In Case You Want to Get Your NYC Playground Groove On This Spring...

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THINKING OUTSIDE THE SANDBOX

The 13 Best New York City Playgrounds

By Jennifer Lehner

Photo credit: Frank Oudeman 2010

There are close to 1,000 playgrounds throughout the city! If you're in the mood to go beyond your neighborhood swing set, here's a list of 13 out-of-the-box playscapes worth traveling to throughout the five boroughs.

BRONX

COOLEST SOUNDS
Mullaly South Playground | Highbridge

Located near Yankee Stadium, this fun spot lets mini musicians delight in sound exploration by slapping hollow, open-ended metal pipes, talking through telephone tubes and playing a xylophone with their feet.

BROOKLYN

BIGGEST WOW FACTOR
Brooklyn Bridge Park | Pier 6

Boasting four separate play areas totaling 1.6 acres (Water Lab, Sandbox Village, Slide Mountain and Swing Valley), spectacular views of lower Manhattan and the New York Harbor, three sand volleyball courts and an outdoor food section dishing out Bark Hot Dogs and Blue Marble Ice Cream—this playground is a destination in and of itself.

STRAIGHT OUT OF A BOOK
Imagination Playground | Prospect Park

Paying homage to children's literature, this storytelling playspace sports an enormous bronze dragon which doubles as a water feature. Nearby, another set of statues depicts beloved characters of children's author Ezra Jack Keats. During the summer, families flock here for storytime. 

MANHATTAN

BEST WATER FEATURES
Chelsea Waterside Park | Hudson River Park

Pack up the bathing suits and towels because there's water, water everywhere at this Danish-designed wonderland. Kids will have a ball splashing in the wading area, getting drenched by the wall of faucets and running through the funky, blue fountains while parents and caregivers can sit in cool comfort beneath the shade umbrellas.

MAKES YOU WANT TO BE A KID AGAIN
Imagination Playground | Burling Slip | South Street Seaport (pictured left)

David Rockwell's brainchild invites children in for unstructured play using assorted, loose parts like burlap bags, buckets, shovels, brooms, carts and fabrics. Kids can reenact elaborate pirate fantasies by scrambling up ropes, swinging in hammocks and swabbing the decks of their imaginary ship using miniature push brooms. 

BEST FOR YOUNGER KIDS
Union Square Playground | Union Square (main picture)

Although there's plenty to draw the older kids, this playground caters to its littlest patrons with a section devoted solely to toddlers. Lined with wooden benches for parents and caregivers—and carpeted with checkerboard rubber tiles to cushion falls—this tot lot features age-appropriate climbing equipment, a sandbox and water fountain. 

MOST SPECTACULAR SLIDE
Billy Johnson Playground | Central Park

There are slides and then there are SLIDES! The 45-foot-long granite beauty at this playground—constructed primarily from natural materials—is known to true slide aficionados as the fastest one in the entire city. Some kids even bring their own cardboard to increase speed on the way down. 

BEST SHADE
Hippo Playground | Riverside Park

A favorite among Upper West Side families—this good, old-fashioned hub is a shady haven even on the hottest days. The playground's stars are its namesake hippo statues, which can be sat on, climbed in and scrambled over and even spray water in the warmer months. A canopy of mature, honey locust trees provides ample shade for the entire space.

THE HIDDEN GEM
Teardrop Park | Battery Park City

Tucked away between the tall residential buildings of Downtown, this urban oasis offers children both a place for excitement and exploration, as well as quiet contemplation. Its main event is a truly awesome, two-story, joy ride of a slide. There are also plenty of boulders for rock-hopping, a water play area and shady benches for midday reading.

WHERE LIFE IMITATES ART
Ancient Playground | Central Park

This playground mixes standard issue equipment with climbing pyramids, an obelisk and a sundial mirroring the real ones right next door in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian art collection. It's a mecca for older children once school lets out for the day.

QUEENS

MOST EDUCATIONAL
Science Playground | New York Hall of Science | Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (pictured left)

It's more than just letting loose at this 60,000-square-foot fun zone. Through more than two dozen hands-on elements like slides, seesaws, speaking tubes, a giant spider web and sand pits—kids soak up the scientific principles of motion, balance, sound and sight, as well as the elements of sun, wind and water.

FOR ALL ABILITIES
Playground For All Children | Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

The first of its kind in the country, this playground was created expressly for children with physical disabilities but, like its name implies, will appeal to all children. Special features include a boat-glider swing for the wheelchair-bound, a jungle gym accessible by ramp, stair-free paths, and swings and slides set at lower levels.

STATEN ISLAND

EXCEPTION TO THE RULE
Connie Gretz's Secret Garden | Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden

Inspired by Francis Hodgson Burnett's 1911 children's classic The Secret Garden, this charming space features a turreted castle and a hedge maze leading to its very own secret, brick-walled garden of dogwoods, roses, and other blooming greens. Though not your typical playground, it's an imaginative hotspot for the curious nonetheless.

Battle of the Playgrounds: Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 6 Playground and Imagination Playground at South Street Seaport

In Slide Mountain at Brooklyn Bridge Park's Playground at Pier 6

In this corner, we’ve got Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6 Playground (I’m too hot and tired right now to come up with a snappy acronym for it), a brand spanking new, 1.6-acre destination playground that opened in June amidst much fanfare. The playground features four separate play areas: 1) Water Lab, with water wheels, big rocks for climbing, sprinklers, geysers shooting water sky-high, a moat, and a dock from which kids can jump into an ice-cold wading pool; 2) the 6,000-square foot Sandbox Village; 3) Slide Mountain, boasting wicked fun slides and chutes, a giant silver climbing sphere, and bleacher seating for parents to sit and watch their kids without hovering constructed out of salvaged wood from a Brooklyn warehouse, and; 4) Swing Valley, with 21 swings of all ilks. The playground sits right on the water and offers up spectacular views of lower Manhattan and the New York Harbor. A final perk is that (on the weekday we were there anyway) there is free and plentiful street parking.

Cooling off in the Water Lab

One of the slides in Slide Village

There is, however, some trouble in this playground paradise--most notably that there is no shade to speak of—at least during the morning and early lunchtime hours when we visited. If we go again, I may try for a late afternoon outing in the hopes that the park will be afforded some shade then. Whenever you choose to go, be sure to bring bathing suits, water shoes, towels, and plenty of water and sunscreen.

Like shade sources, food is also scarce. We were grateful for the lunch we had packed, because outside of Uncle Louie G’s Homemade Gourmet Italian Ices and Ice Cream truck, there was not a nearby concession cart in sight. It’s kind of novel that the playground has four clearly definite play spaces, but that also poses a potential quandary for a parent with multiple children in tow who want to try different things. I was immensely relieved that I had left 15-month old Jack home with our sitter as the water area, where Charlie and Vivi understandably wanted to spend most of their time, would have been posed a challenge for a young toddler.

Helllloooooooooo in there: The listening forest at Imagination Playground

In the other corner is Imagination Playground at South Street Seaport, which opened at the end of July and whose attractions include a stroller-accessible ramp, sandpit, tube slide, aquatheater with cascading water, rope climbing structure, masts and pulleys, and a listening forest. Taking its inspiration from the historic Burling Slip where it is located, the playground also has all sorts of random, loose parts like burlap bags, buckets, shovels, brooms, carts, and fabrics meant to be incorporated into the children’s play. Pirates still reign supreme in our household these days, so there could not have been a playground better-suited as a backdrop to Charlie and Vivi’s (oops, I mean Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Turner’s) elaborately reenacted “Pirates of the Caribbean” scenarios. They especially enjoyed scrambling up the ropes, swinging in the hammocks, and swabbing the decks of their imaginary ship with miniature push brooms.

Yo ho ho and a carton of chocolate milk!

I be tired and want t' go t' bunk! (Pirate speak for "I need a nap!")

We visited on an overcast day and it was quite pleasant temperature-wise, but had it been sunnier, I think we would have suffered from the dearth of shade. There were some canvas umbrellas and a walkway under which there was some shade to be had, but Upper Westsider that I am, I think I’m just spoiled by all of the old shade trees gracing the playgrounds of Central and Riverside Parks. South Street Seaport offers a myriad of dining options and we picked Red, a decent Mexican place with an expansive outdoor patio.

So which playground did I like better? Although both are certainly worth a look, I cast my vote for Imagination Playground and it has more return appeal for me because: A) it’s easy to get to; B) it’s conveniently located near South Street Seaport, so there are lots of places to eat and lots of other things to do if you tire of the playground (after lunch, we managed to squeeze in some back-to-school shopping at a nearby Gap and get temporary tattoos, although we ran out of time before we could board some of the historic ships docked at the Seaport); 3) there is something for everyone, from toddlers to older children, a big consideration for me with three of different ages, interests, and abilities.

Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6 Playground, Atlantic Avenue and Furman Street, Cobble Hill, New York 07652-5349, (718) 222-9939, http://www.brooklynbridgeparknyc.org/the-park/pier-6-open; Free and open to the public.

Imagination Playground at South Street Seaport, John Street between Front and South Streets at Burling Slip, New York, New York; http://imaginationplayground.org/parks/; Hours: 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM daily (summer); 2:30 PM to 7:00 PM daily (school year); Free and open to the public.

Where to Eat

Uncle Louie G’s Homemade Gourmet Italian Ices and Ice Cream truck, http://www.unclelouiegee.com/.

Red, 19 Fulton Street (@ Front Street), New York, New York; (212) 571-5900; www.redrestaurantnyc.com.