Playground Tour Stop #11: Main Street Playground

For our 11th tour stop, we went to DUMBO to the nautically themed Main Street playground in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

This cute little playground is tucked just inside the park at the end of Main Street, almost right under the Manhattan bridge. It's actually quite easy to miss if you aren't looking for it, as trees have grown up quite nicely around the fenced in perimeter (however, like many of the other playgrounds we have visited, the actual playground equipment is still in direct sun for the most part).

The main structure at Main Street playground has been fashioned to resemble a large boat - complete with masts and sails. A long ramp runs up the west side of the structure, leading children to the upper level where they will find bridges, a fireman's pole, steering wheels (including one that is actually more like a helm), a spiral slide, chain ladders and a revolving tic-tac-toe game. The lower level is set up to resemble the lower "deck" of of a ship, complete with porthole windows. There are also steering wheels, *shaded* benches and a tunnel. My little guys called this part of the playground "the house".

On the north side of the playground is a smaller structure for the little ones, a sprinkler and a sandbox (shaped like a boat, of course). The smaller structure is also ship-shaped (this one a bit more like a tugboat) and includes a slide, two types of ladders and music "switches".

On there south end of the playground there is also one tire swing, but there are no regular swings at this playground.

Aside from the nautical theme, one thing that makes this playground really special is that a lot of it as actually wheelchair accessible. The wide ramp makes it possible to wheel up to the upper level of the main structure and the lower level has side entrances that do not have any steps and are reasonably wide.

One thing that Main Street playground is lacking is accessible restrooms. At the moment the closest thing is only a port-a-potty at the end of Main Street. To get somewhere where you might actually consider letting your child sit down, you'll have to either venture up Main St. to the Starbucks or otherwise walk south on Water St., past the River Cafe and Ice Cream Factory to a trailer with public restrooms that are surprisingly clean and spacious.

Potties aside, Main Street playground is a great way to compliment a trip to beautiful* Brooklyn Bridge Park and DUMBO. This one gets a solid A.


*Just to note - the north side of the park is currently under construction so THAT part of the park is not quite so beautiful at the moment, however, the part closest to be playground is still open and as lovely as ever.