The City of Sacramento Parks and Recreation Department (cityofsacramento.org) operates aquatic facilities open to visiting and resident families. Larger neighborhoods within the city, such as Arden Manor (amrpd.org), have developed indoor and outdoor aquatic facilities of their own. Free admission toddler pools can be found at various locations, such as Sacramento's Bertha Henschel Play Pool and Arden Manor's Deterding Park. At the time of publication, all city of Sacramento outdoor pools and outdoor Arden Manor pools are open from May 28th through September 5th.
A great family activity for those with toddlers is to attend an early evening show or weekend afternoon matinee at a Sacramento area drive-in movie theater. Toddler age children can fall asleep in back seat, if needed or play with toys without bothering other viewers. Family pricing for an entire car load is often cheaper than individual tickets are for all family members at indoor movie complexes. The remaining drive-in movie theater in the Sacramento area is the Sacramento Six Drive-In run by West Wind Theaters (westwinddriveins.com).
Small neighborhood or larger area parks within the Sacramento metropolitan area provide an ideal afternoon or morning activity for toddlers and their parents. Locations with designed and extensive play areas and attractions, trails and picnic areas are maintained by the City of Sacramento (cityofsacramento.org) Parks and Recreation Department. Locations like Southside Park and McKinley Park have large, sandy developed play areas with swing sets and climbing gyms. Others, such as William Land Park and Tahoe Park, provide amenities like large grassy areas, petting zoos and picnic areas.
Toddlers can participate in the City of Sacramento Public Library System's Birth to Five reading and storytime program, which is designed to introduce pre-reading age children to reading. All branches offer varying toddler storytimes and incentive programs for toddlers who complete home storytime programs with their parents reading to them. Interactive computer-based games and physical activities, such as sing-a-longs and group games, designed for children ranging from 2 to 5 years of age are available periodically at the city's larger branches.
