Central Indiana is home to an array of beautiful parks and natural beauty. Just west of the Indianapolis International Airport is Guildford Townships Hummel Park, located at 1500 S Center Street in Plainfield and opened from dawn to dusk. Whether you’re looking for a play outlet for the kids, someplace to exercise or cool off, Hummel park boasts over 200 acres of recreational activities and natural beauty. Hummel Park is also more than just a place to ride a bike or play with the kids, it offers plenty of year-round programs such as the summer concert series, community Easter egg hunt and hometown holiday during Christmas season. Because this park offers something for everyone of all ages and interests it’s become one of my family’s favorite parks to visit year-round.
Recently, Hummel Park has undergone a major remodel and has included its new all-inclusive features to the playground along with new and exciting playing equipment and a new accessible Storywalk. Unlike a basic playground, which can be extremely limiting for children with special needs, this new playground located is designed to accommodate both children with disabilities and typically developing children. The new playground is geared toward big kids, and a few steps away is a toddler section. As a parent of two children, one being a toddler and one older, having two play spaces for each age group provides a safer play area for my younger as well as my older child to enjoy.
Toddler Playground at Hummel Park
The toddler section at Hummel park was NOT renovated but offers lots of great play for little ones. The ground is made of rubber surfacing that allows easy access for little ones just starting to walk or crawl. The steps for the playground are smaller and shorter. While visiting the park, I saw many new walkers being able to climb the steps easily. There are small tunnels and slides that are easily accessible for little ones. The slides were shorter and wider, one was a tube slide that kids love. My youngest son loves playing in the toddler area especially the smaller slides. Next to the toddler playground is a wood chip area housing toddler swings and adaptive swings with back support.
Big Kid Playground at Hummel Park
The Big kid section is the newly renovated area and it’s awesome! If offers a little something for children with many interests and abilities. Like the toddler area, the big kid section has a new rubber surfacing allowing easy access for wheelchairs. It has a new large sunshade, allowing kids to play during those hot sunny days. There is a new piece of equipment called Miracle Reflex which is a curved seating or walking space that lets kids use it as a teeter totter or to balance walking on it while it moves up and down. There are lots of slides to choose from; tall tube slides that curve and open scoop slides. The new playground has a large ramp access for wheelchairs. There’s lots of climbing features your active kid will love and new monkey rings and wheel swingers. As you go inside the play space there are colored drums that my boys enjoyed playing with and a driving wheel that’s always a big hit for pretend play. Next to the playground is another woodchip area with lots of swings for older kids and a large metal saucer swing.
Nature and Trails
As a family we enjoy walking or riding bikes along the trails and exploring all that nature has to offer. Surrounding the park are walking tracks and beautiful scenic trails. The main east side has a 1.1-mile track path that’s great for riding bikes, walking and running. There’s also a small train from the playground leading through the storywalk and to the splash pad and restrooms. Across the wooden foot bridge are two other scenic trails; the cottonwood path which is a half-mile trail and the blue heron path which is two miles. Both trails have beautiful landscapes all year-round. Along Blue Heron path there’s another small “natural” play space consisting of large rock structures that make climbing on lots of fun. This play space is a “hidden gem” because of its location on the west side of Hummel park, it provides kids with a fun outdoor climbing experience and has become a favorite for my boys.
Hummel Park has become one of my family’s go to parks for all types of recreational fun. It’s a great place to bring family for a fun adventurous day of recreation and natural beauty.
Address
1500 S Center Street
Plainfield
IN
Visit Hummel Park | Park Inclusive Playground in Plainfield