd and the hours* are as follows:
Mon-Sat: 10am-4pm & 7-9pm (Twilight Splash)
Sun: 10am-6pm
*Hours subject to change. 10-min break after every 15-min of play time.
4. BROADVIEW HEIGHTS SPLASH PAD PARK
9543 Broadview Rd, Broadview Heights, OH 44147
(See it on instagram)
My daughter isn’t always a fan of water smashing her across her face for an hour (neither am I haha). This Broadview Heights Splash Pad was perfect because it had some nice little splashers that she could just put her feet in, and it had a little “river” type toy that she could play in, while still offering the big splashers and buckets of water that her brother could enjoy. I also LOVE that this splash pad is fully fenced in.
Those are four of our favorite splash pads. For our complete splash pad list, visit this link.
Go On 3 hikes
Hiking is such a fun way to get outside and introduce the power of exploration and nature to kids. And Cleveland is blessed to have one of the best park systems in the entire country. There are lots of great hiking trails and paths that run through the Cleveland Metroparks (shoutout to Lake Metroparks as well!) and you can’t really go wrong on any of them. I’ve listed three of our favorites below.
The photo is from Worden’s Ledges and I think it’s one of the most unique and beautiful hikes around. To learn more about Worden’s Ledges, click here.
Worden's Ledges, Wordens Ledges Loop Trail, Hinckley, OH 44233
Rocky River Reservation, Valley Pkwy, North Olmsted, OH 44070
Lake to Lake Trail, Lake to Lake Trail, Middleburg Heights, OH 44130
Visit 2 Nature Centers
Even though its summer, sometimes you need a place to escape the heat. We love nature centers because we get to go on a hike, and then pop inside for some more explore-based play while cooling off. Here are two of our favorite local nature centers.
1. Rocky River Nature Center
24000 Valley Pkwy, North Olmsted, OH 44070
The Rocky River Nature Center is pretty large compared to other nature centers. It features a fun indoor treehouse for littles to climb and explore and burn off energy. There are also some fun reptiles in the nature center, and a few exhibits to learn more about the wildlife. The naturalists there are very friendly and love to answer questions. Plus, the trails around the nature center are AMAZING and they recently refurbished the Fort Hill steps.
2. canalway center
4524 E 49th St, Cuyahoga Heights, OH 44125
Canalway Center is a fun little nature center with this awesome boat and general store. It’s also located right next door to the bike pump track, and the trails around the nature center are absolutely gorgeous!
GO FLY A KITE
My kids love flying kites (and so do I!) so we’re always on the lookout for great places to fly a kite. Edgewater Beach is a great location, but it can get very crowded. Squire’s Castle has a great open field right in front of the castle — and it’s so fun seeing the kites fly in front of a real stone castle. We also love flying kites at the Stinchcomb-Groth Memorial because it has such a big open field and rarely has more than a few people up there. There are lots of other great places to fly a kite in Northeast Ohio, particularly in an open field down in the Cleveland Metroparks.
VISIT Bradstreet's Landing Park
You guys, the new Bradstreet’s Landing Park is finally open and the pier is absolutely stunning! I kept asking myself, are we really on Lake Erie? 🤣 We spent nearly two hours here recently and my kids didn’t want to leave. We walked out on the pier and took in the gorgeous lake views. Then we searched for sea glass, and the kids tried their hands at catching fish. 🐠
There is a small beach area. The sand does have a lot of rocks and driftwood, so I suggest wearing water shoes or flip-flops.
ATTEND A CLEVELAND GUARDIAN’S GAME
What’s a summer in Cleveland without a trip to the ballpark!? We are huge Cleveland Guardians fans and we love heading downtown in the summer to see the Guards play at Progressive Field. We haven’t been to the ballpark yet for the 2024 season, and I know they were doing some renovations—so I’m not quite sure if anything has changed with the Kids Clubhouse, but our kids have loved it in the past.
THE END
That’s it for our 2024 Cleveland With Kids Summer Bucket List. We hope you have been inspired by all of the things to do in the summer in Cleveland with kids. Remember not to get discouraged if you don’t complete your list, or if not every outing goes as planned. The point is to have a great time, make memories with your kids, and enjoy all of the beauty and fun Cleveland has to offer for young and old alike.
You can download a printable version of our 2024 Cleveland With Kids Summer Bucket List here.
