So a thing happened last week. One morning before I headed out on a spring break adventure with my kiddos I happened to notice the beautiful weather forecast and quickly threw up a link to our playground roundup post on our Facebook page. Hours later, when my family arrived home, I discovered that this oldie but goody post (we’ve been updating it since 2015!) had gone a bit viral. And by a bit I mean that Facebook reports serving the link to over 270,000 viewers! The post received hundreds of shares, dozens of comments and upwards of 1,000 reactions (likes, loves, etc.) WOW. We haven’t had site traffic quite like this since we published our first ever Summer Bucket List nearly 10 years ago!
Sure, we love the attention and it’s always exciting to see those readership and email subscription numbers spike so suddenly (and completely unexpectedly!), but the very BEST part of this event is the feedback we get from readers with helpful suggestions for great new-to-us playgrounds to add to our every-growing list 🙂
Since we typically only post about places that we have actually visited, it would take us a while to get to all these new destinations. But fortunately, we have some amazing readers who have shared their own photos and tips so that we can put these new-to-us playgrounds on our site RIGHT NOW.
So today, I am sharing with you a reader review (thank you, Kelly A.!) of the awesome playground at the Mansfield Community Center. This destination will be particularly awesome come summer because it is nearby the famed UCONN Dairy Bar: one of our favorite ice cream destinations where all of the ice cream is made onsite according to their original recipes that have been popular since the 1950’s! You could say enjoying an ice cream cone there is like eating a little piece of CT history 😉
Kelly writes:
“This is a great playground for all ages and abilities. There are 2 designated areas. One for toddler to preschool age and one geared more for school aged children. The playground is 90% fenced in and just has an opening at the entrance. It is always clean and well kept. The playground has soft rubbery ground covering. My girls are 2 and 3.5 and can use most of the large playscape as well (but they are very good climbers and have great coordination). For those of you who have older kids there is a skate/scooter park right next to the playground so often our teenager comes with us and hangs out over there. There are a few picnic tables right outside the gate so it’s a great place to bring a lunch (and don’t forget the UCONN dairy bar is right up the road) my only “gripe” about the park is there is no readily available bathrooms. The community center is right next door and in a pinch they have allowed us to use the bathrooms (we are members now but even when we weren’t they were great about letting us) however they are a little bit of a walk.”
Thanks again, Kelly for sharing one of your family’s favorite places with us!
We’d love to hear about your family’s favorite playground too! Leave us a comment on this post or send an email to outandaboutmom@gmail.com.
Mini Momsense:
Mansfield Community Center Playground
10 S Eagleville Rd, Storrs Mansfield, CT 06268
(860) 429-3015
You can find additional photos on the playground’s Facebook Page, and more information about the Mansfield Community Center can be found here.
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