St. Patrick’s Island Park Playground

Location     (maps at the end of the post)
Community: East Village – 1300 Zoo Rd. NE (you can access it by car through the parking lot on the South side of the Zoo along Zoo Rd)
Parking: pay lot parking

Gordie’s Review (8 years old): “I thought the slide was extremely fun”
Nicky’s Review (5 years old): “I liked the wooden thing, the rope bridge, the slide, the swing, that bouncer and that blue spinner.”
Robbie’s Review (2 years old): Did you like the bouncer? “Oh, yes!” Did you like the slide? “Oh, no!”

Surrounding Park Area: Located in the newly redeveloped St. Patrick’s Island Park. Washrooms, river wading area, large hill for tobogganing, plaza, picnic areas, pathways.

Age Range: 2-10 years.
Ground Cover: pea gravel

Playground Features: 1 hill slide, triangle tower with tunnel and rope bridge, small playhouse, wobbly balance beam, wobbly platforms, 2 spinners, bouncy teeter totter, 3 swings (1 baby). climber with ropes and climbing wall. Climbing boulders.

Seating: Several concrete benches, Picnic area with sunshade next to the park.
Accessibility: None.

Overall assessment:

Update 2019 – The concrete slide was removed and replaced with a climbing feature (below).

This playground was brand new in 2015 as part of the St. Patrick’s Island redevelopment project. It was then redesigned in June 2017 – the metal hill slides were replaced with one concrete slide and climbing rocks were added to the hillside.

Older kids will love the climbing structures and the hill slide. Toddlers will find the climbing structures a little challenging but will still enjoy many of the other playground features. The playhouse is quite tiny – this makes it perfect for toddlers though as the bigger kids will tend to stay out. The climbers here are really different compared to other Calgary parks and my older kids both really enjoyed trying them out.

The top of the slide area is open at the top and leads (un-invitingly) down to the river so be aware if you have a child with a tendency to wander. Also, the hill slide is not particularly comfortable for adults. Very young kids may find it a bit steep – if you child might fall backwards while sliding you may want to wait until they are a bit older.

Although this playground is great the surrounding park is what really makes this a family destination. Check out my review of the St. Patrick’s Island Park itself.

Maps

Have you been to this playground? What did you think?