Saint John’s INCLUSIVE Rainbow Playground
A Saint John Road Trip is always a great idea – especially if you’re looking for an amazing playground, a dose of history, beach combing, and a candy store all in one spot!
We’ll dive into the extras at the end, but let’s start with our profile of Saint John’s Rainbow Playground, a fantastic accessible, inclusive playground in the City’s south end. In addition to the amazing playground equipment, you’ll also find a community garden, memorial garden, basketball court, splash pad, and washrooms!
DID YOU KNOW … Municipal playgrounds got their Canadian start in Saint John? Mabel Peters, a community activist, suffragette, and hotel operator, presented a paper on the importance of community playgrounds in 1901 to the National Council of Women in Canada, then spent more than a decade helping establish these spaces across the country. She also spearheaded the creation of Saint John’s first community playground, believed to be the first in Canada, in the early 1900s. (Watch for an upcoming story about Mabel as part of our Inspiring New Brunswickers series!)
Rainbow Park is one of several inclusive playgrounds that were built throughout Canada with the help of Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart program. There are double-wide pathways, adaptive equipment, rubberized surfacing, and lots of space for everyone to play.
This space is filled with invitations to play and explore. The musical section is always a hit with the young & the young at heart!
Older kids will find lots of climbing opportunities here, as will little ones. We love them all!
The accessible swings were in use while we were visiting, so I don’t have a great photo to share. It was also a cold, spring day so the water wasn’t on yet at the splash pad. Guess we need to plan a return trip!
Looking for more Saint John playgrounds? You can find a list of all of Saint John’s playgrounds on the city’s website.
Rainbow Park is located in Saint John’s south end, close to Tin Can Beach. Drop either name or 205 Sydney Street into your GPS to find the playground; you can head right down to the end of Sydney Street to access the beach. It’s a great spot to explore!
Now, for those other ideas for your Saint John Day Trip! Take some time to explore Tin Can Beach, just two short blocks away from the playground. We loved the views from Carleton Martello Tower & Fort Howe (where you can stand by that iconic Saint John sign!) — and no trip to Saint John is complete for our kiddos without a stop at Freak Lunchbox! This is obviously just a ‘tip of the iceburg’ list, but you can find oodles & oodles of great ideas on our podcast episode with Discover Saint John’s own Victoria Clarke!
