Equipment by Earthscape, Kompan
Surfaces: rubber, wood chips
The playground at Humbertown Park is slightly unusual in that it was jointly funded by the City of Toronto and Kingsway College School, an independent school that sits just across the street from the park. So it’s kind of a school playground, but pretty much a public playground. I assume that when school is in session, KCS brings their students across the street, and probably uses the large sports field and track that take up most of the park’s green space.
But anyway, that was all moot on our two recent visits, since Toronto students were “learning” remotely at the time.
Our first visit was on a mid-April morning after a surprise snowfall the night before. The unseasonable weather meant that most people stayed home, grumbling and pretending that this doesn't happen every year in Toronto. So we had the place all to ourselves.
The equipment looked downright beautiful in its un-touched blanket of snow; like most everything Earthscape does, the log-pile climbers, wooden towers, and web-like ropes are as impressive to look at as they are fun to play on. The structures provide a good challenge even for older kids, but the little ones haven’t been forgotten: a hilly area features gentler slides and climbing elements closer to the ground.
On our second visit, my kids gravitated to the only piece of equipment not made by Earthscape, a spinning donut-type thing by Kompan that they call (in an endearing bit of hyperbole) the “supernova”. My kids begged me to spin them on it until I was seriously worried that I would be too dizzy to drive home.
As awesome as the equipment is, I couldn’t really see us staying here for all that long. With nothing much in the immediate area but the mammoth mock-Tudor houses of the Kingsway, there isn’t the intriguing possibility of a nearby ravine, or a main street to explore. But it was worth venturing out to the wilds of Etobicoke to check another Earthscape playground off the list.