Playground Review : Bayview Village Park

When planning an adventure around the greater Toronto area we are often on the lookout for great playgrounds. While any playground can be fun and enjoyable, there are definitely some factors that make them more or less fun for both Buzz and myself (Bo doesn't yet care). Being the type of person who plans our outings I usually like to hop on the internet the evening before and check out whats in a given area. I always look for peoples opinions on local playgrounds, I'm almost always disappointed with the amount of info that is out there.  While you can sometimes find info on the parks in general, information on the playgrounds themselves are lacking and so I'm going to attempt to fill the void.

The format of my playground reviews may change a little as we find things that we love or despise about various playgrounds, but I hope that I can at least give a little insight into the condition, amenities, and general awesomeness of playgrounds around the city. I will do my best to include some photos, although they will most likely be from my phone as opposed to to the camera.

First up is our playground of choice for this evening : Bayview Village Park.

Location : On the east side of Bayview Ave, north of Sheppard.

This park is within walking distance to the Bayview stop on the Sheppard Subway Line. If you are driving to the park there is a parking lot which has about 25 spaces.We've only been here a couple times, but both times we were able to get a parking spot without any problems. As this park is surrounded by a residential area I suspect a lot of people walk over.

From a parents point of view I think the best thing about this park is that it has a fence separating it from Bayview Ave. Without the fence it would be unplayable as the playground equipment is located fairly close to the road. The fence runs all along the west side of the park and seems to generally contain the kids.

There are three separate play structures with slides, they seem to be for toddlers, young kids, and older kids as they are three different sizes.  I suspect that they  have been there for a while as they are made of wood, not metal and plastic like is commonly seen in most playgrounds. They are all pretty simple structures, but the kids seem to enjoy them. The surface under the playgrounds are either covered in sand or soft rubber. The sand is not deep enough to play in and is closer to teeny pebbles in some areas.

This park has a splash pad!! The sprinklers are in a concrete pad and the button to turn them on was difficult for the toddlers to activate, but all the kids running around seemed to the enjoy the water. The sprinklers are pretty basic, the only structure on the splash pad is a water tower, no water spouting animals or cat tails here. We were here around dinnertime and the splash pad was mostly shaded which was nice. The splash pad seems to be wheelchair accessible, however most of the playground is not all that wheelchair friendly.

Unfortunately the age of this playground is starting to show, there is some minor graffiti on some things, the benches could use a coat of paint, and the water fountain was leaking terribly. Despite the age and basic play areas this park has a lot going for it. The fence allows parents with more then one kid to watch them comfortably. There are plenty of shady or sunny places for a picnic, playing with a ball, or general running around. There are a decent amount of places to sit and even washrooms (albeit port-a-johns not large enough to fit a stroller).  This is a park that we will probably return to as it is near some shops that we frequent. I think that when it was first built the park would have been great, shiny and new is always better than tired and old. It could use some updating and a little maintenance, although I didn't see any trash around, the play areas seemed dusty and a little dirty.

Above all else this park is pretty average, it has some really good things going for it, but it is also fairly boring looking. Sometimes boring is great for kids, it develops their imaginations, however sometimes its just plain boring. This park leans a little more towards just plain boring.

This park has:

-3 play structures with slides.

-2 other structures with monkey bars and rings to swing from.

-5 picnic benches and 4 park benches within the playground area. More benches can be found on the outskirts of the big fields.

-Large open field

-Tennis courts

-Baseball diamond

-2 port-a-johns (not wheelchair accessible)

-concrete splash pad

-shaded grass area

-fence (not gated)

-parking lot

-2 child swings

-1 toddler swing

-1 accessible swing with asphalt leading up to it.

-1 drinking fountain (not working well when we were there).

 Score : 4/10

Sunny Autumn Day

What a beautiful autumn day! The temperature warmed up a little, the sun came out, and we spent some time outside today. There have been a lot of grey skies and rainy days lately so the sunshine was such a wonderful treat. It seemed as though everyone was out taking in the beautiful weather before the very cold weather sets in.

Buzz took a ride on his bike in the park. He's getting very good at it and glides along at quite a speed. He is very fond of riding down hills. He only took one tumble today but he didn't seem at all bothered by it.

After the park we went to the garden to pull a few weeds, plant some bulbs for next year (tulips for the spring), and grab a couple carrots. Buzz pulled up a wonderful purple carrot, it tasted great. I love the way they look, the purple colour is so deep and rich and the centers are bright orange. If you get the chance, pick up some purple carrots, they have them at some grocery stores although they are more common at farmer's markets. These would be so great for kids, they taste very much like orange carrots but the colour makes them fun and interesting.

While at the garden we took in a little of the animal life that resides in the woods that the garden backs onto. A coyote was meandering around the garden plots looking for food, he was a little thin and young looking, hopefully he finds a big groundhog for a good meal. He was skittish enough which was good, he would come close but run off with any  noise. We were sure to keep Buzz close although it was very neat for him to see the coyote. Buzz was very good at pointing the coyote out from across the garden. If you'll remember this isn't the first time we've seen a coyote in Toronto, we saw one earlier this summer just off the highway. 

We've still got a few more things to clean up at the garden, some plants to pull up and some general tidying around the garden so that there is less work to do come spring. We definitely don't want to have as much work to do next spring as we did this spring past.