Surviving Summer Weekends with Kids

Jul 31, 2024

Surviving Summer Weekends with Kids

With summer comes summer vacation. What was once a strong, fond memory of days with no school or responsibility and the only challenge being determining which order to play with what toys takes a stark change in tone and goals when you find yourself on the parental side.

Remote workers especially may find themselves with children at home all day. While tried-and-true weekday whiling methods like paint projects, kiddie pool play and the copious amounts of summer science projects available via Pinterest and other similar sites can help with the weekdays, there is a sense that just staying inside on the weekends feels like a bit of a waste. After all, this is your great Japan adventure, right? Surely there must be something for the denizens of Nagoya to do with their children, right?

I mean, other than going to an Aeon shopping mall for the millionth time. We are talking about the outdoors here!

Well, as an experienced “oh goodness what on earth are we going to do today?” parent myself, here are a few recommendations. Please note that a car is either required or highly recommended for traveling to each of the options below.

Seto Iwayado Park

This park is located in the heart of Seto city and will require a car to access. Furthermore, you will need to anticipate leaving early enough to arrive as the park opens as it is rather popular and parking fills up fast. Those who manage to reach the park will be greeted with an excellent place to spend a day playing in the clean river and exploring the surrounding natural trails.

Things to bring: Water play or river wading clothes and toys (note that the river is too populated and not deep enough for any sort of swimming, so locals avoid bringing intertubes or other large toys), a tarp, packed lunches and snacks, and a small tent able to fit 3-4 people are all highly recommended. There is not enough space for any sort of cooking at the park itself and the food stand selections can be hit or miss depending on your taste buds.

The river itself has varying levels of depth, so elementary-aged children and younger may need to stay to certain areas of the river as the sections before the waterfall can be rather deep and slippery.

Seto Iwayado Park

Iwayado Park, Iwayacho, Seto, Aichi 480-1215 | Google Maps

138 Tower Park

Named after the total meters height of the double arches around the central tower at the park, 138 Tower Park is part of the Kiso Sansen Park, a national park located in Ichinomiya city as you travel from Nagoya to Gifu.

With a variety of walkways and plenty of nature, there is plenty to explore inside of the park. The river area features innumerable small stones that can be stacked and shuffled around while the play areas are perfect for children aged 10 and under. Much like Seto Iwayado Park, you will want to bring along the picnic standards of a change of clothes, a tarp, a small tent and some packed lunches to maximize your convenience, but parking is much more reasonable here. Keep an eye out for any on-the-day events!

Kiso Sansen Park, 138 Tower Park

Kiso Sansen Park 138 Tower Park, Urasaki-21-3 Komyoji, Ichinomiya, Aichi 491-0135 | Google Maps

Denpark

Our next location takes us south of Nagoya towards Anjo city. While not quite a full-blown theme park like, say, LegoLand, Denpark is a play on a park thematically inspired by Denmark. Entrance to the park is not free unlike the previous two options, but the pricing is rather affordable with adults at 700 yen, elementary and older children at 300 yen and children not yet enrolled in elementary school are free.

Inside the park is an assortment of water play areas, playgrounds with plenty of creatively decorated equipment, and great photo op scenary featuring all sorts of flowers and plantlife.

Once you work up an appetite, you can either eat a packed lunch or simply go try out some of the northern European inspired grilled sausages and other foods (though be warned they are on the other side of the park from where children will be playing).

Denpark

DENPARK, Kaji-１ Akamatsucho, Anjo, Aichi 446-0046 | Google Maps

Aichi Kenko no Mori Park

Lastly is an energy burner on par with Nagakute’s Moricoro park. Located out in Obu city, Aichi Kenko no Mori Park is a sprawling park that features several ways to get out and play.

While the small play area located near the admin center can be a decent place to throw out a mat and have a picnic, the long slides and play zones located inside the Children’s Forest are all but guaranteed to push children to their absolute energy limits as they run, jump and climb over just about everything.

Please do note that this area can be a bit difficult for children aged 5 and younger who would not yet be ready to wander around unattended, as the slides and various twists and turns of all the runways and obstacle courses naturally lead to children vanishing from sight (although keep in mind the Children’s Forest is mostly set up to be circular in nature).

Aichi Kenko no Mori

Aichi Kenko no Mori Koen higashiguchi, 9-chōme Moriokachō, Obu, Aichi 474-0038 | Google Maps

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Regardless of your choice, Aichi is filld to the brim with excellent outdoor play options where you may actually find it harder to choose which ones to do with your limited weekend time rather than running out of choices!

alcidesota via Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0