Kids Cove Playground

Kids Cove Playground at Mount Trashmore Park is one of the largest and most well-equipped public playgrounds in the Virginia Beach area, and it's completely free. Situated inside Mount Trashmore — one of Virginia Beach's most distinctive and beloved public parks — the playground benefits from the park's broader amenities: a lake loop trail, a large grassy hill (the 'mountain') famous for kite flying, and wide open grass areas for family games.

The playground itself is nautical-themed, which fits the Virginia Beach setting, and has multi-level climbing structures, slides, and swing sets scaled for different age groups. There's enough space and enough distinct play zones that multiple family groups spread out naturally without crowding each other out.

The real value of Kids Cove is the full-morning package it enables without spending money. The formula: arrive at 9AM, kids play on the playground for 45-60 minutes, transition to a kite-flying session on the hill (bring your own kite — $15-20 at Target or Walmart), walk the lake loop trail as a family (roughly 2 miles, fully paved and stroller-friendly), find a shady picnic spot, eat lunch, done. That's 3-4 hours of quality family outdoor time that costs exactly the price of whatever's in your cooler.

Restrooms are available in the park, which is a non-trivial detail when you have toddlers who need them on 10-minute notice. Parking is free in the main Mount Trashmore lots.

Mount Trashmore, for the historically curious: it's a landfill that was converted into a public park in the 1970s — hence the name. The hill that kids fly kites on is the original elevated landfill, now grassed over and beloved. Kids find this fact either fascinating or gross, which is its own form of entertainment.