When Playgrounds Close, Parents Have to Get Creative

When my husband, son, and I moved to Berlin last fall, among the biggest draws were the city’s excellent free day cares and the staggering number of playgrounds, which even inspired a book called The Impossible Playgrounds Guide. (The title refers to the sheer impossibility of exploring all of Berlin’s 1,800-plus public Spielplätze.)

We quickly discovered nine playgrounds within a 10-minute walk of our home, each more amazing than the last. Rain or shine, even with Siberian winds whipping in from the east, my son—now almost 2 years old—spent hours each day testing his physical abilities and exhausting himself on trampolines and slides.