The best playgrounds in Philadelphia

Sister Cities Park

Logan Square

A corner of Logan Square at 18th and the Parkway, rebuilt in 2012 into 1.3 acres of play with the Cathedral Basilica in view. The Children's Discovery Garden has winding paths modeled on Wissahickon trails, boulders to scale, a stream with push-button jets and a dam to work, a mountain with several routes to the top, a big climbing net and a twig hut a kid can hide in while you can still see them. The fountain is a bluestone globe with eleven spouts, one for each of Philadelphia's sister cities, made for running through.

The shallow wading pond runs through the warm months, and in fall and winter the same space becomes the Imagination Playground, with oversized blocks to build with. The café does light fare and has the restrooms. The Franklin Institute and the children's department of the Parkway Central Library are each a few minutes' walk.

Free entry

Yes

Restroom

Yes

Franklin Square

Old City

One of William Penn's five original squares, seven acres at 6th and Race between Old City and Chinatown, with a lot going on: the Parx Liberty Carousel (a zebra, a lion, an eagle, a dragon and two racehorses named Afleet Alex and Smarty Jones), Philly Mini Golf played through replicas of the city's landmarks, SquareBurger, and a fountain from 1838 that puts on a music and lights show from spring through fall. Entry to the square is free.

The playground is open year-round, and Historic Philadelphia is rebuilding it around nature play: a tower with a tunnel, slides and swings, a music area, mist nozzles and a bike and scooter path. New restrooms opened in spring 2025.

Street parking is on 6th Street and on Race between 6th and 7th.

Free entry

Yes

Restroom

Yes

Seger Park

Washington Square West

A tot lot of baby swings on turf, bigger equipment for school-age kids and a water spraying feature for the warm months, on just under two acres of Lombard Street between 10th and 11th, with a dog run inside the park. The rec center has the restrooms and a drinking fountain. Starr Garden, another rec center playground with its own water play, is about ten minutes' walk east along Lombard.

Free entry

Yes

Restroom

Yes

Ages

All ages

Markward Playground

Fitler Square

The playground end of Schuylkill River Park: 3.4 acres with separate areas for older and younger kids, a natural play area behind the tot lot and a sprayground. In summer the gargoyles on the Monster Capital Fountain spray water out of their mouths.

The rest of the park is big lawns, two fenced dog runs, a community garden of about 70 plots at 25th and Spruce, and the connector bridge to the river trail. O'Connor Pool is down the street at 26th and South.

FDR Park (Anna C. Verna Playground)

South Philadelphia

Two acres of nature play by the Pattison Lagoon, opened in October 2023 and built for every age: a 20-swing circle that is the largest swing set in North America, birdhouse towers with slides and climbing, embankment slides set into the hills, a forest of wishbone logs to climb and balance on, and an adventure path tying it all together, on a cork surface that lets the rain through. Thirteen picnic sites and a pavilion look over it.

FDR Park itself is 348 acres at Broad and Pattison, next to the Sports Complex, with lakes for fishing, canoeing and kayaking, wetland trails, a skate park under the I-95 columns, a boathouse and the American Swedish Historical Museum. The playground is named for Anna C. Verna, the first woman to lead City Council, who grew up playing here.

Free entry

Yes

Restroom

Yes

Columbus Square

Passyunk Square

Passyunk Square's park, where a renovation finished by 2021 put in new playground equipment, a sprayground, new trees, a picnic area and restored grass fields. Shaded benches, a dog park and a rec center with youth and adult activities fill the rest of its four acres.

Free entry

Yes

Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse

East Fairmount Park

Richard and Sara Smith had this built in memory of their son Stanfield, and it has been open and free since July 1899: six and a half acres in East Fairmount Park around the Ann Newman Giant Wooden Slide, which dates from 1905, is 12 feet wide and 60 feet long, and is ridden on a burlap sack. Around it are more than 50 pieces of equipment (Spin City, Swing City, the Net Climber, a Tot Lot) and Nature Explore, a loose-parts corner with a mud kitchen, tree cookies and digging. It's meant for kids 10 and under, and every kid comes with an adult.

The Playhouse is a 16,000-square-foot building with three floors of play: Smithville on the lower level, a little town with a roadway, traffic lights and a car wash for the trikes, plus a loft of hammock netting; rotating Play-Stallations in the Bodek Den; the Playbrary, with a puppet theater, trains, a dollhouse and blocks; and the Marion Stokes Library. The Philadelphia Zoo is a little under a mile off, and you can bring food or have it delivered and eat on the front lawn or the porches.

The free lot is in front of the Playhouse, with overflow along Reservoir Drive.

Swings

Yes

Picnic tables

Yes

Ages

All ages

Parkside Evans Recreation Center

Parkside

About a mile from the Please Touch Museum, four acres along Parkside Avenue in West Fairmount Park with a playground, a sprayground, basketball and tennis courts and the Philly Pumptrack, a small dirt course you ride without pedaling. The track is free, run by its Friends group with Parks and Rec, and keeps a fleet of donated BMX bikes and helmets to borrow.

Free entry

Yes

Clark Park

University City

University City's park since 1895, with playground equipment, a basketball court, a big open lawn and a central plaza with café seating under shade trees. The statue of Charles Dickens with Little Nell was one of the first made of him and is one of only a few in the world. A year-round farmers market sets up at the 43rd and Chester corner with produce, baked goods, meat, cheese and flowers.

Houston Playground

Roxborough

A multi-use trail runs from this playground out to a 48-acre meadow planted with native grasses and wildflowers. The playground itself has water features, and the eight and a half acres around it hold sports fields, a hockey rink and volleyball, basketball and tennis courts.

Free entry

Yes

Penn Treaty Park

Fishtown

Where legend has William Penn making his peace treaty with Tamanend of the Lenape: eight acres on the Delaware in Fishtown, with his statue near the entrance. The playground was rebuilt in 2017 with ADA-accessible equipment and a new safety surface, and the old sculptures were cleaned and restored at the same time. The rest is open green and picnic areas with the Ben Franklin Bridge in view, and the shipping channel runs so close to the shore that watching the boats go by is half the visit.

Free parking is on Beach Street beside the park entrance.

Wissinoming Park

Wissinoming

Rolling hills and an old creek bed across 42 acres, a park since 1911, with a playground and sprayground from a 2018 renovation that also redid the picnic grove, added paths and put in two rain gardens. There are sports fields, basketball, tennis and hockey courts, and a mural, Cultivate Respect, on the playground building.

Free entry

Yes

Fitzpatrick Playground

Northeast Philadelphia

This rec center playground on Torrey Road has a rare three-person see-saw, plus a sprayground, a basketball and hockey court and sports fields on its 5.2 acres. The equipment, the safety surface and the spray area were redone in a project that began in 2022, with new trees and more seating.

Free entry

Yes