Devotion School Playground

Since school is now over, I figured I’d start including school playgrounds. These tend to be very good, though generally best avoided like the plague between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m on schooldays. They also usually don’t have sprinklers, which can be a plus or a minus, depending on your plans.

First up, Devotion School Playground, which is one of my favorite. First of all, it’s conveniently located near a number of useful places (Magic Beans, JP Licks, Trader Joes, the Butcherie, etc.) Second of all, it is the playground that never ends.

First there’s a section with swings (too few swings is this playground’s main downside), sandbox, slide, a few climbing structures; then an asphalt space with some hopscotch squares; then a more extensive set of climbing structures; then down some stairs to another asphalt section (this one with four-square); another climbing structure; some tire swings; a huge asphalt space with basketball courts; and, finally, the school field. You can’t see one end of the playground from the other, so it’s a bit challenging if you have multiple kids who all want to do their own thing, but if you have only one (or if you can get them to stick together), this is a playground where kids can last for hours.

Emerson Park

This week's playground was in Emerson Park, where we have been before for Vanessa Trien concerts, but not just to play. The playground itself is cute and smallish, geared for younger kids, with a ship-shaped play-structure in a sandbox, some other climbing things, and some swings. There's also a sprinkler on the other side of the park, as well as a track that runs all the way around a large field.

 

Minot Rose Garden

The Minot Rose Garden playground! One of the best in Brookline. It’s a whole city block, including a gated-off dog park,* three levels of climbing apparatuses, a sprinkler, a sand box, and a large area of grass and walkways next to the rose garden. People often leave slightly damaged or outgrown toys there for playground use, so the sandbox always has toys in it and there are lots of little walkers, tricycles, etc. The only downside is that it can get extremely (EXTREMELY) crowded in the afternoons. But in the mornings it’s close to perfect.

* Apparently not officially a dog park, but I think most people don't know that.

Summit Park

Today's playground: Summit Park (which apparently is technically called Corey Hill Park, who knew?) Yes, I thought the tail-end of a heat wave was a great day to make that climb. Nice little climbing structure, most appropriate for toddlers, as a friend had already told me. Though oddly, only big-kid swings. Across the street is a lawn with the views of Boston. Practically deserted at 10 a.m. on a Sunday, which is not surprising given the effort it takes to get there.

[note, correction from a friend: There are baby swings too, a small slide and a sand box just past the climbing structure.]

Schick Park

And Monday's playground was Schick Park, a really cool playground with a separate little kids section (basically a playground in a sandbox). It's at the summit of a hill and kind of hard to get to... if you don't turn on the right street, you might end up walking in circles around it for 40 minutes trying to figure out where exactly it is and how to get there. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.

(Update: The simplest way to get there, if you're walking from Beacon Street: Go up Wintrhop Road, then turn right on Addington Road. Uphill all the way!)

Lawton Playground

For Sunday's playground visit, I sought out a smallish, interesting, quiet playground where I could easily avoid people and wander around  talking to myself (FOR WORK I TELL YOU). LawtonPlayground it was. My kids really love this one, though I do wish they had waited until it was above 60 degrees to turn on the sprinklers.

UPDATE: I went here recently during the heat wave, and it's a great playground for hot days - there is shade in abundance and it seems to catch some breeze. It was relatively comfortable when the temperature was in the mid-90s.
 

Boylston Street Playground

Today's playground: Boylston StreetPlayground. Cute but really tiny - the "playground" part is pretty much what you see here, plus swings. It was perfect for today, since my kids really wanted to spend more time at the Juniper Street playground anyhow. Also, the T goes right by it, which was the highlight of the visit for some!