We first went to the playground in 2015 to have a play day with a friend who lived nearby. I surprisingly noticed that it was completely in the shade! What a big plus for the hot summer days!

The playground locates in the Wooster Square area in new haven. It’s right in front of “Little Italy”. It is a neighborhood playground, so parking can be a bit tricky. Just make sure not to park on the side of the street that has zone limits which are only for the residents of that area. Since most people who go to the playground live nearby, so we never had much trouble finding street parking.

The playground itself has sufficient equipment to make it fun. It is fenced-in. On the left side of the playground, it has two baby swings and two regular flat-bottom swings. On the other side, it has a play-set that features a rock-rope climbing wall, a tower-climbing wall, a twisty slide and two smaller slides. It also has a metal bouncy ring that can fit at least 4 kids.

There is more green space in the playground, so kids can run around. The playground is often visited by the residents who are always very friendly.

Across the street, there is a coffee shop called “Fuel”. I have heard people saying good things about it before I ever went in. One day I had to go in, because my kids needed to use the bathroom. So we went in and used the bathroom. After that, when I was trying to pick some food to buy to compensate for the usage of bathroom, the owner of the shop took out two hot-coco and gave them to my kids, for free! He said that he had kids too. That was a wonderful experience.

Almost forgot about this one. The East Rock playground is located at the bottom of East Rock. You can usually easily find street parking along the park on the orange street, and maybe coldspring as well.

The playground is inside of a large park. It is really special to have such a large green area in such a population density region in new haven. The park has lots of super-tall trees. It has areas that can be used for soccer fields. It has a basket field as well.

It has a fenced-in playground, which features a large play-set and a large sandbox. The sandbox has a rocking turtle for kids to ride on, and a car for kids to climb in and “drive”. It also has a little house that you can send sand through the pipes along the wall. There are seating along the whole playground. The sandbox is mostly in the shade.

A bit away from the playground, there are four baby swings. Some more distance away, there are four regular flat-bottom swings. They are the best swings I have ever been on (except maybe the ones in the “rainbow playground” in the Fort Hale park), because they are so tall! I don’t think they are made for kids per se. They are probably meant for teenagers and adults. Although my 3 and 5 yrs are not afraid of the swing. When I push them high up, their go over my height and swing “all the way to the moon”!

The park is very nice and peaceful. It has water fountain and lots of shade. (Even though part of the playground is not in the shade). It has bird feeds, even though squirrels would try to steal the food. Chipmunks are often seen dashing across and into the bushes. It is a popular destination for families live in East Rock. I think it is also the place some community summer camp happens. Some organizations also hold soccer class there.

We saw the playground when our family went on the Thimble Island Cruise at Stony Creek, Branford. It is in a small park in the neighborhood. For parking you can only park along side of the street. Fortunately every time when we went there was no problem parking. The small park has a gazebo, a small lawn (probably size of a kids-soccer field), and a fantastic playground.

The playground themes around a pirate ship! First there is a spinning-dome for holding the flag maybe. Then there is a circle watching tower that has two levels. Kids could hide in the bottom level, or go up on the top and steer the ship. Then there is a large horizontal rope course shaped like a giant ship for kids to climb through. There is another higher tower, which suits for big kids to climb and it leads to a large slide.

The playground literally connects to some house’s backyard. Sometimes we saw cats coming out looking at us. The playground is not under the shade. Oh it has several swings. I guess swings are a must-have for playgrounds, even though they might not fit the theme.

The playground looks completely new and very colorful as we last visited summer of 2016. If you walk up the road from the playground, you also reaches the public beach in Stony Creek, which is super nice as well.

Updates on 201708, they just recently renovated the tennis courts. Now they have 6 brand new tennis courts!

I still first heard of the playground from the Out and About Mom. After we went, another friend of us also mentioned the place, and said it was like a “Disney World”. Ok, that would be an exaggeration. But this is a playground you don’t want to miss!

The playground could be tricky to spot because it could be hiding behind some trees but the flashing light warned me. It has its own parking lot. (Last time we went in 04/2017, it seemed like they were getting rid of the tennis court to put in more parking). The playground is completely fenced-in. And it is quite large.

The playground is divided into two parts (in the same fenced-in area). The first part is closer to the front gate, and it is mostly under the shade from a large tree that is in the middle of the part. It has a cute metal-wire school bus, a large sand box, several rocking animals, two spinning plates, one mom-and-baby swing, three regular swings and one tire-swing. It also has a fun small play-set for smaller kids.

The other part is built on a slightly lower level, that has a large play-set for bigger kids, two spinning rods, and a median-sized rope-climbing pyramid. The large play-set has tree-trunk to climb on, lili-pad obstacle course, ladder, game, tunnel, more climbing towers, very fun.

It is a really large playground and partially under the shade. Sometimes it can be really crowded, such as the spring break week. It has physical bathrooms and water fountains. But I’m not sure whether they only work after memorial day.