Saturday, May 21, 2011

A mix of offerings: Vare playground

Playground: Vare playground
Location: between Moore and Morris, 26th and 27th
Date visited: 5/21/11

Equipment: Several separate pieces spread around a medium playzone:
  • One large playset with hight (6-7-foot?) platforms, lots of climbing types, and two straight metal slides of different lenghts
  • One small playset with 3-4-foot platforms, several types of climbing (including the rarish barrel-stave type that's friendly to newer climbers), and one wide metal slide
  • Lots of swings! 6 strap + 4 bucket, all functional
  • A freestanding set of metal monkey bars (around 5 feet tall)
  • A novelty play piece shaped like an arch, which can be used like a techno-teeter-totter (you sit on either end an the entire structure slides back and forth, raising one end or the other, along the underlying curved tube) or like a more advanced challenge, with hand grips underneath the top part and foot rests on the side, so that one or more people could move the thing that way. [Makes more sense in person.]
Ages: 1-10
Surface: rubbery around equipment; blacktop elsewhere
Shade(0-3): 1 (mostly on swings)
Water: N
Other: large field with baseball diamond, basketball courts, pool, grassy areas, and large rec. center
Access: open (= dawn to dusk?)

Impressions: A nice playground and park a block or two from the blight of the 25th Street train viaduct. Decent basic equipment -- especially good challenges for climbers of various skills, but a little short on slides -- and the novelty arch structure makes it possible for a toddler and parent to teeter together. Lots of swings is nice, and the mix of equipment should accommodate families with kids of various ages. Equipment probably gets really hot in midsummer, but there is refuge at the edges and shaded grass for a picnic.
Overall rating: 7-8

No comments:

Post a Comment