A nice little park with perfect shade in the fully-fenced and gated toddler park. We’ve visited in the morning and at 4pm and the tree canopy completely covers all the toys. Across the path however, the big-kid park is in almost full sun and the slides were all too hot to use. For some reason ALL the swings, including the baby swings, are all set suuuuper high. I almost dislocated my shoulder trying to hoist and stuff the twisty little one into the baby swing.
The toddler section doesn’t have a big climber but my little guy was thrilled with Kompan’s giraffe slide that he was able to climb himself and go up and down a total of thirteen times. You’ll also find a stegosaurus spring rider, and a 4-kid balance rider by Kompan. The swings, slide, and ride-ons are all on wood chips (as is the big-kid area), and in the small sand area is a bench/table and new in 2016 is a 3-panel activity wall from Landscape Structures. There’s the mesmerizing Color Splash Panel with a dizzying black and white image on the flip side, the great Gear Panel, and the Image Panel where I attempted to create an intricate image until some little terror came along on the other side. There are nice grassy spots under the trees for a picnic.
The larger climber on the big-kid side has a mountain wall, sky wheels, monkey bars, and a double slide. Fairly tricky for little kids as there are no stairs, but rather high platforms to climb. There are also big-kid swings and a super fun rope climber. In 2016 some railings were installed to block off the high drop offs on the play structure.
I actually like these ground-level panels so much (as do the kids!) that I made a short video. You can see my boys arguing about who gets to spin the wheel – because it’s not like there was another one beside that one of them could have used – and me trying to make an awesome design. It would be great if this part of the playground was also on wood chips as they are more accessible than sand.
p.s. There were a lot of kids so I couldn’t redo all the old photos, so there are a few not-so-great ones still.
Empress Park – Pointe Claire from StrollerMom on Vimeo.
| Feature | |
|---|---|
| Toddler park (2-5) | ✓ |
| Fenced toddler park | ✓ |
| Baby swings | ✓ |
| Big kid park (5-12) | ✓ |
| Big kid swings | ✓ |
| Parking lot | |
| Street parking | ✓ |
| Shade | ✓ |
| Water fountain | |
| Picnic tables | ✓ |
| Benches | ✓ |
| Seasonal Bathrooms | |
| Green space | ✓ |
| Soccer fields | |
| Baseball field | |
| Tennis courts | |
| Basketball | |
| Splash pad | |
| Pool | |
| Reduced mobility swings | |
| Dep nearby |
Thought you might like to know that they took the digger out of the toddler section in favour of a little interactive station. They also changed the safety rails on the big climber to be taller.
Any chance to want another playground/museum adventurer?
Hi Laura, I got your message on my cell and I’m going to go now! Thanks!
Also, I’m going to email you back 🙂