Surface: sand.
Equipment: Landscape Structures.
2021 UPDATE: This playground is being rejuvenated! New review coming soon...
This sad little playground makes me think of that house in Pixar’s “Up” – the one whose owner won’t sell, and so huge developments end up towering over it, leaving it lonely and decrepit in the shadows of progress.
The area around St. Andrew’s playground has undergone big changes over the past generation, with condos and industrial loft conversions being built at a staggering pace, and young, hip companies occupying more and more of the surrounding office space. The playground feels like a bit of a relic. The one little climber is made by Landscape Structures, a company responsible for many of the best new playgrounds in Toronto. This one, though, is clearly from their back catalogue, more typical of the colourful plastic climbers made by the defunct Bel Air Recreational Products.
If it were just a retro curiosity, the climber might have some appeal. But the problem is that while it’s recommended for 5-to-12 year olds, it’s so small that I can’t imagine a 12-year-old having fun for more than about 8 seconds on it. On the other hand, some of the steps are high enough that even a tallish 3-year-old might have difficulty climbing. So it ends up being too small for big kids, but too big for small kids.
Oh, well. If your kid enjoys construction sites, I guess you could do a bit of crane-gazing here. Otherwise, this playground should really be put out of its misery and turned into condos.
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