Emily Traphagen Park in Delaware is a Toddler Gem

We FINALLY explored one of the Preservation Parks in Delaware and are in love. Emily Traphagen Park might be one of the most toddler-friendly parks around. One side has great trails with a few dinosaur surprises and the other side has great green space for a picnic + two playgrounds and swings.

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A fun addition to the park for the summer is their summer education theme “Science Says” exhibits that are featured at three Preservation Parks. Each site explores a unique topic revealed to us because of our extraordinary efforts in science. Dinosaurs, microorganisms, and astronomy.

At this park Science Says….Track the Past. Search for and follow dinosaur footprints to catch a glimpse of the amazing animals who lived here millions of years ago. Thanks to science, we can witness what the world was like even before history was written. When you get into the parking lot, you’ll enter the trail on the side where the bathrooms are – you can’t miss it. You will follow the Meadow Trail. This leads you to the dinosaurs and the storybook trail.

Things to Know

📌 Bathrooms are open
📌 Toddler-friendly trails (3 Trails) Each around 1/2 mile and take 20-ish minutes, unless your toddler stops frequently 🙋🏻‍♀️ or you’re taking more time to explore. They are stroller-friendly. You can find more about the trails here.
📌 Story Walk (Meadow Trail)
📌 (2) Playgrounds – toddler friendly, fun climbing features
📌 Natural Play Area
📌 Tons of green space for picnics
📌 Park Size: 100 Acres
📌 Easy to find park + decent parking

Story Walk Trail

This was a fun surprise! I had no idea they had a Story Walk. The book they have on display is The Dinosaur Expert Book by Margaret McNamara. It was a super cute book with a good message. It was a bit long for the girls, but we improvised by shortening the sentences and talking about the pictures.

“Mr. Tiffin and his students are back in another picture book, and this time the focus is on dinosaur-loving Kimmy. During a field trip to the natural history museum, Kimmy is thrilled to share what she knows about the Stegosaurus and the Archaeopteryx, and even the ginormous Titanosaurus. That changes when one of her classmate’s questions whether girls can be paleontologists. Kimmy starts to feel shy. What if they can’t? What if no one wants to hear what she has to say? It will take some help from Mr. Tiffin–and from a famous scientist–for Kimmy to find her voice again.” – Google Books