Center of Clayton Indoor Pool, Clayton

Location: 50 Gay Ave., Clayton, MO 63105                    314-290-8500

Website: https://www.claytonmo.gov/government/parks-recreation/center-of-clayton

Amenities:  Recreational swim with water slide, lazy river, and vortex, plus two 25-yard lap lanes

The Center of Clayton offers the ultimate experience in sports, fitness, swimming, recreational, educational and lifestyle enhancing programs. The Center's 136,000 square feet includes four gymnasiums, two pools, a suspended jogging track, weight lifting, aerobic/dance areas, a 30-foot climbing wall, classrooms, lounge, Subway and meeting rooms. The Center does allow non members to use their facilities- daily admission allows access to the pools, gyms and fitness areas. Programs including open climb are not included. Non resident rates are on their website, it costs $10 for kids 3-17, and $15 for adults.

Below are photos of the leisure pool taken from their website.

Chesterfield Family Aquatic Center, Chesterfield

Location: 16365 Lydia Hill Dr., Chesterfield, MO 63017   Located inside Central Park

Amenities:

• splash pad
• leisure pool with a splash playground (including 2 kiddo slides) and a water slide
• competition pool with two diving boards
• lazy river with single and double tubes
• 2 large water slides
• changing areas for men, women, and families with showers and lockers
• concessions area
• deck space for sunning

overhead satellite view from Google Maps

Website: https://www.chesterfield.mo.us/chesterfield-family-aquatic-center.html

The Chesterfield Family Aquatic Center is a great facility for the entire family. My toddler loved the splash playground and could even go down the smaller of the 2 slides on it. She also got a kick out of sitting on my lap while floating around the lazy river. Older children will love the slides and diving boards. Another nice feature of this facility is that the lockers require a quarter to lock them, but you get the quarter back when you open it back up. The facility is half price for both residents and non-residents after 5 pm, so if you only plan on swimming for an hour or two, show up after 5 and you don't have to pay as much.

Cons to this facility include the layout of the pools - you have to walk halfway around the lazy river to grab a tube and then walk back around to the entrance to the lazy river (although you can often find an empty tube left next to the entrance to the lazy river as well). Also, the large slides are not close to the rest of the pools so in order to watch someone going down the slides you have to walk to the far end of the park.

You can see this area has a zero-depth entry which is nice for the little ones.

Purple Slide

 Splash pad

Unfortunately, the 2 big slides and lazy river were not open when we were there due to a mechanical issue. My kids were bummed. 

The concessions menu was a bit limited but the prices were great.

Splash pads, Spraygrounds, and Pop Jets

Splash pads are so much fun! During the hot summer months, we spend a lot of time at them. Who doesn't love that they're free??? To be clear, I'm talking about the free splash pads that are on or near public playgrounds. I realize that some pools have splash pad features and pop jets and sprayers, but those are real swimming pools and they charge admission, so that's a different animal. That list can be found here.

The note "just a pole" means exactly that- it's just a pole that shoots out water. Better than nothing but not exactly exciting stuff.

If I had to rank the best splash pads in the area I would say Route 66, Veteran's Tribute Park, Kades, Edmundson, Sylvan Springs, Vago Park, Citygarden, Veteran's Memorial in Union, Alton Riverfront Park, and Jaycee Park are my favorites because of the variety of different water features they offer.

Another option for free water play is to visit a creek. 

1.)Tower Grove Park (city)

2.)Mo Botanical Gardens (city) $$

3.)Zoo (city) $$ 

4.)Willmore Park (city)

5.)Berra Park (city) (just a pole)

6.)Citygarden (city)  

7.)Fox Park (city)

8.)Minnie Wood (city) (just a pole)

9.)Ruth Porter Mall Park (city)

10.)Benton Park (city) (just a pole)
11.)Pontiac Square (city) (just a pole)
12.)Sublette Park (city) (just a pole)
13.)Tilles Park (city) 
14.)St. Louis Place Park (city) (just a pole)
15.)Kiener Plaza (city) 
16.)Strodtman Park (city) (just a pole)
17.)O'Fallon Park (city) 
18.)Tiffany Park (city) (just a pole)
19.)Gateway Arch (city) 

20.)McDonald Park (City)

21.)Mathilda Welmering Park (Affton) (Just a pole)

22.)Tilles Park (Ladue)

23.)Shaw Park (Clayton)

24.)Highland Park (Richmond Heights)

25.)Brentwood Park (Brentwood)

26.)Sylvan Springs in JB Park (South County)

27.)Lemay Park (Lemay) (just a pole)

28.)Bohrer Park(South County) (just a pole) 

29.)Creve Coeur Park (Creve Coeur)

30.)Millennium Park (Creve Coeur)

31.)Vlasis Park (Ballwin)- NOT OPERATIONAL

32.)Ferris Park (Ballwin) (Water pump/small creek feature)

33.)Hunter Park (Crystal Lake Park) 

34.)Musick Park (Hazelwood)

35.)Edmundson Park (Edmundson by the airport)
36.)Castlepoint Park (North County)
37.)Koch Park (Florissant) 

38.)Vago Park (Maryland Heights)

39.)Eise Park (Maryland Heights)

40.)Kirkwood Park (Kirkwood) (just a pole)

41.)Avery Park (Kirkwood) (just a pole)

42.)Meacham Memorial Park (Kirkwood) (just a pole)

43.)Des Peres Park (Des Peres) (just a pole)

44.)Sugar Creek Park (Des Peres) (just a pole)

45.)Pioneer Park (Des Peres) (just a pole)

46.)Villa Park (Olivette) 

47.)Southwest Park (Webster Groves) (Water pump/small creek feature)

48.)Fogerty Park (University City)

49.)Ackert Park (University City)

50.)Trojan Park (Wellston)

51.)Six Flags (Eureka) $$

52.)Jaycee Park (St. Charles)

53.)Brendan's Playground in Westhoff Park (O'Fallon)
54.)O'Day Park (O'Fallon) NOT FOR TODDLERS

55.)Zachary's Playground in Hawk Ridge Park (Lake St. Louis)

56.)City Hall Park (Dardenne Prairie)

57.)Indian Camp Creek (Foristell)
58.)370 Lakeside Park (St. Peters)

59.)Veterans Tribute Park (Weldon Spring)

60.)Shrine of our Lady of the Snows (Belleville IL)

61.)Bicentennial Park (Belleville IL)

62.)Family Sports Park (O'Fallon IL)

63.)Swansea Kingdom (Swansea IL)
64.)Leon Corlew Park (Edwardsville IL)

65.)Glazebrook Park (Glen Carbon IL) 
66.)Splashpark (Hartford IL)
67.)Central Park (Bethalto IL)

68.)Alton Splashpad (Alton, IL)

69.)Millstadt Pool Splashpad (Millstadt, IL) Costs $2

70.)Evergreen Park (St. Clair MO)

71.)Veteran's Memorial Park (Union MO)
72.)Kade's Playground (Herculaneum, MO) 
73.)Route 66 Splash Pad (Sullivan MO)

74.)De Soto Splash Pad (De Soto, MO)

Here is my map that shows all of these places to help you find the ones closest to you.

Highland Community Pool at Lindendale Park, Highland

Location: 2123 Park St., Highland, IL 62249

Website: http://cms9.revize.com/revize/highlandil/departments/parks_and_recreation/locations___amenities/highland_community_pool/index.php

Amenities:

• (6) Swimming Lanes
• 1 Meter Diving Board
• Climbing Wall
• Concession Stand

This pool was built in 1964 and I read that the city is looking into replacing it. But it's still functional and very cheap! 

The facility consists of a main pool, featuring an “L” shaped pool with six 25-meter lap lanes and a diving well, and an AquaClimb climbing wall as well as a separate wading pool. Both pools are Chester aluminum pools, constructed in 1964-65 and renovated in 1980. 

Here are pictures of the pool during the summer from their website: