• Location: 1201 Euclid Ave. Berkeley Ca

• Phone: City Recreation Office 510-981-5150

• Website: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Parks_Rec_Waterfront/Trees_Parks/Parks__Cordornices_Park.aspx

• Pricing: Free

• Hours: Open all day/ every day

Description: This is a great Berkeley park, one of the best! (If not the best.) This park in a way offers a little bit of everything. There are basketball courts for older children or adults to play ball on. There is a smaller enclosed toddler park complete with smaller swings, a sandbox, a slide, and a train to imagine being conductor or passengers on. On the big kid side of the park there are bigger swings, a very tall slide, a hand glider, and the infamous cement slide! There are various picnic benches scattered throughout the wooded area, most of which have BBQ pits. There is a very large grassy hill for rolling and running down. And there is endless grass to set out picnic blankets and parties on, perfect for sunbathing or watching your little one playing from a comfortable distance. You can get in some exploring and not too challenging hiking or walking in around the grounds. Codornices Park is also connected by tunnel to the Berkeley Rose Garden which is another fun exploration site in itself!

Highlights: The cement slide is the definite winner here! As a child growing up in the Bay Area I have witnessed many parks replacing older equipment for newer "safer" practices. The see-saw, merry-go-round, and almost all cement slides have succumb to newer upgrades, but here at Codornices Park the cement slide remains in tact and reigns supreme as the attraction to use at the park. There is always a bountiful supply of cardboard to use to make the ride faster and to tear your pants less. My daughter in particular will literally go up and down this slide the whole time she is at the park, without even stopping for a snack. One of the appeals of this park is that it is perfect for all ages- it is one of the Berkeley parks that actually caters in a way to older kids as well as younger. Another highlight is the underground tunnel leading from Codornices to the Berkeley Rose Garden on the other side. The tunnel is always a fun passageway for children to travel through and make howling noises inside. The Rose Garden offers a more serene type of stimulation after an active park playing time (see Berkeley Rose Garden for more details).

Tips: Walk through the tunnel to the Rose Garden side to use the bathrooms, you won't regret the extra steps to get to a more decent potty.