Here’s when Wichita kids will be able to splash in this new ‘Water Play Cascade’
Wichita got a detailed look on Tuesday of what Exploration Place’s future water play park will include when it opens along with several other playgrounds late next year.
The new artist’s rendition of the future Water Play Cascades, a previously announced piece of Exploration Place’s $25 million outdoor expansion, shows children and parents frolicking on a splash pad that’s framed by several waterfall-like structures and surrounded by stone work and landscaping.
The water playground will offer a “multisensory learning experience promoting teamwork and collaboration,” a release from the museum said. It will include pumps and water wheels that can be activated only by people working together.
The children’s museum at 300 N. McLean released the image as part of an announcement about how the water playground will be financed. Junior League of Wichita, which is celebrating its 100th birthday this year, raised and then donated $2 million to pay for Water Play Cascades.
Exploration Place broke ground on its outdoor expansion in March when it started work on a 1,500-seat amphitheater overlooking the Keeper of the Plains sculpture. It’s expected to open this fall.
The second phase of the project is a 6-acre outdoor playscape that will include 10 individual playgrounds, including Water Play Cascades. The playscape will replace the playground that now sits to the southeast of the museum and will also include a sensory garden, a spider climber, a sunflower meadow and an “aviation playgrove.”
One of the playgrounds will include a 20-foot bison with anatomical insides that visitors can crawl through. Another will re-create the foggy Flint Hills with mist and turf to roll down. Yet another will feature a swing set based on the design of center-pivot irrigation.
It should all be ready to go by October 2025, said Laura Roddy, Exploration Place’s vice president for advancement. The water playground will have a short first season, she said. But starting in the spring of 2026, it will be open seven months out of the year.
A groundbreaking ceremony on the project is set for 9 a.m. on June 27.
Exploration Place breaks ground on outdoor expansion. Here’s what’s coming when
Exploration Place to transform its 20-acre campus with amphitheater and adventureland
