Rye Street Park is located in South Windsor, quite tucked away from most things and the only reason I found it was because I got lost driving to Manchester! I tend to find a lot of things that way…
This little playground was not anything fancy, but sometimes I like simple, quiet places for us to play.
The entrance to the playground is marked with a big sign. Don’t confuse the second smaller parking lot as the way to get to the playground, I did that at first. Just watch for the big RYE STREET PARK sign and head down that driveway.
The parking lot and its surrounding drive is one way. You’ll actually head away from the playground, but then you wrap around and there are tons of parking spots so you can walk right in to the play area.
The park itself has a huge field for soccer and other sports. We did not visit on a day while games were being played, so it’s hard to say how popular this park is during active hours. Since there was no one on the field when we visited, my boy had a good time running up and down the grass.
Right near the edge of the fields, there is a small building with maintenance areas, bathrooms (which were locked), and what looks to be a snack bar. There were picnic tables right near the snack bar under a small covered roof.
In addition to the bathrooms, they also had a port a potty on site. I have to say, that was a HUGE port a potty!
I also spotted additional picnic tables on the edge of the fields, just next to the parking lot.
Now, on to the fun part- the playground!
The playground had mulch ground cover and was pretty set back from the ball fields and the parking lot. It had two playscapes, one geared towards smaller children and the other towards the bigger kids. Sadly, there were no swing sets at this playground.
Technically, the play area was designed for ages 5 to 12 years, but both were quite tame with the climbing structures and the slides.
The smaller playscape has two slides and two ways to enter, an easier, stair case with wide steps and a more steep set of stairs. It is plastic based, and pretty easy to move around. It was definitely more appropriate for toddlers, than older kids.
The staircase was a little tricky to climb but he managed!
It was a fun slide!
The larger playscape featured two slides, more challenging stairs and things to climb, and monkey bars.
There was a similar staircase (as in the smaller playscape) but it was a taller climb.
There was also these easier steps to climb.
There were more challenging things to climb,but they were not really up my 2 years old’s alley.
The slides were nice- one was a pretty good straight drop and there was also a spiral slide.
He really enjoyed that spiral slide! He went down it at least a half-dozen times!
We also discovered a little hidden area under the playscape… there were some areas for pretend play and a little piano.
In addition to the playscapes, there were also two free-standing climbing toys– dinosaurs!
There are a few benches around the playground so you can sit and relax while your kids play. These are pretty mild playscapes, and for the most part we let our boy play freely. Most of the play structures were safe and there were few areas we worried he could fall from.
I thought this was a cute little playground and it would be a great place to stop when we drove through South Windsor. It’s simple and not as fancy as the playground at Nevers Park, but for my two-year old, he had a great time playing here. If you live in a neighboring town or in town, then this is one to check out for a quick hour of play!
This about sums it up…
Rye Street – South Windsor, CT
Hours: Open Daily – Dawn to Dusk
Features:
- FREE!
- Strollers can be difficult to manuever through grass and mulch
- Open design including two play structures for the smaller crowd and the older crowd
- Mulch ground cover
- Shady play area
- Benches and picnic tables throughout park
- Concession Stand (appears only to be open during busy game days)
- Large parking lot with plenty of available spaces
- Bathroom facilities & Port a potty (Changing table unconfirmed)
- Hard to escape playground
