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!

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!

Michael Park- North Vancouver

Where 11th Street East and Drayton Street Meet in North Vancouver there is a lovely little park with a top-notch playground. Michael Park is a small woody triangle with easy street parking around and plenty of shade for hot days. Our boy 'A' was overjoyed to see that it was completely empty (doesn't like 'people' at the moment) and after he'd finished screaming because he saw an ant, he got distracted by the playground and ran off the test out the equipment.

There are two swing sets -on on each side of the playground each with a big kid and toddler swing. There is one main climbing structure which features climbing platform steps, a lower curved plastic slide, a higher tower with a straight bumpy slide. For a small playground like this there are a good selection of things to climb up and to hang off and a couple of really nice activity features walls, such as a climb, reach jump, measuring chart. There are also a couple of bouncy things and a great bouncy seesaw.

All of this is on a woodchip base and because it's reasonably new it's all in great condition. Apart from good picnic tables, this park is too small to have the frilly facilities such as a washroom, but it's a great stop off for a good play with lots of shade.

Lord Roberts School Playground- West End- Vancouver

Lord Roberts is a big school right in the heart of Vancouver's vibrant West-End and it's got an awesome playground. Because it's a school, it's only available to the public outside of school hours and there are no public facilities. However, if you want somewhere where kids of all ages can have a really good play, this is it!

There is so much to describe here: four main structures as well as big kid swings, a seesaw, and lots of picnic tables all on a woodchip base. The first of the climbing structures is a wooden older one with a metal slide and not much other than that. The next is an incredible sprawling mass of climbing options, with things to hang from, pedestals to stepping stone across, hanging pedestals to wobble across, rope bridges, platforms, a few activity flairs and a zip rail. There are also some bicycle-like bars that one can pedal on if their balance is good- which mine is apparently not. Sigh.

The next structure in this main big kid area is an exciting looking mess of curly slides that almost made our preschooler 'A' swoon, until he realized just how high they were and he suddenly developed an interest in the woodchips on the ground. This structure features a spiral climbing ladder, hooped ladders, a climbing wall and three fantastic static-inducing plastic slides, two curved and one curly.

The final structure seems aimed at the smaller kids and has lots of climbing options including funky 'block steps' hanging pedestals, various heights of platforms and two plastic slides- a single bumpy and a double bumpy. There are grassy areas and some shade and even though this playground can't offer a ton of facilities, it's a great play.