Therapy Thursday: Montclair Park - 7.5/10

A few weeks ago Sally suggested that we meet in the afternoon at a park for therapy. She recommended a great little park called Montclair park in Oakland.The park had two play structures one for big kids, and one for tots, plus a little lake with Ducks, and lots of grassy areas and pathways and other mini structures to explore.On the particular day we went, we ended up showing up a little early, I figured I would head to the park as soon as Holly woke from her nap, and the park is a few blocks away from where Chloe takes Music Classes.So by chance we ran into Chloe and Katherine. The girls had a wonderful time playing, it was so cool seeing them interact with each other in a new environment.Chloe was so sweet, she would follow Holly around and really started to climb and explore while chasing after her. The baby structure had a really cool tunnel going from one side to a tunnel slide and the girls liked playing peek-a-boo between them.Nowadays Holly is all about the climbing. I was a little worried about this structure because there was no way I could follow her to the other side, I couldn't very well climb over the tube or through it.Luckily though on the other side there were no openings except a slide but Holly didn't know how to get into the slide because there was a little step up to sit into it.Later the girls enjoyed playing in the sand. Luckily there were a lot of buckets and shovels left behind by other kids so Holly was more then happy to jump in and start playing with them.Holly likes to carry the bucket around like a little purse. She will take fist fulls of sand and try to fill it up, trust me, this is slow going, but she has fun.That little house in the background was one of the area's where she got herself into trouble. She tried to climb onto the bench seat inside but then would sort of fall or slip down and end up under the table which wasn't the safest place to be and she kept hitting her head. So I tried to keep her away from there.She played really well with Chloe and was happy to share her found toys. Later when Sally came she worked with her on walking and running in the sand, and then helped her with climbing into the tunnel slide. Sally was able to squeeze through the tunnel and at first sat Holly on the slide, just so she could go down it and get used to it.Once she did it a few times She sort of got the hang of how to climb up with one leg and then bring it around into a sitting position while balancing herself and not sliding down until she was ready, then she would push forward and slide with both fear and glee. She would have a hint of Horror on her face about half way down as she slide around the curve getting a little "air" but then she would almost reach my arms and shout with glee.Next Sally worked with Holly on climbing on and off these little rocking structures, and balancing on them and rocking on them and holding on. I don;t think she is quite having fun with them yet because she can;t rock with her own power so when someone rocks her the movement is more jerky then fluid, but she doesn't dislike it either, and I think when she is older and gets the concept of rocking she will really enjoy it.One problem with the park is that there were no baby swings. They did however have big kid swings, first Holly swung with her on her lap which was wonderful, as Holly doesn't like to be "handled" so it was great that she trusted Sally enough to sit on her lap. Next thing she did was show her how she can swing on the big kids swing laying across on her stomach. She couldn't do it all by herself, but with a little help just a hand on her back to keep her steady she was able to swing back and forth, and she really liked it.We also practiced walking up and down hills, some shallow others more steep, practicing Holly's balancing and helping her get her footing. We walked around the park and explored. Before we left she wanted to climb into this carriage. She liked climbing onto the seat jumping off, and then climbing onto the one opposite. Sally commented, just imagine climbing onto something as high as your waist, how much energy and strength that would take, and then do it over and over like 20 times. Well, Holly certainly got a work out. We had a great time.http://www.oaklandnet.com/parks/facilities/rc_montclair.asp

Slides - 1 - There were regular slides and a really cool tube slide. Holly was almost able to do these on her own, she had a great time on them.

Swings - 1 - I am going to say no on this one, even though we swung on our bellies, really Holly will need a baby swing for a while. ** Update** I went back to this park and realized there were baby swings and I just forgot because i didn;t get a picture1 YEAH.

Surface - 1/2 - Mostly sand. The sand in the tot playground was ok to walk on barefoot, but the older playground was more pebbly and needed shoes. there was some bouncy turf by the carriage, but then there was also a lot of concrete.

Shade - 1/2 - There was some shade int he park, but mostly the structure was in the sun and it did get a little warm. there were places you could sit to get out of it, but not where you would be playing too.

Climbing - 1 - There are so many places to climb in this park, this is definitely one of the high lights, we really like the tubes that you climb through.

Parking - 1/2 - There is street parking, but the road is pretty busy, and I could imagine at a more High Traffic time the parking would be very difficult, We were there rather late in the day.

Bathrooms - 1/2 - There was a community center, so i am sure there had to be a bathroom in there, but that wouldn't be open most of the hours I would actually be at the park.

Distance - 1/2 - While this is in Oakland, I actually had to get on 580, to 24, to 13 which I had never done before to get there, so it was more then 10 minutes away, but less then 20. Worth the drive, but not all the time. We are actually starting Music Class with Chloe, so will be back when we are in the neighborhood.

Friends - 1 - There were a lot of other kids there that Holly could play with and meet, and it is close to a few moms we know so a convenient park to meet up at.

Fun - 1- Holly had a lot of fun at this park, as she gets older there are even more activities she can do and an entire other play structure for her to explore, and on this visit we didn't even go to the duck pond, so lots more to see and do.