Sacramento Adventure Playground
Maple Neighborhood Center, 3301 37th Ave, Sacramento, CA 95824
About
Sacramento Adventure Playground offers activities such as fort building, mud play, campfire and marshmallow roasts, S’mores with donated supplies, pizza, non-adult directed play, physical and group physical play, art, free play, and enrichment activities. The program also offers themed options including Homeschool Programming, Community Days, Holiday Play Camps, Fort Building, Critter Camp, Minecraft Camp, Minions, The Rise of Play, Build It Camp, Investigators Academy, and Wacky Science vs Art of Mess, with campers sometimes using real tools in a makers’ laboratory or tinkerers’ workshop setting and playing in forts built by Summer Campers.
• Ages: 6–15 years old
• Schedule: Five-day Spring and Summer Camps and Holiday Play Camps, with most camps running Monday–Friday in 2026 between either 9 AM–12 PM or 11 AM–2 PM, a typical daily camp routine of about 40 + 35 + 30 + 20 + 45 minutes of structured segments, after-school hours Wednesday–Friday 2:15–6:30 PM and Saturday 11 AM–4 PM, and options for early drop-off and after care.
• Price: Five Day Camps $195, Five Day Fort Camps $200, Play Camp $105, Holiday Play Camps $10 per day, with additional fees for early drop-off and extended care and free participation in the base after-school program once registered.
Sacramento Adventure Playground is powered by Fairytale Town and is described as a European style adventure playground with a junkyard atmosphere, functioning as a makers’ laboratory or tinkerers’ workshop that puts real tools and raw materials into the hands of youth. The site includes a dedicated 5 & Under Area that is regularly open during public play hours, with a Mud Play Area added in March and six themed forts built by Summer Campers. The program includes a WEEKDAY FIRE campfire and marshmallow roast at dusk each Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday during Standard Time (November–March), and offers Pizza Fridays for kids present at 4 PM.
The mission statement explains that the program keeps activities simple and fun, with science, engineering, and art (STEAM) behind enrichment activities at a kid-understandable level using common or simple materials, and states a goal of having kids exercising without realizing they are exercising, with a strong emphasis on play. Sacramento Adventure Playground is described as an after-school youth development program that enables youth ages 6 to 15 to engage in supervised play activities free of charge, and Fairytale Town states that it brings this Adventure Playground to Sacramento as part of a broader play movement. The Fairytale Town board of directors set a vision in 2011 “to inspire, educate and strengthen communities through play,” and in 2015 committed to implementing an adventure playground at Maple Neighborhood Center in 2016.
The Site Supervisor is listed as Steve Caudle, Play Manager, and the media contact is Lisa Keyson, Director of Advancement at Fairytale Town. The program notes that campers will at times be working independently and need enough maturity and skill to complete activities, follow Playground rules, get along with others, stay on site, and drink water, with specific drop-off and pick-up timing expectations and the option to use After Care.
Community involvement includes support from Fairytale Town and connections with La Familia Counseling Center, which may offer a free mid-day Monday–Thursday Summer Lunch Program/Camp and has traditionally given lunches to aftercare kids as a separate agency on the same campus. The Sacramento Play Coalition, an outgrowth of the Sacramento Play Summit produced with the Sacramento Public Library, has focused on Pop-Up Adventure Play Days at Maple Neighborhood Center and on advocating for play and play policy, developing white papers, and sharing best practices, and donations for the Playground can be made through Fairytale Town’s website. Community Days are described as free days on the 2nd or 3rd Saturday of the month from October through May and include children under 5.
Last updated June 8, 2026.
• Ages: 6–15 years old
• Schedule: Five-day Spring and Summer Camps and Holiday Play Camps, with most camps running Monday–Friday in 2026 between either 9 AM–12 PM or 11 AM–2 PM, a typical daily camp routine of about 40 + 35 + 30 + 20 + 45 minutes of structured segments, after-school hours Wednesday–Friday 2:15–6:30 PM and Saturday 11 AM–4 PM, and options for early drop-off and after care.
• Price: Five Day Camps $195, Five Day Fort Camps $200, Play Camp $105, Holiday Play Camps $10 per day, with additional fees for early drop-off and extended care and free participation in the base after-school program once registered.
Sacramento Adventure Playground is powered by Fairytale Town and is described as a European style adventure playground with a junkyard atmosphere, functioning as a makers’ laboratory or tinkerers’ workshop that puts real tools and raw materials into the hands of youth. The site includes a dedicated 5 & Under Area that is regularly open during public play hours, with a Mud Play Area added in March and six themed forts built by Summer Campers. The program includes a WEEKDAY FIRE campfire and marshmallow roast at dusk each Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday during Standard Time (November–March), and offers Pizza Fridays for kids present at 4 PM.
The mission statement explains that the program keeps activities simple and fun, with science, engineering, and art (STEAM) behind enrichment activities at a kid-understandable level using common or simple materials, and states a goal of having kids exercising without realizing they are exercising, with a strong emphasis on play. Sacramento Adventure Playground is described as an after-school youth development program that enables youth ages 6 to 15 to engage in supervised play activities free of charge, and Fairytale Town states that it brings this Adventure Playground to Sacramento as part of a broader play movement. The Fairytale Town board of directors set a vision in 2011 “to inspire, educate and strengthen communities through play,” and in 2015 committed to implementing an adventure playground at Maple Neighborhood Center in 2016.
The Site Supervisor is listed as Steve Caudle, Play Manager, and the media contact is Lisa Keyson, Director of Advancement at Fairytale Town. The program notes that campers will at times be working independently and need enough maturity and skill to complete activities, follow Playground rules, get along with others, stay on site, and drink water, with specific drop-off and pick-up timing expectations and the option to use After Care.
Community involvement includes support from Fairytale Town and connections with La Familia Counseling Center, which may offer a free mid-day Monday–Thursday Summer Lunch Program/Camp and has traditionally given lunches to aftercare kids as a separate agency on the same campus. The Sacramento Play Coalition, an outgrowth of the Sacramento Play Summit produced with the Sacramento Public Library, has focused on Pop-Up Adventure Play Days at Maple Neighborhood Center and on advocating for play and play policy, developing white papers, and sharing best practices, and donations for the Playground can be made through Fairytale Town’s website. Community Days are described as free days on the 2nd or 3rd Saturday of the month from October through May and include children under 5.
Last updated June 8, 2026.
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