Jenkins Avenue Reserve, Penrith

This is a little park, I don’t think anyone else has ever been there when we have been there. There is a slide, a climbing rope frame, monkey bars, a wobble board or sort of surf board on springs, a swing and a shade cloth. It is a simple park but effective. Parking is a little tough, because Jenkins Avenue is very narrow, but you can usually get a park. There are not a lot of place for the adults to sit, is my main issue with this park, but it is a quiet little park that is perfect for meeting another family at for a play.

Parker Street Reserve, Penrith

This park is part of the large facilities that you access off of King Street in Penrith, but one side of it sits on Northern Road so the Council has called it the Parker Street Reserve. You have probably gone here with your school, or your kids’ school, for the soccer fields or an athletics carnival.

It has some stuff that was perfect for my children (4 and 6 years old at the time) and some stuff that was really only useable by teenagers or larger children. There are two slides, a pretend cafe, various things for smaller children to climb on, a firemans pole, monkey bars, a flying fox, and you can get to the slides by using a metal climbing frame or by stairs. You can see the soccer fields from the seats for adults, but there is a fence between the park and the soccer field so you don’t need to worry about a smaller child running under a bunch of adults playing soccer. The fence does not wrap around the whole park, so it isn’t ideal for children who run. There is no shade cloth but it is surrounded by trees and every time I have been there it has been mostly in shade, though I mostly went there in winter so I don’t know how the summer sun lands on this park.

Judges Park, Penrith

This park is next to the Penrith Bowlo, there is generally a fair amount of parking on the weekend or after school, and since I took these photos they have put a large sunshade over it. This is my favourite park to catch up with a Mum who has older children than mine, I feel like this is the park with the most options for older children. I don’t have older children though, I would love to hear in the comments from Mums who think another park is more suited?

There is a slide, a balancing beam (which is a bridge rather than stationary), a rock climbing wall, a cargo net, one of those ‘spider web’ rope structures, swings, seats for adults, a sun shade, and plenty of metal climbing structures that are physically too big for smaller children.

Bel-Air Road Reserve, Penrith

This park is simple, but it has everything you want for younger kids. It has slides, monkey bars, a spider web type rope climb, swings, a pretend car, and there are stairs to get up onto the platform. The seat for adults is a long way away from the park, but that is fine because it is set quite a way back from the road, and there is almost never another family there.

These photos are from a few years ago, this park now has sun shade.

Henry Bridgen Park, Penrith

Henry Brigden Park is on Thurston Street and Blaxland Avenue in Penrith, and they have recently added a sun shade to it. This is another park that is basic, but there is definitely enough for the kids to do. During lock downs I gave up coming here as there were often other families there too, but now it seems to be fine. It is surrounded by apartment blocks, and I think I just went a few times when there were already two and three other families there and there just isn’t enough in this park for that many families.

There is a big slide, my kids were initially scared to go up to it but that might be good for your situation, a pretend cafe, a flying fox, and swings. There is a seat from parents, it isn’t close to the park but the park is set on a large block and it is not close to the road. Even so, I don’t sit on the seat I end up standing or sitting on the larger swing.