For anyone who lives near Philadelphia and has kids, or for anyone who plans to visit Philadelphia and has kids, you really must make a visit to Smith Playground. Karin and I took our girls there last weekend, and every time I go there, I walk away remembering why that place is so special.

The setting is very secluded, surrounded by lots of trees. Despite all of the new equipment, the place just has a good old feel about it, like it’s been around for years and years (and it has).

There are various play areas, which are all recently renovated and are tailored to different age groups. The first time I went there, pre-renovation, they still had wooden box swings for small children with the metal bar across the seats. Remember those? And they were painted in a rainbow of colors. They don’t have them anymore, but they do have all kinds of neat equipment. Here are a few pictures:

(this balance beam moves up and down as you cross it – tricky!)

Elena taking a flying leap (there’s a bouncy sort of platform in the middle there):

They also have a big building (the “playhouse”) which features a play area in the basement with little cars and tricycles for kids under 5 who can pedal around a track with decommissioned (that is, real) stoplights, parking meters and pretend gas stations. It’s for children 5 and under, and it’s in the middle of its renovation, but still open to the public. Please note, if you have children older than 5, the staff are sticklers about not letting them into the playhouse. It’s a disappointing rule (just ask Elena, who cried when she wasn’t allowed in, because she’s 8):

The star of the show, however, is the covered wooden slide that seats TEN kids across, racing down on their burlap bags. Parents get to go down too (which is good, because none of us can resist). Here we come down the slide!

If Elena went down once, she went down a hundred times.

Here comes Charlotte!

What a big girl!

Backwards!

Here comes Karin!

And here I am with Rosa, Elena and Charlotte.

So. Much. Fun.

Food is not allowed in the playground area, but you can bring food and a blanket and eat on the grass outside of the playground.

It’s a little off the beaten path – it’s near the art museum, but not really within walking distance if you happen to be staying downtown on a visit. If you have a car, here are the directions.

(Note this from their website: “Please note that GPS or any internet direction sites will not provide accurate directions to Smith.”)

So, I hope everyone had a good week. It’s a little hard to get back into the rhythm of fall and school, isn’t it? I still can’t quite believe that Rosa is an honest-to-goodness Kindergartner, who’s in school all day. Life goes by way too quickly.

See you back here on Monday – have a great weekend!