A majority of playgrounds in any city tend to offer variations on relatively constant themes; slides, swings, climbing frames and some elevated structures to encourage physical play and burn off any excess energy. If you are a parent of boys, you'll know exactly what I mean! But during our week long visit before relocating the entire family, we came across a different type of playground in Lower Manhattan. In between apartment viewings, visiting schools and everything else we had to squeeze into 6 days with two kids in tow, this was a great escape zone for all of us.
The Imagination Playground encourages creative open ended play by forgoing many of the elements found in traditional playgrounds, providing children with a range of portable building blocks for use in exploring, creating and interacting with the environment around them. The blue foam building blocks in different shapes and sizes were a huge hit with my lego mad 4 year old son, as were the wheelbarrows to transport the pieces. There is also a large sandpit and water sprinklers (during the Summer) for added play as well as a slide.
When the kids are finished playing and need feeding, just a few minutes walk away is the South Street Seaport with an array of eateries for all tastes. When we visited, we popped into the Seaport Smorgasburg for one of the most amazing lobster rolls and waffle fries.
Our personal favourite eateries around the Seaport District:
- Cafe Patoro - in our household, we are huge fans of Pão de Queijo (aka PDQ). This place makes the best Brazilian cheese breads we've ever had. A perfect balance of crispy outside and chewy inside.
- Made Fresh Daily - a lovely bakeshop serving breakfasts, brunch and lunch. Everything served here is made fresh using natural ingredients.
- Seasport Smorgasburg along Fulton Street - my lobster roll was from Red Hook Lobster Pound