Equipment by Henderson / Little Tikes / Dynamo
Surfaces: wood chips, sand, concrete, grass
Sitting in a nest of high-rise apartment buildings in the heart of Thorncliffe Park, this is an absolute gold mine if your kid is a playground fanatic.
If you include the playgrounds belonging to Thorncliffe Park Public School, there are four separate playgrounds all clumped together here. The photo above was actually taken in one of the school playgrounds, but if you zoom in and scroll across you can spot all four distinct climbing structures, and the splash pad. It was hard to know where to stand to try and get a panorama of them all.
None of the equipment is particularly memorable; it's all stuff you've seen before (well, except for the "Beehive" added in 2022). But the sheer volume makes it worth the trip – assuming you go on the weekend or in the summer, when the school’s equipment is fair game. I don't think there's a greater concentration of playground equipment anywhere in the city.
The neighbourhood really takes full advantage of this park. I remember biking through on Canada Day one time…the place was packed with barbecues and music and various food smells, and the atmosphere was one of a tight community enjoying what amounts to a shared backyard. In a community of apartments, people really know how to use their public spaces.