Location http://www.eauclairemarket.com
Address: 200 Barclay Parade SW (Downtown) – Inside the food court
Gordie’s Review (18 months old – 2010) – Great stairs!
Gordie’s Review (7 years old) – “It’s an outdoor playground inside!!”
Nicky’s Review (4 years old) – “I liked the slide”
Cost: Free. But you will have to pay for parking. It’s only $2 for evenings (after 5) or weekends in Eau Claire’s underground parkade.
Supervision: Unsupervised.
Age Range: 12 and under.
Surface: Wood Chips
Footwear: Shoes
Safety Features/Concerns: The playground area has great visibility from the seating area and because it is the back corner of the food court there is nowhere for the kids to go inside the mall. However, there is a door to the outside on each side of the play area.
Play Area Features: Preschool play structure with a small slide and a taller double slide; School-aged play structure with a large slide and a large twisty slide; 5 panels along one wall.
Seating: Bar like seating faces the play area with 8-10 stools. It provides a great view of the play area AND you can drink your coffee while you do it.
Overall Assessment: This indoor play space is pretty unusual. It was developed through a partnership with the Emmanual Foundation (who installs recycled playgrounds to places in the world where children would otherwise not have access) with the help of GPI Outdoor Designs Inc and CDC Recreation Inc.
It’s basically an outdoor playground moved inside. It provides a lot of opportunity for physical play especially for children able to use the school aged play structure.
The two play structures are connected by a high bar climber (pictured below) which was so popular it was difficult to get a picture without children on it. The parking is pretty expensive during the week but this would be a great place to go in the evenings or on the weekend.
great idea ,hinks o do in the long winter days 🙂