Allmendinger Park

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This profile of Ann Arbor’s Allmendinger Park Playground is part of our Playground Profiles Series. Are you interested in sponsoring the series? Contact us for details.

Each week Ann Arbor with Kids is profiling a different playground in the Ann Arbor area including Ann Arbor, Saline, Ypsilanti, Dexter, etc. Today we are profiling Allmendinger Park part of the Ann Arbor system.

Ann Arbor’s Allmendinger Park

Allmendinger is a “destination” park that people visit from around Ann Arbor. With a shady playground, it is a great park for sunny summer days. It got a 2023 makeover to add natural play elements.

Allmendinger Park – Playground Features

Playground Profile Last Updated: September 10, 2023

Playground Best for: Kids Under 5, Kids 5-8
Structures: 2
Accessible Structure: No
Slides: 6, Straight Slide, Curved Slide, Racer Slide
Monkey Bars: Yes
Zip Line: No
Climbing Apparatus: Yes
Merry Go Round: Yes
Bouncers: No
See Saw: No
Sandbox: Yes
Natural Play: Yes
Swings: 2 traditional swings, 1 baby swings, 0 parent/baby swings, 1 adaptive swings, 0 tire swings
Ground Activities: Yes
Surface: Wooden Mulch
Shade: Full Shade – The playground is surrounded by large trees and in full shade most of the day (except in winter when the trees have no leaves)
Seating: Yes, Benches & Picnic Tables

Allmendinger Park – Park Details

Park Owner: Ann Arbor
Location: 655 Pauline Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Parking: Street Parking – There is a small gravel loop in front of the pavilion with limited parking. Most parking is street parking. Be sure to follow the parking signs especially on UM football game days.
Bathrooms: Yes, Seasonal
Walking Trails: No – There are short pathways in the park and neighborhood sidewalks are available for walking.
Water Play: None
Picnic Benches: Yes, At Playground, Nearby, Splinter Free (not made of wood)
Pavilion: Yes
Sports Fields: Basketball, Baseball/Softball, Tennis

Allmendinger Park Description

Allmendinger Park was our second playground profile back in 2016. It received some upgrades in 2023 with the addition of natural play elements and a small structure with slides and monkey bars.

The Allmendinger Park play area is nestled in a grove of trees that provide constant shade. Instead of a large structure, it has natural play elements and a few small pieces of playground equipment.

New features include a small pile of boulders the kids can climb up – complete with ropes to help them climb. There are logs to walk like a balance beam. There is also a tunnel with logs to crawl under.

Allmendinger Park playground - new rocks to climb and log tunnel to crawl through

After crossing the balance logs, kids can hop across the stumps to climb through the large branches.

Allmendinger Park - Stumps and large branches for play.

They also added a large sand area as part of the 2023 upgrades. The picnic benches in this area also got an upgrade and no longer seem to be made of wood. More importantly at least one is directly accessible from the park path without walking over uneven ground.

Allmendinger Park - New sandbox and picnic tables.

Additionally, they added a small structure with slides and monkey bars.

The new play elements are mostly an expansion of the play area. However, the water/sand table is gone.

The Merry Go-Round is great for all ages, but IMO is safest when used by one age group at a time.

One of my daughter’s favorite features at Allmendinger was the climbing wall apparatus. It has two climbing walls and steps. She went up the walls and down the steps. This apparatus is definitely better for bigger kids. While my daughter could do climbing walls by age 3 or 4, she would have had more trouble descending from this apparatus.

The old mini structure for tots is still there. It has low racer slides. There is a rocky slide for them to climb up. They can also access the structure from a disc climber or stairs.

Allmendinger Park mini structure with 2 short racer slides, disc climber, and a rocky slide. Stairs (not visible in the photo) are also available. To the left are a climbing rock wall and stand alone twisty slide. To the right is the new rock tower and log tunnel

There is also a standalone twisty slide and a climbing “net”.

Allmendinger has several sports fields. When we were there for driving classes, we saw several groups on the baseball field and my daughter has previously played softball there. There are also tennis and basketball courts.