The Ultimate SouthCoast Playground Guide: Dartmouth/Westport

THIS GUIDE HAS BEEN UPDATED: FIND THE MARCH 2021 VERSION HERE

The Dartmouth/Westport portion of the Ultimate SouthCoast Playground Guide covers four main playgrounds in Dartmouth and a smaller hands-on playground in Westport.

Dartmouth Community Playground, South Dartmouth

This playground is one of the town's most popular places. It is entirely fenced in, has a parking lot, a large toddler area, and large separate big kid area with a lot of challenging climbing features. It's rare that this playground does not have other children on it. Bonus, the town library is on the same property, so there is a bathroom if needed. The downside is it's one of those playgrounds that is big enough for you to lose sight of kids if you are trying to watch more than one at a time. (Get directions here)

Dartmouth Regional Park aka Purple Dinosaur Playground, North Dartmouth

Not fenced in, and there are bathrooms on the property but not immediately next to the playground. The facility is also home to a sand volleyball court, baseball field, tennis courts, basketball courts, a dog park, plenty of hiking trails, and a covered picnic pavilion area. Plenty of lot parking. Famous for its single purple T-Rex ride-on toy, it is often referred to as the Purple Dinosaur playground. Not many people seem to know this playground is here and sometimes there aren’t a lot of other kids to play with. (Get directions here)

Quinn School Playground, North Dartmouth

Quinn has not one, but three giant playground features, each unique in its own way and each suitable for kids of all ages. Two of the playgrounds are positioned on either end of the old tennis courts and surrounded by a tall fence with plenty of blacktop in between. Bring chalk— there’s plenty of hopscotch space. The third playground unit is across the field and next to the baseball fields and is built for bigger kids, so the climbing is a bit more advanced and the slides are a bit steeper. This is a school, so it is open to the public during off-hours with parking lot and street parking. There are no bathrooms. (Get directions here)

Apponagansett Playground, South Dartmouth

This playground is positioned right on the beach and shares its space with The Bucket ice cream stand. Although you need a sticker to park during the beach season, this playground is open to everyone in the off-season and is the perfect way to keep kids busy if you are going to one of Dartmouth's Wednesday Night Summer Concert Series performances. It's not as big as others, but for some reason, kids love it. There are bathrooms at this park. (Get directions here)

Westport Community Playground, Westport

This is a smaller playground on Main Road just past Lees Market. It has a parking lot and the area is entirely fenced in. Everything is a bit miniature and clearly geared towards the five-and-under crowd. There is standard playground equipment, a few ride-on toys for toddlers but the fun feature was the giant sandpit. Loads of Tonka trucks and the system of buckets, pulleys and tubes let you dig, load, haul, and dump sand over and over again. There are no bathrooms. (Get directions here)