Manor oaks neighborhood in brookeville or nor beck grove in lonely. Big families with kids who play outside.

This is really helpful. Any parts of Takoma Park that are particularly recommended? Also, anyone know whether Woodside Park (south of Dale, close to downtown SS) or Woodside Forest are good candidates?

Another vote for Takoma Park. Tons of kids, lots of kid-friendly stuff to do in the area, a very supportive community w/ kind neighbors who help each other out w/ kid/family matters, and good mix of kids who go to private and public.

Woodmoor or anywhere in four corners really

We live in Woodmoor, and there are lots of kids of all ages. They are always playing outside, which is one of the things that appealed to us about the nieghborhood. Plus, the mix of kids attending private vs. public seems to be about 50/50 (although it might be different for the older kids), so it's not like everyone in the neighborhood is connected through the same school.

Takoma Park! Our half-block has 14 kids, and when I walk home in the evening from the metro the blocks around ours seem to all have about 10-15 kids each running around.

Look at Indian Spring - tons of kids, close to downtown SS, walk to the Y, small community park. Great community feel!

Anything in 20895! Baby boom over here.

OP here. My son is not athletic, so meeting through sports is not an option. Thanks for the insights.

find a house walkable to the community pool, great group of kids running around all the time.

I think at that age he is MUCH more likely to make friends through school or sports or other activities than in the neighborhood, especially if he is not attending the neighborhood school. Our Bethesda neighborhood has lots of kids but they go to a mix of public and private schools and after about 3rd grade there was very little random playing. My DC, who did not go to the public school then, met neighborhood kids through sports and scouts. So you may want to focus more on where the kids from his school live, or the kids from his sports teams, or whatever activities he is involved in.

Rockville. Rockshire, Fallsmead, Lakewood, Woodley Gardens, etc. are all nice neighborhoods.

Sligo Park Hills and downtown SS in general. At least 15 kids right on our little street.

A terrific neighborhood is woodley gardens/college gardens in Rockville. More north than you want to go but directly off 270. Kensington and parkside are also excellent areas as well

We moved here last year to a neighborhood without many kids and our 10 year old is lonely! We came from a place where kids in the neighborhood played together daily. We are renting and now looking to buy a house. Priority number one is to find a neighborhood with a lot of kids in the 9-12 year range so our son can make some neighborhood friends. He will not be attending public school so school quality is not a factor per se. We can afford up to 725ish but less would be better. Can anyone comment on how kid friendly the following are, or offer more suggestions? Ayrlawn, Ashburton area in Bethesda; Woodside and surrounding, Forest Glen, Woodmoor in Silver Spring; Takoma Park; Kensington...anything else? We can go as far west as Chevy Chase and as far north as North Bethesda. Some of the areas I've listed, like Forest Glen, seems like the kids tend to be younger--am I right? I just don't want to end up buying in a place where there isn't a good age match to the neighborhood kids. Amenities like local parks would be helpful too since our child won't be meeting kids at the local school at this stage. TIA!