Presteign Heights Public School

Equipment by Little Tikes.

Surface: wood chips.

If you are an East York parent with any number of kids over age 6, there is a 105% chance that you have given money to one or both of two organizations: East York Gymnastics Club, and East York Soccer Club.

Our visit to the modest playground at Presteign Heights Elementary came as a result of our commitment to the second of those two organizations, the East York Soccer Club. (Although this requires a very loose interpretation of the work “organization”.)

I played in the East York Soccer Club’s house league for a few summers as a kid. It was a glamorous life of Saturday mornings spent running around the bumpy fields of various East York schools and learning Greek swear words from my teammates and their sideline-yelling parents.

My predominant memories from those summers are 1) consistently being the worst player on my team, and 2) my team consistently being the worst in the league. One year, my team’s only goal of the season didn’t come until the playoffs. How did we make the playoffs despite never scoring a goal? Excellent question. Let’s leave that question to the sands of time and instead discuss a more knowable item: the playground at Presteign Heights.

Well, it’s okay.

The Little Tikes climber is one you’ve probably seen around quite a lot, and it makes for some good monkey-barring. The one other element of note are two parallel bars that allow kids to live out their Olympic gymnast dreams. My daughter loves them, and they’re brilliant for their simplicity, and yet this is only the third set I think I’ve ever seen in Toronto. I’m surprised there aren’t more around, as kids seem to love them and they can’t be very expensive; you’d think that the budget-conscious folks at the city would love elements like this.

Way down the other end of the school grounds are a couple of ancient climbers that might very well be as old as the school itself. More interesting as artifacts than as actual pieces of play equipment.

Aside from some basketball nets and the open space, this isn’t one of the city’s more exciting school grounds. There is an entrance to the Taylor Creek trail just down the street where St. Clair Avenue disappears, but other than that, this is a playground you can probably skip.

Unless, of course, your one kid is looking for something to do while your other kid plays their soccer game.