Elmstead Park, Williams Landing

Located:

This park is located on the corner of Thornbury Way & Newport Avenue, in Williams Landing. This park had it’s official opening only a few weeks before we visited. The playground and gardens definitely have that new feeling still. The day we dropped by, it had been raining all morning, and I forgot a towel, so the slides were wet, and some of the bridges were slippery. There is a nice BBQ area with seats right near the playground, a large grassed area, and a basketball court on the opposite end.

Equipment:

  • sand pit, with sand play and sorting equipment
  • boar, with 2 steering wheels
  • bbq with undercover seating
  • balance beams
  • rocks and wooden bridges to walk along
  • 2 swings, 1 with toddler harness
  • 1 spinning pole
  • variety of textures – rubber, sand, tanbark, rocks
  • 1 play structure
    • 1 end entirely made of rockwalls, ropes.
    • easy to use stairs in the middle lead to narrow, fixed, metal walkway. This is made for bigger kids than Jack. He struggled to reach the handrail, and slipped off at one point in time. It is also quite high above the ground.
    • fireman pole
    • wooden moving bridge
    • dual slide
    • ladder
    • steering wheel
    • lower level – abacus, doorways

Jack liked:

The puddles on the rocks – he splashed around happily. He also liked walking along the balance beam, and then adapted the climbing skills to walking along the rocks and jumping off them. When he arrived at the park, the open boat structure appealed to Jack the most and he ran for it eagerly. He tried to play in the sand, but as the sand was already wet it didn’t want to go through the sieves.
When Jack was attempting to get up to the slides and walk along the equipment, he slipped off the metal narrow bridge. He also slipped on the moving wooden bridge, but brushed himself off and kept going. However, he was a bit disappointed that the slide was wet, and I had to help him get down the ladder.

This playground has great textures for younger kids, and is a good mix for those parents with different ages. However the playground structure is definitely aimed at older kids. Jack still enjoyed himself, and we will return soon.