Calgary’s Cranston Tree Park

Cranston is a newer neighbourhood in the far southeast part of Calgary. We added it to our Calgary must-visit list after seeing it featured by our friends at @CalgaryPlaygrounds, and it didn’t disappoint! The girls were first drawn to the tall green tower with its two mega slides, but we quickly found several other features we loved. The bright orange clubhouse is the standout for me. There’s a rope structure on the inside, and it’s covered with climbing holds. (It’s almost like the designers knew kids always have to climb to the top of things and decided to help them get there!?!) There’s a really neat arc feature with a thick rope spanning the bottom and a variety of ropes to traverse in between.

In addition to those standouts, there is also a natural obstacle course area with balance beams, hopping logs and gymnastics bars. The swing area was very popular with neighbourhood kids during our visit – it has 2 standard swings and a saucer swing. Additional accessory features include a four-seat teeter-totter, a Supernova circle and a ladybug spring rider.

The main part of the playground is based in rubber, and there are wood chips under the natural play area. There are some benches and picnic tables on site too, but nothing in terms of tree shade. (Making the name “Tree Park” even more of a mystery!)

Calgary’s Cranston Tree Park

• Where: 182 Cranston Park SE, Calgary, Alberta

But wait, there’s more!

We quickly found out that the Cranston neighbourhood is home to quite a number of neighbourhood pocket parks! Most are tiny and fun, but not what we’d describe as destination playgrounds… however this one caught our eye, mainly for the giant, brightly-coloured caterpillar guarding the premises! Google Maps identified this playground as “Forest Creature Park”. It’s located just a couple of blocks away from Cranston Tree Park. In addition to the cool caterpillar, we loved the built-in rubber-base hill features. One of them even has climbing holds built in! There are climbers aplenty here – from climbable trees, to a big climbing boulder to ropes. Leaf spinners, a toadstool dining set and a treetrunk swingset (with owl!) complete the Forest Creature theme.

Calgary’s Cranston Forest Creature Park

Where: 80 Cranbrook Lane SE, Calgary, Alberta

Visiting Calgary? Don’t miss another TREE Park we love! Calgary’s Cornerstone Meadows Health Park features an amazing climbing tree structure called the Branch Out!