Snider Parkette

Equipment by Earthscape.

Surfaces: rubber, wood chips.

You wouldn’t think it could be possible for a playground to fly under the radar when it has a pedestrian entrance right off Yonge Street, and yet the tiny Snider Parkette somehow pulls this off.

Located about halfway between Eglinton and Lawrence, the Snider Parkette is barely visible from Yonge because most of it is hidden behind a large, unmarked building that I’m assuming is a TTC electrical substation. I didn’t notice it was there until I was buying shoes one day at the Sporting Life across the street.

It’s not the smallest park we’ve visited, but it feels smaller than it is simply because there’s so little equipment.

Basically everything here is geared towards toddlers: small slides, a scaled-down version of Earthscape’s Log Pile climber, some little swings, a small sandbox. There’s also some adult exercise equipment off to one side.

I’m very much in favour of playgrounds catering to toddlers, but this one falls far short of a must-visit toddler playground for a couple of reasons.

First, although there is fencing most of the way around, there are no closing gates, including at the walkway that leads right out onto Yonge Street. So while it might seem nice that there’s a playground and an adult workout station in the same small space – mum or dad can get some exercise while the kiddo plays in the sandbox! – this plan doesn’t work so well in reality if you’ve got to worry about the kid wandering out into Yonge Street traffic.

Second, there’s a bit of a shade problem. Most of the parkette is shaded under a dense canopy, which is nice. In fact, the only section that sees no shade is the tiny part where the play equipment is. With such small, sparse equipment, it feels strange that it couldn’t have been placed on the shadier side of the space.

So I mean…the Snider Parkette not an unpleasant place to be. Quite the opposite; it’s calm and quiet, especially considering how close it is to the city's busiest street.

But if you’re in this part of town with a toddler, the Woburn Avenue Playground a bit further north is a much better option. Or if you’re looking for indoor play, the wonderful and recently-opened (2025) Pinnochio Play Café is right across the street.