Slocan Park Playground- East Vancouver

Guest review by Emily L

Slocan park is attached to the 29th avenue skytrain station at 29th Avenue and Slocan St in East Vancouver. As well as a great playground, there are large grassy fields and tennis courts, bathroom facilities (although they have been closed recently due to vandalism)and a covered area where people oftan do Tai Chi.

The playground itself has two seperate climbing structures with a total of three slides, one low wide metal slide for toddlers, a medium sized plastic slide and a larger plastic corkscrew slide. Both climbing structures are easy access for smaller kids, ramp and stairs.

Features also include a tire swing, two bouncy animals, two big-kid swings a baby swing and a toddler swing. Big kids can play on the rock "wall" and swinging monkey bar rings.

The playground is on sand which is great for castle building. My son has made a friend or two by being the only toddler with a pail and shovel! This park also features a wading pool/play fountain, it has 2 round cement mosaic picnic tables right at the edge of the playground as well as a smattering of benches surrounding it. Another great feature is that it is right across the street from the Renfrew Ravine which provides a great nature walk on the east side of the ravine. Street parking is easy in this residential neighbourhood and the playground is also on the bike path that follows the skytrain down to Trout Lake, John Hendry Park.

Hope to see you in the neighborhood!

Garibaldi Park Playground- North Vancouver

Garibaldi Park Playground is midway down Garibaldi Drive, off Mt Seymour Parkway in North Vancouver.

The park itself is a large grassy area with tennis courts, shade, some nice landscaping, the occasional large deer and a lovely playground. You can park along the road which is very close to the playground- good, if like me, you're juggling a feisty preschooler, a wriggly baby and a husband who cannot be separated from the exciting sports game on the car radio.......say no more.

The playground is a newer construction and has two main structures linked by various climbing features. The higher big-kid structure features a really nice high wobbly plastic slide- for extra static on hot dry summer days! There are bright activity wall features underneath the high platform which is accessible by a number of climbing options- curved ladders, platform steps and things to hang from. Between the two structures they have paid nice attention to detail using pod, flat steps and sort of hanging steps- wish I'd got a close up of these but my mind was elsewhere (feisty preschooler, wriggly baby and that darn sports game that had stolen my husband). Both sides have chunky platform steps and the smaller kid side has a lower plastic slide and a climbing wall.

There are toddler and big-kid swings, a bouncy thing, a very cool seesaw and an awesome climbing rope pyramid that 'A' got nicely tangled in- all on a bed of woodchips. I didn't see washrooms, but again, I stand to be corrected on that one because of the aforementioned diverted attention, but even without frilly amenities, this is a lovely playground in a pretty park that managed to have a cool breeze on a hot day.

Diefenbaker Park Playground - Tsawwassen

Guest review by Denise

Diefenbaker Park in Tsawwassen in one of the best parks my family and I have been to. It is a meeting of nature and kids-park in one. We love this park because it not only has lots for the kids to do and explore, it's one of the prettiest parks we've seen.
It has 2 climbing structures, with lots of great options. The blue and red climbing structure has a wood chip base, with 3 types of slides and lots of kinds of climbing gear (rope ladder, climbing wall and bars). This climbing structure offers so many options that my kids pretend it's everything from a castle to a cruise ship. As well, there is a see saw spring toy that fits 4 kids off to the side.

The beige and green climbing structure just behind it, has a sand base, 2 types of slides, a bridge, a curvy fire pole and a speaker pipe thing that connects to the other speaker about 20 feet away (Hi mom!). The sand base allows for kids to bring their shovels and pails and make some great creations.
In between the climbers there is also a set of swings, 2 toddler and 2 big kid swings.
The nature part of this park includes a beautiful duck pond with lots of ducks to feed, a small dock to walk out to and see the fish in the pond (some mighty big fish too), big beautiful cedars and willow trees surrounding the pond, a man made waterfall that you can walk up to, trails and pathways all around the park to explore and peaceful benches to sit and enjoy the beauty. This makes it a great park for photos, weddings, and family get togethers or reunions. I have done some photo shoots there myself as well as had my own family photo taken there.


There is also a huge open area that has lots of picnic tables as well as a shelter. The hills on the far side are often used in the winter (when we get enough snow) for tobogganing. These are also great for just plain hill rolling.
Two of the essentials of all parks are a bathroom and parking and Diefenbaker is well equipped with both.

I hope you enjoy this park as much as we do, hope to see you there!

Kinsman Spray Park Playground - Oliver

Guest review by Katherine

Right smack dab in the middle of Oliver is one of the best parks in BC, well we think so anyway. It is the Kinsmen Spray Park, that's right 'Spray' so on a hot Okanagan day you can bring your kiddlywinks here for hours of fun.

When you arrive there is plenty of shaded parking and you can get changed into your bathers in the bathrooms provided. It is a fenced park so no chance of your young ones wandering too far off while you're daydreaming in the sun or reading your latest book. You'll find plenty of picnic benches to choose from, 4 to be exact. If the tables are taken there is plenty of grass to lay your picnic blanket out on.


So off the kids run to either the singular slide, the three in one slide or the huge jungle gym (spaceship or pirate ship depending on the day to my 4 year old) where there are another 4 slides. There are 3 rocker seesaw thingamajigs too, a ladybug, a bee and a truck. If that doesn't take their interest there are still two other sets of jungle gyms to chose from and for those tiny tots there is a set of two baby swings or for the bigger boys and girls there is a separate set of 4 swings.

Now to the best part...the spray park...what can I say...you know how kids love to play in water...so this is for all ages and that includes us mommies and daddies, so bring a towel. The water park is only on from 9:30 to 7 just so you know and obviously just in the summer.


There are lots of large trees at this park, so plenty of shade. There are 2 other park benches for extra rest stops or just to sit a bit closer to your kiddies. There is a RV site across the road, so if you are looking to camp with kids it's a great spot. Also beside the park and the RV site is a huge paved walking trail, great for bike riding or walking the dog.

The park itself is grass with pebbles under each play equipment and the spray park is paved. It is almost kiddy corner to the local library and only 5 minutes away from the community centre which has a huge field and a great bike riding or dog walking path around it. It is also just another short walk if you head north to the Lions Park which has a small playground and a nice clean skateboarding park. But more importantly for a special treat there is a convenient store where you can find slushies and ice cream! Enough said! See you there!

Stanley Park Variety Kids Water Park- Vancouver

For anyone who hasn't been, Stanley Park is fabulous and you could spend weeks there with kids and never get bored. The Variety Water Park, located at Lumberman's Arch is one of the best water playgrounds that I have ever seen and is definitely worth a visit.

There is a blue-painted river that flows through the playground with ankle deep wading water which is especially a hit with toddlers. There are powerful water cannons, water hydrants, fountains that shoot up into the air and a bunch of giant tap-like pipes that shoot water over excited children.



One of the nice things about this water playground is that it is spread out over a decent sized area which means that there is enough room for the kids to run about. There are also two other features there, a ship type structure and a rocky climbing outcrop (fenced in) which has a waterfall tumbling over it. Situated on the edge of the water, I doubt there are many water parks around with such great views (Transfer Beach in Ladysmith could compete!) but if we're getting competitive, this is the first playground that I have seen outside of Ontario Place when i was eight that has an outdoor run-through air dryer. When I win a home makeover I might get one of these installed in my house so that I can dispense with towels completely.


Other facilities include washrooms, parking, picnic tables, shade and seasonal food concessions.

Rey Sargent Park Playground- North Vancouver

I think that the playground in Rey Sargent Park at Lonsdale and 21st must be the smallest playground in the world. I wouldn't be surprised in fact if the rest of it is on the other side of the road and this bit simply dropped off the back of the truck when they were delivering it. In fact, I think that this might actually be the same playground on one of the BC Ferries- perhaps Students stole it for a bet?

Saying that, it's very cute and had my little boy, 'A' not been fast asleep when we drove past, (I forced the car round the block so that I could jump out and take a look) I'm sure that he would have loved it. There are a small series of platforms in the shape of a ship, with some activity wall features and set back slightly is a pudding basin. These are neatly on a woodchip base in a small grassy park with lots of shade and a bench. There are no other facilities at this location, though you could pick one of the hundred coffee shops, restaurants or stores on Lonsdale Ave if you were in need. Small is beautiful as they say, but you might want to travel further afield if you wanted a challenge for bigger kids.

Cates Park Playground- North Vancouver

Cates Park Playground is a bit like a Disneyland of playgrounds. Not only is it flashy and new with as many bells and whistles as you could hope for, but it's plonked down in a lovely park with views, walking trails and beaches. We hadn't been to it before and as we drove slowly up and pulled into one of the plentiful parking spots our boy 'A' summed things up in a serious statement...."I'm going to play [dramatic pause] there".

This playground has too much equipment to accurately describe so forgive the lack of details. There are two play areas - one for the big kids, one for the little kids but frankly everyone was all over everything. The only thing that stopped me from being all over everything too was fear of being frowned upon by the other parents. The little kid side is on it's own woodchip circle surrounded by logs, and it features lots to climb up and down, nice chunky steps and a curved plastic slide. There are things to grab and hang from and there is also a bouncy fish. This side is definitely the quietest.


The big kid side is almost overwhelming, with a tangled mess of things to climb up and down, activity walls, slides (at least one high fast metal and one shorter plastic), climbing walls, rope ladder bridges, metal bridges and children, children, children- hence not being able to show this fantastic playground off in the best photos. There are fun activity walls with things to bash, twiddle, or twist, there is a car-sized seesaw, a pudding basin........what else....what else...it's starting to feel like a game show I grew up with in the UK where the contestant had to name as many things as possible in one minute......swings! There are swings- a toddler, a therapeutic and two big kid swings. And this is all on a woodchip base.


There is parking, washrooms, shade from whatever is beating down on you- sun or rain and there are some frills too- a burger bar nearby and if you time things right in the Summer you could get some free music too.