Friday, May 29, 2009

Mabel / Haskel - Mini Park 6/10

Last week on our way home we spotted at a new park a few blocks from our house. It was on the corner of Haskel and Mabel.The park had two play structures, one for older kids with a cool bridge and lots of climbing bars. The other for little tots.There was an activity around every corner. Holly enjoyed playing with the xylophone, when you clanged on each it made cool ringing tones.Of course she also liked looking through to the other side and pressing her face against the cool metal.This was one of the climbing walls for the older kids, Holly had a go at it, but didn't get very high. and then wandered back to the smaller structure.She had fun walking on the bouncy turf, and at the time was still just getting the hang of things.You can see the big kid structure here in the background. Before playing, Holly always likes to completely survey her surroundings.But of course she will always end up at the base of a slide ready to climb up it. With her socks on it was a little too slippery for her to get very far.That of course didn't stop her one bit and with a little help from mommy she eventually made it to the top.One thing that was great about this structure was that it was pretty safe for Holly to play on by herself. The big slide was pretty shallow, and there was this cool second shallow tube slide.There was triangle platforms for her to climb up and down and the walls were covered with distractions, music makers, color tubes, steering wheel.She still sometimes is precarious on the edge of the various platforms, she climbs up ok, but when she isn't paying attention forgets the edge is behind her.She loved looking out of the little port holes and since it was pretty safe Mommy didn't need to stay on the platform with her.So we were able to play peek-a-boo instead. She would look out at Momma and smile and laugh and then run to another hole and look for me there.She had a lot of fun with this game and it provides hours of endless entertainment.ok, maybe not hours, but look at how cute she is looking for me. seeing the world from her little perch.It was also quite tasty to chew on the rim. I think if she had it her way she would lick and chew on very surface she comes across.Eventually she got bored and decided to give the slide a try. This one was fun because she could do it all alone and it was a tube.It wasn't as good as the big slide though, and she spent plenty of time going down that one too.When she was ready to go she walked to the car all by herself which was pretty cool.Slides - 1 - Two awesome slides she can do by herself and bigger ones for later

Swings - 0 - no

Surface - 1 - Bouncy turf

Shade - 1/2 - To be honest I don't remember, but from the pictures there seems to be sunny and shady spots

Climbing - 1/2 - The structure was perfect for climbing, but it was sorta small, so there wasn't a lot of places for her to explore and go to.

Parking - 1 - Easy street parking and technically walking distance

Bathrooms - 0 - none, and too far to count the one at home.

Distance - 1 - Very close

Friends - 0 - I didn't see any other kids, and it isn't in the best neighborhood, so I wouldn't go there at night. I think the kids probably go to the park closer to our house.

Fun - 1- She had a lot of fun, was very independent and there is more to do when she gets bigger.

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=12604


3 comments:

M said...

oh so fun! I <3 the park! Looks like a fab one! We just found a similar concept a little further from our home that was all but deserted probably for the similar reasons but the kids LOVED it. So long as I have the hubby and daylight on my side I'll add it to the rotation! :)

joeld42 said...

What a cute little park! I like the little stone wall around it, makes for good pictures. We'll definitely have to go here for some variety.

These park reports are fun, especially when I get to be part of the "making of" of the report. Some really exciting park reports coming up... I can't wait.

CarolineThomas said...

I really like this park - it's actually the one most like the one we take Sam to most of the time. He is rather more difficult to contain and keep amused I am sure but that's another story. I'm really enjoying the park ratings! Looking forward to seeing if any top your park!