The Kids will Love Mitchell Park in NW Washington, D.C.

Mitchell Park benefitted from a face lift in 2014 under the Play DC initiative, and is now a great spot for kids to run and play on some new equipment. It’s an oasis in the middle of the city that you might not know about if you don’t live in the neighborhood, but it’s worth a visit regardless of where you live.  

The park is comprised of a large, open field and an enclosed basketball court with an adjoining enclosed playground. There’s also a historic field house on the site that hosts summer camps and has been the site of a cooperative preschool.  One of the major negatives of Mitchell Park, however, is that the field house is not open to the public and there are no bathrooms! So if you’re in the potty training stage, you might want to give this park a miss.

Get to the Playground Already!

There are two sections of playground equipment, one of which is geared toward smaller children, making it ideal if you have a crawler or early walker. This section has a small slide and an easy climbing section with bug shapes incorporated to give kids a little traction on the way up or down.

The other section of playground equipment is larger, with a four slides, including a big, curling slide and several climbing options.  There are two baby swings, one swing for older children, and a swing suitable for a child with physical limitations. There is also a charming bear statue carved out of wood, as well as benches and picnic tables. Because the playground is fully enclosed and of a manageable size, it’s relatively easy to keep track of several children at once. Another benefit in the summer is that the playground area has lots of shade, although the slides can get hot in the summer.

Adjoining the playground space is a large, enclosed court area, which includes a basketball net and a volleyball net.  This area is fantastic for riding scooters and bikes, so bring those along! It’s also an excellent space for drawing with sidewalk chalk and you can often find stray pieces of chalk to use if you don’t bring your own.

Picnic and Play

The final section behind the field house is a large, open grass field. This area is used regularly by dog walkers and the dogs are frequently off-leash, so if you have a child that is frightened of dogs, you might want to be aware of this fact. There are picnic tables in this area and it’s a great space to run around with a ball or have an epic game of tag.  Mitchell Park also hosts movie nights in the Summer and other community events throughout the year. You can check the website for the Friends Of Mitchell Park for a schedule of events. 

As a final note, behind the field house, there is an herb garden growing mint, rosemary, thyme, dill, and many other herbs.

Mitchell Park is closest to the Dupont Circle metro station, but it’s probably a 15 minute (uphill) walk from the station. Just outside of the park is Dolcezza Dupont, which features delicious coffee and gelato. Besides that the closest food and beverage options are in the Dupont Circle area, however, so you can stop and get your snacks on the way. We like Filter Coffeehouse at 1726 20th Street NW or Emissary at 2032 P Street NW for a cup of coffee and a snack! There is free on-street parking around the park, limited to two hours if you don’t have a Zone 2 parking permit, but no parking lot.