Situated just outside of the Bronx Zoo, this pretty little playground overlooks a waterfall in the Bronx River and serves as an entry point for the larger park.
There is a huge water feature running through this playground, with little bridges to cross the flow of water – it happened to be off when we were there, but no doubt this is quite an attraction in the summer. There were plenty of animal statues lining the artificial river and I could see how some of these might be hazardous for children learning to walk.
There were two main pieces of climbing equipment, both fairly new, plus a giant artificial rock and climbing rope ball. The toddler section was pretty straight forward. The bigger kid climbing structure combined a few different styles of playground equipment. Artificial logs for balancing and a spiral slide aren't all that common.
The park also has two larger concrete animals, a black bear and a panther. It's hard not to think of these as a nod to the nearby entrance to the Bronx Zoo, which was where we were headed. We actually saw more animals in this playground then we did in the Zoo, and the playground was free.
What made this playground particularly unique was the waterfall in the middle of the Bronx River. Technically I guess this wasn't actually in the playground, but you could see and hear it. Even in early spring it was a pretty place to be.
Overall it seemed like a bit of a boring playground. There was a lot of unused space, like the parks department didn't bother filling it all up. At least everything was in good condition.
The Bronx River Park was originally created to help preserve the river. There is an ongoing effort to complete a continuous trail through the park through the Bronx River Alliance.
There is little specific information about the Bronx River Playground, although there are several other playgrounds throughout the park area with different names.
