Kids Own Playground

Kids Own Playground is the dedicated play area within Queen Elizabeth Park, Masterton's 81-hectare riverside park on Dixon Street. It is one of the most prominent community-built playgrounds in the Wairarapa region.

Equipment

The playground features swings, slides, a spider web climbing net, a flying fox, and accessible equipment suitable for wheelchair users and buggies. A fenced toddler section provides a safe space for younger children. Play surface is bark. Additional facilities within Queen Elizabeth Park include a miniature railway, mini golf, skatepark, BMX track, pedal boats, and a deer park accessible via a swing bridge.

Access and Inclusion

Accessible equipment is included for wheelchair users and pushchairs. The park is flat and easy to navigate. Established trees provide shade across parts of the play area. Public toilets are available on site. All Masterton District Council parks are smokefree.

History and Cultural

Kids Own Playground was built in 1999 through a remarkable community effort: approximately 2,300 volunteers worked in multiple four-hour shifts over six days to construct it. The largest single shift involved 550 participants. Sponsored fence battens with donors' names are a distinctive feature. The wooden structure is now over 25 years old, exceeding its original 20-year design life, and the Rotary Club of Masterton South is leading plans for a replacement playground estimated to cost NZ$3 million to $4.5 million, with landscape architect Catherine Hamilton of WSP Consultants engaged to guide the design process.

Practical Info

Parking: on-street angle parking on Dixon Street. Public toilets on site. Within Queen Elizabeth Park, where additional paid attractions include miniature railway rides ($1 per person), mini golf, and pedal boat hire.