The Whole World Is Our Playground: Christie Pitts Playground

The summer continues to be a scorcher, and I have to be honest, I'm one of those people who loves this kind of heat.  Especially when I can take some time with Molly and Jack to explore a local playground.  And at the end of the day we have air conditioning, time our outings for minimal heat exhaustion, and then there's always ice cream!

Approaching the park

My park review disclaimer: If you don't live in the area I hope you enjoy the pics and can use some of the ideas to inspire and explore in your own city. If you have any recommendations for great playgrounds (or new criteria I haven't thought of) please post a comment on this post or email me at multiplemomstrosity @ gmail.com .

Park Name:

Christie Pitts

Christie and Bloor

Parking:

There is cheap pay parking most of the week on Bloor, or it's also a very short walk from Christie Subway Station.

Theme of Park:

Classic playground sunken in the park, with ample green space for non-playground activities. 

Ground Coverage:

The playground is surrounded by grass and has sand around the majority of the equipment, with some of the newer equipment having wood chip ground coverage.

Variety of Equipment for different ages:

This playground is great for kids of all ages with a variety of climbers, swings and slides.  The playground also has an old school spinner which the kids played on for a little while.  From July to September there is a wading pool with lifeguards for those who really want to get wet.  Older kids can enjoy the "maze" painted into the floor of the wading pool and see if they can "find" their way out.

Best Parts of the Park:

There is some great shade cover here, particularly on hotter days.  A rare gem is how this park also has a clean (for a public washroom) available for day use.  Molly and Jack fell in love with the tall towered spider webbed climber here and spent a lot of time here.  When Jack climbed too high for his own comfort level an older (9ish year old) boy helped direct him down, which really helped build his confidence.  Kids playing here were happy to include each other, which was nice.

Climbing the green web at Christie Pitts 

Downfalls:

This park is busy and downtown.  We saw a toddler get trampled by someone playing Pokemon in the park and not paying attention to his surroundings, and there was some broken glass around the playground we needed to avoid.

Overall Rating:

I would rate this playground a 4 out of 5.  The kids had so much fun and were thrilled when I told them that we'd be stopping at the Baskin Robbins right beside Christie Station on the way home.  An overall win with both kids playing really, really well, particularly when I was one parent watching two minions.  We'd go back again.

Splashing around Christie Pitts

To find 10 more free splash pads around the city to beat the heat click here

To read my review of High Park's new splash pad click here.


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The Cheap Seats

Have you often wondered if your kids are ready for "the big leagues" yet?  Sporting events can be expensive for little ones when you factor in travel costs, ticket costs, snacks and patience.  We take our kids out to a fair number of sporting events in attempt to help them acclimatize to regular human society, but there have been games and events where we've spent more time troubleshooting than we have actually watching the intended event/sporting activity.

This year Chris will be taking the minions to one baseball game each for a special game with their grandma and grandpa.  I think he's hoping the three to four adult to one child ratio will work in his favour.  

That being said, if you think you might be ready to take your kids to a local sporting event, why not give the minor leagues a try.  You can often get cheaper (or even better, free) entrance, which takes the pressure off when it comes to value add and actually seeing the game.  It also supports local teams who would be appreciative of a few extra bums in the seats watching them (or trying to watch them) play.

A couple of weekends ago we went out to Christie Pitts to check out the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball game (admission was free) to see how the minions would fare.

Molly laying on the grass 

Before we went to check out the game we let the kids wear off a bit of energy at the playground, just a few hundred metres away from the ball game.  Next we found some friends and sat on the hill to enjoy some of the game.  Here's the thing.  A big giant hill is a great place to watch a baseball game, it's also a big novelty to little ones who ran, roll and repeatedly jumped in front of the Rogers TV cameraman yelling "CHEESE" loudly.  It's also a great place to cuddle, make grass castles, eat goldfish crackers and giant ice cream cones.  

Overall it was a lot of work, but the kids did well and had a blast while we caught small snippets of the game.  

There is a bathroom at Christie Pitts Park that is close to the playground if you need it.  I feel compelled to publicly shame the drunk woman who thought it was appropriate to cut in line ahead of three toddlers/preschoolers because it was a "pee emergency".  Thankfully my three and a half year old has better bladder control than you.  

Bonus points added to the fact that there is a playground, select shady spots to watch the game, right off of the subway (Christie Station) or if you choose to drive cheap metered parking.  

To view the Toronto Maple Leafs IBL home and away schedule click here.

To read about our MLB experiences and what that has to do with Ashton Kutcher click here.

To read about surviving a sporting event with pre-schoolers click here.

To read my tips on sporting events with infants click here.

To get access to the newest posts from Multiple Momstrosity and more on Facebook click here and follow today!