Location: 57th at Westminster (just south of Haverford)
Date visited: 12/31/11
Equipment: Three zones in sight of one another:
- New-looking sprayground (fenced) with large colorful towers; looks like several sources of spray
- Smaller kid playground area includes (a) 2 hobby horses (zebra and dolphin) that actually rocked (!); (b) a new-looking playset: climbing wall, barrel stave climbing, hanging bar, low (5-ft) monkey bars, solid bridge, crawl-through mesh tunnel, three straight metal slides, and misc. climbing; (c) 4 bucket swings.
- Higher playset has novel types of challenging climbing (a twisting ladder, another that I can't describe!), 2 high straight metal slides and 1 wavy plastic one, a fire pole, solid bridge, straight (6-foot) monkey bars, and more. Also 4 strap swings here, although 2 broken.
Ages: 1-12
Surface: rubbery around equipment; cement and grass elsewhere
Shade(0-3): 1
Water: Y!
Other: pool, baseball field, tennis, basketball, large grassy area, picnic tables (including some covered), large rec. building
Access: not posted (dawn to dusk?)
Impressions: Recently renovated and inviting playground offers a great range of options for all ages, from crawlers to more advanced scramblers, faced by houses on one side and a SEPTA bus garage on the other. Sprayground was off-season a our visit, but looks intriguing and made us want to come back. Shaded picnic tables and expanses of grass make this a good option for a longer family outing, and young trees offer promise of increasing shade over the play equipment. Worth a visit!
Overall rating: 9
Shepard is GREAT.
ReplyDeleteSwimming pool is open 11a-7p during the summer months. There is general swimming from 1p-4p . The pool is 3′ deep on the ends and 4′ deep in the middle. The guards have family swim on the far end and single kids on the other, which is wonderful if your 2-6 year old doesn’t like middle-school roughhousing. If the pool is full (30/guard), they cycle cohorts hourly so everyone gets a chance.
From 4pm-5pm, a free swim team/swimming lessons meets for kids ages 5-16.
From 5pm-7pm, M-W-F is adult swim & T-Th is family swim.
Don’t worry if the pool is full–there is a sprayground too. And two challenging regular playgrounds for pre-school & elementary kids. Plenty of trees, swings, picnic tables (plus a big picnic shelter), big fields to play ball, and an indoor gym. Lots of shade trees.
No lockers, so leave your valuables in the car. Ample street parking.