CNY playgrounds — and one indoor option
As a professional playground reviewer (ha!), it's hard for me to turn off that work mode. Here's a roundup of the playgrounds we hit in Syracuse area, good and bad:
The Wegmans playground at Onondaga Lake Park is the crown jewel of Central New York playgrounds. This place has it all. The playground is designed to be accessible; there is a rubber ground surface and the play structure tends to be long rather than tall. Very, very helpful if you have kids who need parental help.
There are two large play structures, and they keep adding features to the park. Plus there's all of Onondaga Lake Park to enjoy. Rent a quadricycle to ride along the paved paths, or take the free tram for a 45-minute tour (Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to noon). The nearby Salt Museum is open and free on weekends.
An entire row of swings! Regular belt swings, toddler swings, adaptive swings and this cool two-seater. You'll never run out of swings here.
We found out about this amazing 3-story tube slide from Eliana's List, a directory of CNY playgrounds. It's behind the JCC in DeWitt!
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Shove Park in Camillus as not one, but three play structures, and its own babbling brook.
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A Ninja warrior style playground at Burnet Park. We were there for a just a few minutes when I grabbed the kids and ran for the car -- huge sudden storm. In the car with rain pounding the windows, I watched in disbelief as another car pulled up, four kids piled out and played on that obstacle course in a heavy downpour. True Ninja warriors!
Our resident playground at Mott Road Elementary. It's strangely located on the far side of a big field. By the time kindergarteners get over there and back, that's about all the recess time they have.
Ryder Park in DeWitt was the only one that disappointed. SO much goose poop everywhere, and you hear the roar of 481. I was excited to see signs for a butterfly house, but it turned out to be a patch of wildflowers, no actual butterflies spotted.
When a sudden downpour hits, you need some good indoor options. Joseph loved the climbing gym at the MOST, and also this indoor trampoline park on Erie Blvd. There was a 6-year-old next to us who was jumping up and doing backflips in the air like it was nothing! On top of admission, you have to buy their socks, which was a good investment because SkyZone is seriously fun. Kids literally bouncing off the walls.
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