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: 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?
Thank you for the info on this park. It’s very useful to have photographs and a site layout on this page. Thank for all the work you do on this website… I am a frequent visitor!
We went again this weekend, there were city workers with games like Bocce, soccer and giant Jenga at the rise (the big hill). They will have extra programs like that all summer (not sure the exact details).
We were 4 adults and 3 kids (3,5 and 8) and everyone was entertained for hours. It is definitely a place you could do spend a day and not get bored because of the different areas.
Next time we’ll bring swim gear. I thought the water was freezing but my kids went all the way in and loved it!
Sweet! I had no idea this even existed. Going to head there today. Thanks!
We loved all the features at the St. Patrick’s Island playground. However, the slide is brutal. It ejected little kids face first right into the pea gravel. I went down it with my granddaughter and smashed my tailbone at the bottom. The slide angles at the bottom instead of scooping. Please take the angle out of the slide. I talked with several other adults who hit their tailbone at the bottom while sliding down with their little ones.
I completely agree! We love the park and the location but that slide is dangerous. We were at the park for about 45 minutes last summer and watched 3 children and 2 adults get injured on the slide. I feel like they should extend the bottom of the slide so that people can slow down before they are launched into the gravel (the kids) or jam their legs into the gravel (the adults). One father slid with his child on his lap had his legs jam into the gravel and stop so short that his child flew off his lap into the gravel. On an earlier visit, my daughter tried sliding down the slide on her tummy backwards and had her chin clipped and bloodied on the bottom edge. 😔