Quai-de-la-Tortue Park

On a “cool parks” online sleuthing mission last week I came across this ELECTRONIC park and thought “that will be a great one for the last day of summer vacation!”
The 7 year old starts grade two tomorrow *SOB*, and since he’s becoming so hard to surprise after all these parks and playgrounds we visit, this one seemed like it would meet his coolness criteria.
Me: “Do you want to go to a park?!?”
“No.”
“Do you want to go to an electronic park??”
“I don’t know what that is, but YES!”

This park, which is part of the larger network of greenspace all along the river, has a splash pad, a big-kid section, and a toddler section.
The big-kid metal climber by Kompan on the rainbow coloured rubber base was installed in 2012, and is one of the first parks in Quebec to have Kompan’s electronic modules from the ICON line of products. (edited: we’ve since found one more at Imagination Park in Côte St-Luc).
They’ve actually put three electronic games here. There’s the Rocky, the Nova, and the Space. The Space was our favourite as one of us would stand at the module and yell out the instructions for the memory game “Butterfly! Tree!” while the other two ran around trying to match the light up buttons. It’s puzzling at first, but read the picture instructions on the post and just have fun trying all the different games. We did the beat-the-clock game and while the lights flash and change colours on the metal climber, you have to race around and climb, duck, and swing to press all the buttons in time. Really, really original and the 7 year old was IMPRESSED! Even the toddler had a ball as he squealed and raced around touching all the low-to-the-ground buttons. 
The Nova has three games that incorporate the spinning wheel, and the Rocky has games that use balance and speed. 
In the video below I also put some images from the playgrounds 🙂 Love that Verdun thought outside of the box and created a really original and unique playground here. 

Just beside the bigger-kid electronic section is a fenced (but not gated) wood chip base toddler play area with more Kompan equipment. There’s a mini giraffe Safari Climber and a stand-alone mini-mini rope Cloud Climber. Both have shapes and knobs to touch and turn. Surrounding the big play structure are stand or sit spinners, a three-toddler (or moms) teeter-totter, and one of our favourite climbers. This climber is good for small kiddos and larger toddlers. There are easy to climb platform/stairs, a small rope climbing walls, things to turn and yell through, metal ladders and slides. Lots to touch and see all over. My little one also loved the ring of boulders surrounding the fenced-in tree.

Outside of the fenced area are the big and baby swings (4 & 2) and these are the only things on sand. 

THEN, there is a super cute and original splash pad (on a rubber base) by Pointe-Claire’s Vortex. The umbrella-themed water features include the Ombrello Spin, the Spin Nº1, and the Ombrello Nº3 and have parts to stand on and spin, jets that come out of the ground, misty sprays and gentle arcs of water. I like the sequencing here as it’s not everything on at full blast all the time. There’s no fencing and it’s pretty close to the bike path which is probably super busy on weekends. They could also use some more benches or picnic tables around the water area as the only tables are just beside the two play areas. And, there’s no place to change or any bathrooms. 
A super fun rubber path stretches from the splash pad to the playgrounds. 

There is no parking lot but we found a spot right on Lasalle Boulevard at the bottom of Rue Godin. 

Verdun – Quai-de-la-Tortue Park and Splash Pad 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

2 Comments

  • PC says:

    Hello
    We were planning a trip to Montreal when will the verdun quai de la tortue park splash pad be open and running (with water) and what are opening and closing times.

    Thank you

  • StrollerMom says:

    Hello!
    It’s REALLY hard to get accurate info from the city. I called the other week and was told it wasn’t on, though a reader was there and it WAS.
    So…it’s best to call the city.
    This is what is posted for opening and closing times:
    Jeux d’eau
    Saison
    • De la fin de mai à la fin d’août :
    – Lundi à vendredi, de 9 h 30 à 21 h
    – Samedi et dimanche, de 12 h à 17 h

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