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Our playground is at the southeast corner of the park, and has lots of play equipment, a huge sandpit, a wading pool, and a little rain shelter. When it's busy there is a food cart. Nearby there is a badminton net. There's also a cob courtyard.
Issues
Playground refits
posted June 1, 2004
Prince Philip famously said that planners have done more damage to London than Hitler did during the Blitzkrieg. Maya Litman says that in the same way, Toronto planners are destroying our children's much-loved playgrounds.
See our City Playground pages >>
The Question of Arsenic
posted May 1, 2004
Veronica Pochmursky has played shinny hockey at Dufferin rink for three years. She's also an environmental worker, and she's done some research for us, on arsenic and kids. Read more >>
Newspaper Clippings
posted July 18, 2004
From the National Post:
A bit of Eden, east of Dufferin.
Dufferin Grove Park really works -- and plays,
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, National Post, July 17, 2004
Custodians:
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Playground (Main)
See the videos
Welcome to the Playground
The Dufferin Grove Park playground is popular with kids of various ages. There is an enclosed playground with traditional wooden play structures, and a wading pool. The adventure playground sandpit is fun for little kids and budding engineers (up to age 12) alike. And the Cob Courtyard turns into a summer snack bar as well as a cleanup station for picnickers. Most of the food is prepared from organic produce from the Farmers' Market, in the Zamboni Kitchen and the bake ovens.
Planning a visit?
The wading pool officially is open from the end of June to the end of August, seven days a week from 11 am to 6 pm, although if the temperature is over 29 degrees, the pool will stay open until 7.30 pm.
The cob courtyard has its water turned off during the winter, visit the washrooms in the north west end of the park if you need water.
The sandpit, also known as "the adventure playground" is monitored by park staff. After 9pm in the evening water will not be available.
Dufferin Grove Park: the movie.
In 1993, when the adventure playground was first put in (it was then called "The Big Backyard"), Elyse Pomeranz offered to do some art activities with the children. Elyse did unusual, wonderful things at the "Big Backyard," as the adventure playground was then called. In 1994 we asked Elyse's film-maker husband Amnon Buchbinder to make a short film about what was happening there. With Amnon's permission, Wallie Seto has just uploaded this film to Youtube (in two parts, because it's a bit over the maximum of 10 minutes).
Here is "The Big Backyard, Everyone Welcome," a short film about the early days of the Dufferin Grove Park adventure playground. Thanks to Wallie Seto for uploading this to YouTube and making it available.
Latest newsWading pool rebuild Playground RulesOf course there are no dogs allowed in playground, ever, nor EVER in the wading pool (public health rules require the staff to drain the pool if a dog gets in there). International Playground Photos |
The Sandpitan oval of sand about 20 feet wide by 40 feet long, ringed by big wooden logs. It was put into the park in 1993. Galleries |
The Enclosed PlaygroundCome and see action, excitement, families gathering, people happy, communities doing what they should be doing The Cob CourtyardThis project aims to engage all users of the park, especially the parents and children who make the south end of the park their summer home. The Wading poolChildren find water a wonderful play material for floating things, a little splashing, the gentle pleasant feeling of water, currents, rivers, waterfalls and fountains. |
A friendly letter from park friend Michelle Lansberg, 2007:
"Dufferin Grove Park is a miracle ...practically the best thing about Toronto. Maybe only a mother could fully appreciate what it means. I dreamed of that kind of community when my own children were small. Now, with my daughter (a single mother) and her two lovely little boys, I visit D.G. constantly through the summer. It's cool and fresh beneath the huge trees, children romp freely in the water and in the imagination-stirring creative sand pit. Every day they make new friends in the co-operative atmosphere of the park, and mothers break out of their isolation and meet soul-mates in the great task of nurturing. It is truly "our village" that helps us raise the children.
I am not exaggerating when I say that the welcoming and open spirit of the park and its remarkable feeling of collectivity and sharing have made me feel more like a citizen and lover of this city than practically anything else in my nearly seven decades of living here."
Dufferin Grove Playground Renovations, spring of 2009
The City plans to replace the current wooden playground structure with a different one. Before the Parks planners bring the latest manufacturers' catalogues out to the park, it's time for playground users to consider what makes this playground fun for so many kids. Find out more about the history of the playground and the negotiations for replacing it. Contribute your ideas.
Current Year Playground News And Historical
Playground News
Playground News 2009 -Playground Meeting Feb 7,09 |
Playground News 2008 -Wading pool rebuild. -The schedule for the pool reconstruction |
Playground News 2007 -Wading Pool Plans Finalized. |
Playground News 2006 -The sandpit adventure playground. |
Playground News 2005 -Wading pool, sandpit,and more.. fun. |
Playground News 2004 -Summer kids clubs |
Playground News 2003 -Arsenic Playgounds |
Playground News 2002 -Wading Pool strike politics |
Playground News 2001 -The Rain Shelter |