More photos. City of Toronto site. Surfaces: wood chips, rubber, sand. Equipment by Kompan, Henderson, Dynamo I have yet to visit a “square” park in Toronto that I didn’t like. Okay, so there aren’t that many of them. Toronto’s unrelenting street grid doesn’t allow for many squares, but when it does, they’re great. Dovercourt, Sibelius Square, Vermont Square…there’s something about having a park embraced by a perimeter of houses facing in towards each other, as if holding han

TDSB site. Surfaces: woodchips Equipment by Henderson. Overshadowed by Riverdale Park to the west and Withrow Park to the east, the playground at Withrow Avenue Public school is a solid alternative to those two more popular spots, and in terms of equipment, might actually be the best of the three. As with all school playgrounds, amenities are limited (no swings, no water play) but if you’re a fan of classic wooden Henderson climbers, this place is for you. Both the primary an

TDSB site. Surfaces: turf, sand. The area around Yonge & St. Clair has always interested me. It’s busy, but doesn’t feel as hectic as Yonge & Bloor. It also doesn’t feel like it’s been as utterly transformed by Toronto’s condo boom as Yonge & Eglinton. And although many downtown amenities are there – the subway, the streetcar, restaurants and cafés – walk a block in almost any direction and you find yourself in a surprisingly quiet neighbourhood. Well, that neighbourhood is D

More photos. City of Toronto site. Surfaces: wood chips, concrete, sand, grass. Re-opened late in 2018, this is the best playground in Riverside/Leslieville by a pretty wide margin. Small but thoughtfully designed, there’s a bit of everything here. Water, sand, climbing, shaded picnic tables, even a ping-pong table. And of course, any spot with bathrooms has to get the thumbs-up. The climbing structures are encased in faux-rock that allow for some good climbing, and which cre

More photos. City of Toronto site. Surfaces: wood chips, asphalt. There is a part of me that would love to live in this neighbourhood, simply so that when my kids ask me if I want to go to the park, I could answer by saying, "Sherwood!" Sorry. You probably didn't come here for dad jokes. If you haven't yet closed your browser window in disgust, let's continue. If natural beauty is your thing, it doesn’t get much better than Sherwood Park. Surrounded by the trees of the Blythw

TCDSB Site. Surface: wood chips. Most Toronto playground-goers are familiar with the castle-style playgrounds in High Park and Kew Gardens, but few people outside of St. Cecilia’s catchment area know that this little Catholic school has a castle of its own. It might be the best play structure at any Toronto school. And ironically, I only discovered it because of a teacher’s strike. In 1997, as I was coasting my slump-shouldered way through my final lap of high school, teacher

More photos. City of Toronto site. Surfaces: sand. Toronto doesn’t have many parks of this shape: a square with houses facing towards the park on each side. It’s a wonderful design that can make a park feel really homey and shared. The late urban guru Jane Jacobs, who lived just around the corner from Jean Sibelius Square, must have loved it. She believed that streets (and parks) needed “eyes” on them – but not the eyes of police. Rather, the eyes of the people who lived ther

More photos. City of Toronto site. Surfaces: sand, rubber, grass. I’m fully ready to admit that my rating of Aldwych Park might be a little inflated, because I grew up on Aldwych Avenue, and many of my childhood memories are stored within this park’s tiny, fenced-in footprint. Having admitted my bias, I have to say that this playground, like most playgrounds, is far superior to what it was when I was a kid. It packs a lot into a small space- a modest splash pad, climber, tria

More photos. City of Toronto site. Equipment by Henderson / Little Tikes Surfaces: wood chips, sand, concrete, grass Sitting in a nest of high-rise apartment buildings in the heart of Thorncliffe Park, this is an absolute goldmine if your kid is a playground fanatic. If you include the playgrounds belonging to Thorncliffe Park Public School, there are four separate playgrounds all clumped together here. The photo above was actually taken in one of the school playgrounds, but

More photos. City of Toronto site. Surfaces: rubber, wood chips, sand. Equipment: Landscape Structures. For kids living on Tiverton Avenue when the playground rejuvenation happened, it must have felt like Christmas. Take a look at some photos of what this playground used to look like and you’ll get a sense of just how drastically this tiny playground levelled up. This is a wonderful example of how to make the best use of the space you have. Tiverton packs almost everything yo

More photos. City of Toronto site. Surfaces: sand, grass, concrete. Equipment by Little Tikes. This is the quintessential "hidden gem" playground; if you’re not looking for Hideaway Park, you won’t find it. Tucked away in the alleyways of north Leslieville, this one gets by on charm alone. It’s like that weird guy in your group of friends who isn’t particularly good looking, or funny, or pleasant, but he’s really good at magic tricks so everyone likes him anyway. The climber

More photos. City of Toronto site. Surfaces: sand, concrete. This charming and well-used park is in a neighbourhood that locals call “The Pocket,” which is a cute way of saying that it’s a huge dead end, the borders of which are the Danforth to the north, Jones to the west, the GO/Via train tracks to the south, and the TTC’s Greenwood Yard to the east. But of course, living in a dead end makes for peace and quiet, and hidden spots like the lovely Phin Avenue Parkette. You rea