Accidental playground finds are the best! The plan was to go to the Groton Public Library, but as we pull in to the parking lot I see a playground that looks perfect for my second playground post. I gave the boys the choice and while those kids love libraries and books, the playground won! This playground was pretty fantastic. Something for everyone without being too big. Plenty of kids, but not too crowded. Huge fields if your kid happens to just want to run in circles. All next to a library! Win, win, win.
This was where we spent most of our time:
This was a separate, smaller, geared-to-2-to-5-year-olds structure. Perfect for us because my toddler doesn’t believe he can’t do everything his brother can do (which he’s right about most of the time) and his brother falls right smack dab in the middle of that range.
It was a pretty basic setup. Stairs, ladder, or “stepping stone” pieces all leading from different sides to the spiral slide. My toddler (I need to come up with code names for these kids) only had trouble in two areas: 1) getting off the slide- it was a good foot and a half or so off the ground at the bottom 2) climbing the ladder. The rungs were a good distance apart and he could just manage. He could manage the first two by himself but needed a boost for the final push to the platform. My 3 yr old needed no help or spotting for any part of it.
Other cool stuff:
Who doesn’t love a tire swing?! (even if it’s a fake plastic tire.) Eventually my older son did come over to join and then another boy saw us and asked if he could join too. Sadly it’s hard to make out my second picture but it’s very obstacle-course-like. There’s a rope bridge, followed by dangling “stepping stone” pieces, followed by a shaky balance beam. I was shocked when my 3 year old tackled the whole trio. He usually hates not having solid footing. I was so impressed! The one thing that I wanted to include that I didn’t get a chance to get a picture of was the sandbox area. Neither of my kids played in it and I’m finding it’s a bit awkward to go take pictures of other people’s children playing. Imagine that. However, the sandbox is what makes the playground good for all ages. If your child can sit, then they can be plopped down to play with the trucks, shovels, diggers, etc. It’s shaded and you can (mostly) comfortably sit on the edge.
Extra stuff not mentioned: The usual set of swings. Two infant, 2 or 3 regular, and one handicap accessible. I mentioned the large fields at the beginning of my post. I imagine they are used by teams at certain times, but you’re probably safe during school hours. There is also a large gazebo that, while we were there, some high schoolers were sitting in doing homework. My 3 yr old decided to plop down next to one of them to say hi and take a glance at some advanced geometry 🙂
Summary
Age Range: All ages- even the broody teenagers can go sit in the gazebo or even in the middle of the field by themselves 🙂
Seating: Several benches surrounding the perimeter, though I did not see any picnic tables so a regular old picnic on the grass would be your best bet if wanting more than a few finger snacks.
Crowd: Just right. We went at 3:00, which is right after school. There were lots of kids there but it never felt crowded.
Fenced In: Partially, but not really. However, it’s surrounded mostly by fields, so not a worry of a main street.
Bathroom: One decent sized porta-potty in the parking lot and the library is just a short walk down the driveway if they can hold it that long 🙂
Shade: Some, but not much. The sandbox is shaded. None of the main playground is. A couple of the benches are in shade at different times of day.
Visibility: For the most part you can see every part of the playground no matter where you are with just a few blind spots.
Overall: A really great playground. We will definitely be visiting again anytime I don’t feel like taking a risk on a new one.
Play MA 