FULL OF Unadulterated Summer Fun

Prescott National Forest www.fs.usda.gov/prescott

This time of year it’s hard to miss all of the stories and blogs about sneaking in educational activities throughout your kids’ summer vacation to ensure they don’t experience “learning loss” before they return for the fall semester, and that’s an important thing to keep in mind.

But this is not one of them. No, we’re talking strictly about having kid-friendly fun with no ulterior motives. This is about letting them run, dance, play, be silly and thrive under the warmth of the Greater Prescott sun.

Here are some perfect places to do it!

One and a half million acres of woodland and grassland are waiting for your kids to run, bike, hike, climb, kayak, camp, fish and briefly revert to a wild state. Park Collective www.parkcollective.com

For those days when it’s just too hot to spend a lot of time outside, an empty supermarket has been transformed into a cavernous wonderland with a free indoor playground with slides, ramps, tunnels, stairs, swings, turf spaces and more while parents and guardians keep an eye on them while drinking top-notch coffee. They can even conduct business in an adjacent conference room. It also houses Upside Preschool and Heights Church.

In the Game Freedom Station prescottvalley.inthegame.net

This family fun park has indoor and outdoor fun for everyone to choose from, including mini-golf, a play maze, an arcade and mini-bowling (plus axe-throwing with buckets of beer for grownups). Season passes are available and half-price games all day Wednesday to make frequent fun affordable.

Mountain Valley Splash Aquatic Center and Chino Valley Aquatic Center www.pvaz.net www.chinoaz.net/444/Chino-Valley-Aquatic-Center

Both offer waves of waterlogged fun with lap swimming lanes, splash pads, mushroom fountains, dump buckets and zero-depth entry for kids and kids at heart to jump and splash and play. Prescott Valley has the larger facility with a 75-foot spiral slide, six swimming lanes and more weapons of mass inundation for hours of fun and cooling off. Both offer open swim, youth and adult lessons, swim teams, aquatic fitness and other activities.