Montreal Street & Niagara Street Playground

Someone gave us a top tip about a playground that was great for smaller kids yesterday and we rushed straight over. I feel like we should have a flashing beacon on the top of our car - the 'Must Play Emergency Vehicle' or something. Anyway, if there is an award for Most Adorable Playground, this would be a contender.

Situated at the backside of MacDonald Park, between Simcoe and Niagara, you can enter this enclosed playground from either Montreal St or the alley that runs parallel.

It's a small, sweet park that is obviously well loved because there are lots of toys there, practically still warm from being played with, scattered around. There is actually a sand pit- I haven't seen a sand pit for years and apparently they change the sand frequently enough for it not to be disgusting.

When we visited it was completely empty- happy 'A'- and he got to climb all over everything before demanding that I push him in one of the toddler swings until my arms almost fell off. I had to recover by having a swing in one of the 2 big kid swings which was surprisingly high- my feet didn't touch the ground- which for the record is a woodchip base.

The main structure is fabulous for kids 'A's age. It is the only climbing frame that I have seen where he can use all the features, but that they are still big enough to be a challenge. He was so happy that he could climb up one of the interesting takes on a ladder that he stood at the top clapping and shouting "I did it, I did it!" There are two metal slides of appropriate height, one single and two doubles.

There are grassy areas to plan on, a picnic table and benches. As I said the whole playground is fenced in, so little ones can't escape. We loved this park and will definitely be back. You may ask why it didn't score higher, but in trying to be fair with my nonsensical scoring system, I have to admit that as much as we loved it,. it wouldn't challenge the bigger kids as much as some of the playgrounds around Victoria, plus to use any facilities you'd have a bit of a walk.

William Stevenson Park Playground- 6/10

William Stevenson Park Playground is a pretty posh name for a small, slightly worn playground. You'd expect to see some turrets, or at least a tea party with a name like that. Most people would probably be more familiar with the park if I said it was the one behind the Fernwood Community centre. We have been to this playground a few times now and it never has many people in it, which as I've said before, pleases 'A' in his current phase. I know that the Community centre is really busy though, so perhaps we just chose an off-peak time to visit. It's the kind of playground that populated with a bunch of mums with strollers and kids playing it might have a completely different feel to it.

The playground features pretty good structures, two nice double plastic slides, some climbing apparatus, the normal double double swings and an activity play area. It's on a base of spongy tiles and there is a picnic table there too. There are some graffiti tags around the playground which is a shame though it obviously doesn't affect the playing experience. There is also a handy shelter thing- a sort of canopy which came in handy when we visited the park yesterday because it started to chuck it down on us. I have given this park a pretty mediocre rating- I'm sure to some kids it's their perfect play experience but I do think there are better playgrounds in Victoria. Obviously there are much worse ones too!

Franklin Green Playground- 9/10

Okay, so Franklin Green Playground scores points because....wait for it.... it's featured online! How exciting I hear you cry!

Nestled on Mason Street behind Wellburn's Market, Franklin Green is a newer playground that has been well thought- out and is obviously an asset to the neighbourhood. When we visited it the weather was grey and threatening to rain and there was no one else there which delighted 'A' because he is going through a disliking of 'people' patch. We hope it's a patch.

There are great climbing frames here that are even labelled for their age group appropriateness. With a spongy floor tile base, there are two metal slides and a wavy plastic thing that might be masquerading as a slide or it might be to climb up (see glossary section for things with no names). There are numerous climbing features for bigger kids including a climbing wall and lots of things to hang off if you've got the upper body strength, which, as we discovered, I don't. I know that I violated the age sticker, but hell, there was no one around.

There is the normal two toddler, two big-kid combo of swings, a metal picnic table and an interesting bench swing over a sand pit which I couldn't photograph because a father/son combo came along to sit on it.

The floor tiles are great- a definite score booster and also there are two bouncy animal things that are a nice touch.

MacDonald Park Playground - 9/10

Yesterday we had our first visit to MacDonald Park which is officially on Ladysmith Street but for the sake of ease I'll say it's at Simcoe and Oswego in James Bay. It definitely helped that it was sunny and after the long winter people were taking full advantage of the chance to get outdoors, but this park scores on the feel of it's location. As soon as we arrived there was the feeling of community - people were happy, smiling and there was a faint buzz of summer in the air.

As I have mentioned before, A loves ramps. MacDonald Park Playground has this incredibly long wooden climbing structure which is low- probably aimed at the smaller children- and has ramps and a funky wavy ramp. A was all a-twitter with excitement and ran up and down for some time before we could even get him to consider the`rest of the playground. When he did, we found balancing beams that connected the two parts of the wooden structure, the second half of which has steps up to two slides- one metal, one plastic curly, which do not patronize their small users as many small kid slides do.

Between the wooden structure and the colourful metal climbing area for the big kids, there are a row of six big kid swings. The big kid area features a ton of climbing options, a tube thing that can be climbed up or slid down and a high metal slide. There is a climbing wall and the whole thing is on woodchips! There are fences to protect kids from the road.

MacDonald Park is well-kept and has a snack bar on the opposite side to the playground and presumably washrooms too, though I didn't see them. So to sum up, nice location, great climbing structures, swings and slides and lots of grass to run around on. You might ask where it loses the point (9/10)....well, if I am being picky- which is what this blog is about, then it lacks any imaginative features- it's good old climbing frames, swings and slides at their best.