Equipment by Henderson.
Surface: wood chips.
As much as I like a lot of new playground equipment, I’m a bit of a sucker for the old-school, wooden, classic Henderson stuff. It kind of reminds me of the old wooden roller coasters that offered a thrill because the danger was real.
Morse Street PS has a pair of nice Henderson wood climbing structures, one for older kids and one for toddlers, and as with all public school playgrounds, they’re fair game on weekends and over the summer (provided they’re not booked for daycares).
There’s also a huge – and I mean HUGE – rope climbing structure by the modern Henderson offshoot company Berliner Seilfabrik. This thing is enormous, and I can only imagine how big it must seem to a kid.
My son raced up it at age three, so it’s actually safer than it looks…although he did have a nasty fall off a similar structure at Degrassi Park when he was a bit younger. This thing is so big that if you want to ‘spot’ your kid as they climb, you’ve pretty much got to go up with them. So bring good shoes if your kid’s a climber.
Or, if the giant rope climber looks like more risk than you’re willing to allow, you can always head down the street to the new and pretty excellent Morse Street Park.
2020 Update: With the addition of some new climbing equipment, a turf field, a ton more seating, and basketball courts, Morse St PS has jumped several spots on our overall rankings. Easily one of the best and most varied school playgrounds we've visited!