Philippe-Laheurte Park (part 2)

150 Canada Playground Badge (1)

This park is so big there that it can fit TWO amazing playgrounds. AND it took two visits to see the whole thing (Check out part 1 with the splash pad HERE)
We had visited the playground that is just off of Cavendish a day earlier, and noticed this parks while wandering around afterwards. Being too close to nap time (Yeah for naps!), I looked it up when we got home and saw that it was still Philippe-Laheurte Park!
You would expect maybe a small playground, or one less awesome, but nope, it rocked. 
So we all came back the very next day and discovered some original and super challenging, and super cute(!) play structures!

It’s divided into a big kid, REALLY difficult section, and a toddler area. They’re separated by a huge open-sided building that would be good for small get-togethers or as shelter from the sun as there is NO shade on the play areas. 

We’ve never seen ANY of this particular equipment before (by German, French, Canadian, and American manufacturers) and we were amazed and excited. We stopped first in the big section and all the boys reclined for a .3 second “nap” in the stylized leaf chairs, climbed the Rotating Disk from Montreal’s own Elephant Play, spun on Xccent Play’s F4 stand-up spinners, tried and failed at the hold-on-with-your-hands and fly contraption, and then the two big boys (7 and 41 respectively), tried out the insanely difficult rope ladder/rope/metal slide combo from Berliner. I did not. 
You’ve got to scale the rope ladder (easy enough), then grab onto the single rope with teensy-tiny footpegs and climb it to the rope platform and then you get to the slide. From the same platform you can access the bridge to the big spiderweb which has a real swinging hammock! 
There is also another rope structure that is closer to the ground. 
Some of this area is on wood chips, and some is on grass (including the big-kid swings) with Firesmart protective surfacing.

Then we ran across the brick walkway under the super impressive gazebo building to see the toddler area. 
The boys darted for the Jeep to grab the steering wheel, but there were two, AND a gear “shifter”. We called it a jeep but it’s actually “Le Pick-Up“. One boy drove to Vermont, while the other one drove on the right-hand side, so we’re thinking….Australia.
They could have stayed in the car all day, but they also checked out the Rock Pile Climber, the various ride-ons, the little toddler table and benches, the world globe, and the toddler climber by Miracle Recreation.
The climber is good, but is lacking stairs. However, there are ladders, an easy-ish to scale wall with footholds, a bumpy slide, and stairs from the platform up to the twirly slide. 
There are baby swings and a drinking fountain nearby.
Everything is on sand, no fencing (for the whole park actually) and there’s NO shade except for the giant gazebo. 

Nearby is an older building with bathrooms, but it was locked when we were there on a Sunday around 10am and it had no posted hours. (We’ve actually never seen it open.)

Walk down the little path to the west and there’s a beautiful dog run with benches and picnic tables.

All in all, a great park that would be fantastic for older kids because of the mega slide and its difficulty factor, and a great toddler park because of all the unique play equipment. It’s a win for everyone!

p.s. I often get asked for park suggestions that would be good for hosting birthday parties. This one would be GREAT for kids of all ages because of its amazingly HUGE covered structure with a ton of picnic tables, the fields to play in, and of course the impressive playgrounds. Only downfall is the lack of a reliable bathroom. 

NEW in 2017: A sledding hill has been added just east of the playground. There are three different slope levels (from beginner to “expert”), you can read about it HERE

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

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