Sugar Sands Park is a Kid's Heaven, with endless hours of fun, every amenity a park can offer, and more. This 132-acre park is operated by the City of Boca Raton and open 365 days a year. The indoor portions are closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Parents may need to work a little harder here as a few things are immediately obvious: the park is spread out, your child will run away, and you’ll get your work out in trying to keep up with kids inside! Did I mention it’s free? Let’s plan this fun day now.
The Carousel runs on tokens. Tokens are purchased with $1.00 bills on the side of the line. Feels kind of retro to put your token in the slot as you enter, love the vibe! There's friendly staff who keep it all running and check for safety. Families do line up and to get on the carousel, on weekends it is typically full.
We love some budget fun, but this one tops the charts for hours you can pack into a free day. I will share the amenities of the park, but have to emphasize here that this city play space is so well designed, laid out, and well kept! We drove about two hours just to see if it was really all they say it is and found it to be better than anticipated. An hour north of Miami (45 miles) and an hour south of Palm Beach Gardens, this can easily be a day trip from either of these locations. Just a few minutes off Interstate 95, this park is a great place to pit stop when traveling through or needing a full day of fun.
Of course, the site online had limited info and if we had understood all of the logistics we would have gone earlier (or on a day the carousel was running). For us, the “neigh neighs”, as my two-year-old niece lovingly calls horses, was a big part of the reason we made the trip down to Boca; so we were quite disappointed to find it wasn’t running the day we went. According to the online schedule it should have been. Another disappointment was that while advertised as open until 11 pm (on another visit it specified open until 8 pm), the playground area closes at sunset, and we missed that in our planning (it did say that on the website after a more careful review). I’ll lay out all of the things here to help you make a full day of your Sugar Sands Park Experience:
Boca Raton is about 2 hours south of my home in Brevard County, so why would I drive all the way down there to take some toddlers to the park? It’s THAT good. In 2017 this park reopened after a major project to improve the facilities. In the refurbishing and rebuilding something state of the art was created for the community. Every effort was made to create a wheelchair accessible park for all children to enjoy. They greatly considered physical and cognitive challenges when designing the new layout.
We were in the market for a family fun day on a budget and with free entry and lots of amenities for the little ones, it was a great deal! Spending a few hours playing with so many hands-on learning activities and growing in the nature spaces was just what we needed over the Thanksgiving break, and we were willing to explore to check it out. Weather was good, kids were active, and we got up and moving to discover a new fun place! You drive right in, park and get the fun going!
Amenities: AMAZING multileveled playground, (with a water theme in the middle) science center, nature trails, butterfly garden, watering station for gardens, two basketball courts, 6 baseball fields, inline hockey rink, picnic tables and pavilions, Willow Theatre, and open fields.
Inside of the Community Center there were classes going on and we did not participate but the Field House is open to pick up games of basketball, volleyball, and it looked like some hula hoop fun as well! Clean bathrooms, and plenty of places to picnic.
Sensory Activities GALORE!
Note ** The cost to ride the Sugar Sand Park Carousel is $1.00 per person.
Can adults go into the playground?
YES. Parents are able to fit and join in the maze. Advertised as 5+, when your child enters that 3 leveled castle maze playground, they may naturally take to playing hide and seek and running away from you. They may even get away temporarily! Part of their fun is in the running and exploring each corridor, trying out every corner that seems to open to a new bridge or steps they've never climbed. It's hard, but let them navigate the maze as an opportunity to develop a sense of direction, confidence, and memory skills.
The Inclusive play space is welcoming to smaller children or little ones who may have developmental needs. There's a big dinosaur sand dig, music chimes, a racetrack, safety swings, and even monkey bars that little ones can reach! They really thought of every way to make this play space developmentally appropriate.
The Inclusive playground has that strong soft impact ground surface, making it extra padded for little running ones. There’s a wayfinding feature, which helps parents and children identify locations to pinpoint specific spots (you could easily get lost in there especially if it’s crowded). With older children you can set up a visual meeting location if they get lost or separated, for toddlers running free this is harder! Position parents to keep up! Not the best location with an infant or more than one who run in opposite directions.
The splash pad play area highlights sea creatures and attracts all the kids. Waterspouts are a great feature and definitely attracts a crowd. Turtles are fountains, the dolphin is a fountain and the water sprays from many directions, without being overpowering. The soft nonslip padded flooring is the right touch for a great time. There are shoe cases outside to keep shoes safe, and plenty of benches in the shade for parents who wait and watch nearby.
The train station theme is fun for toddlers. Swings, slides and climbing features for children of all levels of development and abilities are available. They really made this space a developmentally friendly as possible!
Clean, well-maintained, with a soft playground surface that helps to cushion trips and spills! Also, there’s no sand or mulch that gets tracked into the car or house later on, whew! You can return several times and never get bored.
Except for the one entrance, the playground is completely enclosed which is a big safety feature.
Do we need bathing suits? No, BUT the waterspouts are in the center of the playground (picture a courtyard with the splash pad in the middle) and it may be difficult to stay dry if you’re not planning on partaking. We went on a cooler day in the afternoon and stayed until security made us leave (dusk). We did have dry clothes and bathing suits. The girls wanted to get into the fountains, they also were so busy running through the playgrounds that we were able to just avoid the water play all together. On another visit we did some playing first, then changed into suits and played! For adults, a little spray mist here and there was refreshing. Note that we were three adults, two toddlers and an infant and still had a hard time keeping up!
The Sensory Trail, Nature Space and Butterfly Garden are all behind the museum.
East to miss, I can't stress the beauty of this enough. I'd travel here just for this botanical garden feeling. Posted signage tells how animals live and relate the sensory trail to different species having dens, and behave. This area was very uncongested while we visited, and it was nice to get away from the crowd for a bit. Watering cans are provided and connect to the rain barrels for encouraging children to water the flowers. We could have stayed here ALL day, our little one was thrilled to be watering everything. Like every single leaf.
Inside, The Science Center actually changes out their exhibits so having visited once does not check the box for having the full experience here. I am not sure how frequently they switch out the hands-on activities, but it's at least done seasonally. On our most recent visit we were thrilled to find an exhibit all about snow. While Floridians may be foreign, children who know about Elsa immediately know what it means to build a snow man and play in the snow!
The wonderful fun is really something ALL senses use. One of my favorite parts is all of this occurs in the context of a social emotional setting. Your children will be sharing this space with others and something happens when we let kids be kids, they build friendships, or experience others in a natural play environment. It's also a great place to scaffold your child's learning and engagement by encouraging their play to extend their own skills.
What ages is this park best for? Really any - but parents be ready!
*Toddlers will love, but parents will have to be ready to get really active to keep up with busy children in this setting!
*Preschoolers will definitely LOVE every minute spent here, and have more attention span to maintain interest in the science activities.
*Elementary Aged kids will have plenty of activities and not be bored!
*Middle school ages and up may prefer the skate park and or basketball courts to hang out and be cool while keeping active.
On busier days it may be harder to share the space, on less crowded times this is a kid's hands on dream for sensory play, exploration and discovery. As an Early Childhood Specialist, this place checked all my boxes with developmentally appropriate play spaces, nature, and lots of space for all things physical and cognitive!
Planning/ Pros and Cons:
** Inclusive play space, disability friendly and wheelchair friendly! Absolutely worth a trip
** One way in and out of playground makes it feel safe, but your child running away and getting lost can still feel stressful.
** Be ready to go in with them, if you are the type to keep an eye at all times.
** There are 2 big science discovery rooms filled with hands on experiments such as rockets, dominos, and robot machines which is very cool.
** We loved the Gardens! Watering herbs, checking out the butterflies, and walking the trails could take as long as you'd like!
** Planned for a picnic, bringing a cooler with all the sandwiches and goodies then found a pavilion to eat under. Picnic tables were empty, we were the only ones there!
** We also had a variety of balls in the trunk and thought we would play basketball, but never made it to the courts.
** Prior to going in, set a meeting place if you do get separated and of course remind your children of never leaving with anyone other than YOU!
What's Next? There are lots of places to eat, shop and play in the Boca Raton area and this stop could easily be paired with many other activities in the Southeastern vicinity of Florida. If you are planning a trip to Boca Raton and have children, it should definitely be on your itinerary!
Extension idea:
The Downtown Carousel at Palm Beach Gardens: If you love a good carousel and are up for a drive, there’s another carousel an hour away. We left Sugar Sands at Sunset when it closed and drive up to this one, salvaging the main goal of the day: The Downtown Carousel at Palm Beach Gardens (1 hour north from Boca Raton) - 11701 Lake Victoria Gardens Ave, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410. Keep the play alive and give the kids a great adventure of visiting Carousels, playing until their hearts are content and they are super happy!
Affordability meter: 10/10 On a scale of 1-10 how affordable is this day? With 1 being utterly unaffordable and 10 being basically free, I rate this adventure a 10.
Considering the value vs the cost of this day, with zero parking fees or entry cost, this is a real win! A traveling gem that I almost want to keep as a best kept secret to myself. Other than the cost of gas, and our picnic food we spent $3.00 on the carousel. WIN!
Early Childhood is a precious time! Enjoy the little ones while they are little.
No matter where your travels take you, enjoy the journey!
Don't forget good music in the car and car snacks.
Breathe and be present.
Remember to let go of all the things you can't control.
Enjoy your surroundings, and the people present with you.
A little planning goes a long way when traveling with children!
And most importantly, make the memories count.
Thank you for visiting my site, please leave your thoughts and feedback.
A note from the editor:
The information in this article was accurate when published but may change without notice. Confirm details when planning your trip. I hope this makes it easier for your planning process.
Thank you for stopping by today! Please share your thoughts and experiences, we are all on this journey to live and love together. I welcome your travel tips & tricks :-)
I prioritize helping families spend more time enjoying their quality time together and less time having to figure it all out. My four children have been my test subjects of planning great family adventures for many years and now that my youngest is 20, many of my travels now are work related, or grandma related! As time has changed, I've evolved but I still LOVE TO TRAVEL, explore, wander, visit, discover, learn and love. I gravitate toward nature, which is where I find my happy place. I use the term single not to emphasize a relationship status but to signify that if I can manage some family fun on a limited teacher's salary with four children, anyone can do it. I am just very intentional in how I spend my time and earnings. I typically seek out budget friendly ways to enjoy my time, but will occasionally splurge for the right reasons :-) All my shared itineraries and ideas are free from ads or google partnership.
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~ Mz. Savvy
If you are visiting Florida and want to check out the best theme park for busy toddlers, this will help with your planning:
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