Nature Play

Nope! Nature Play is completely free to access through City Park. Just head on over and start exploring.

Yes, Nature Play is designed to be enjoyed by people of all ages. Adults can relax on one of our custom carved benches, find a soothing space near our water features, admire our pollinator gardens or simply soak up the natural beauty while kids climb, explore and engage in play-based learning.

We ask that visitors be mindful of the natural surroundings by disposing properly of trash, leaving the flora and fauna untouched, and following regulations on posted signs and abiding by the general rules and regulations that govern City Park.

Visitors accessing the Nature Play from inside the Museum will exit the north (main) doors and follow the sidewalk around the building’s west side. Nature Play is located outside the southwest corner of the Museum’s building.

General admission tickets are required for entry into the Museum. Guests with a ticket for the day and members can leave the Museum and re-enter through the North (main) entrance by showing their purchased tickets or membership card. Guests are encouraged to keep their tickets/membership info on hand for re-entry. 

Absolutely, schools and groups are welcome to visit Nature Play with no scheduling necessary. We love seeing groups of excited learners explore our natural play space. 

Definitely! We've made sure everyone can enjoy and participate in the fun. Nature Play was designed and constructed to provide ADA access to create a space for people of all abilities. 

We don’t think there’s any other playground that has a 20-foot climbable Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, immersive Explore Colorado dioramas showcasing diverse ecosystems, play areas accessible to everyone, bike racks for those fancy cargo e-bikes, natural water features like a mountain stream and a beaver dam, along with benches carved by local artist “Chainsaw Mama”, a highlight not to be overlooked.

Nature Play is designed to inspire environmental awareness. Throughout the landscape, we’ve planted trees and native Colorado plants, snuck in ways to learn about local wildlife through footprints and carvings, and even included educational elements about the importance of pollinators like native bees. Plus, we restored a historic waterway and performed insect surveys to protect native species during construction.

Nature Play is an installation within City Park. The Denver Parks & Recreation team is responsible for the care and maintenance of the park, including Nature Play. Likewise, if you have any security or safety concerns within City Park, including within Nature Play, please contact the Denver Police Department.

Recycled water treated by Denver Water and used in the lakes and irrigation systems throughout City Park and Washington Park is the same water that flows through Nature Play. It’s fun to consider that this is also the same water that dinosaurs drank!

Today, the water makes its way to City Park via the City Ditch line (also known as the Smith Ditch, Denver Ditch and Big Ditch) that began operating in 1867 and is now the oldest functioning infrastructure in Denver. The 24-mile irrigation project was developed to bring water from South Platte River to Capitol Hill, providing many with the resources needed to settle the land. Today, the ditch is still running underneath roadways in Denver except for a daylighted portion in Washington Park that is home to aquatic species like crayfish.

The water is pumped from the incoming ditch line to the waterfall in the box canyon before making its way down the waterway and into the lake system for irrigation of City Park. The box canyon waterfall and waterway were first built in 1953 by renowned landscape architect Saco DeBoer as part of the original Denver Botanical Gardens. About a third of City Park was designated for creating botanical gardens before the site was moved to the current Denver Botanic Gardens York Street location in the late 1950s.

Other remnants of the botanical gardens in City Park include the pinetum south of the Museum and the rose gardens to the west of the Museum. The box canyon waterway's creation intended to emulate a mountain stream. Nature Play project restores the waterway within this historic context while building out representations of the many other ecosystems that comprise the diverse landscapes of Colorado.

The scientific exploration and discovery of these ecosystems are foundational to the Museum’s work in understanding and preserving the natural history of the Rocky Mountain region. Within these ecosystems, our Colorado communities live, work, and play.

Nature Play was inspired by our community’s love of nature and stated desire for a play experience, emulating the rich diversity of Colorado’s ecosystems, to be created in City Park. Nature Play reflects thousands of community inputs gathered during years of engagement during which people generously shared their hopes, dreams and desires for this experience.  

The Museum's Explore Colorado dioramas provide a conceptual framework for the creation of the space celebrating Colorado as a place to live, play and explore. Nature Play is about bringing urbanites access to the eco-diversity of Colorado while blending natural beauty with active and contemplative play areas, artistic touches and places for relaxation.

Community input has helped to create a space that supports multi-seasonal play along with opportunities for learning, respite and engagement through authentic, natural, playful experiences for people of all ages and abilities. Kids specifically asked for traditional play features like swings and slides to be embedded within the landscape and created from natural materials to the degree possible. Nature Play also offers countless opportunities for unstructured and narrative-based play while climbing, jumping, exploring and immersing oneself within that authentically natural beauty of Colorado. 

Local partner, Dope Mom Life created this short documentary highlighting just one of the ways the Nature Play team solicited feedback through a hands-on activity in 2020 and 2021 that catered to people of all ages.