Stop By If You’re Nearby! ABC Playground offers standard play equipment in primary colors, and plenty of asphalt for bike riding, basketball, and sidewalk games. Our favorite features are the hop-scotch courts and the friendly bronze frog sculpture to climb on.
The larger play structure features a double slide and a twisty slide, as well as a long stretch of curved monkey bars. The connecting platforms reach about six feet high with space underneath for a pretend-play counter and a spinning tic-tac-toe game. For toddlers, there is a separately gated play structure with platforms about a foot off the ground, and a hanging bridge leading to a tiny slide.
We were happy to practice our hopscotch skills on two painted courts in another shady corner. These are much larger and precise than the ones we typically draw, making us hop and stretch farther to pick up our stones.
Nearby is the friendly bronze sculpture of a mother frog and her tiny baby frog, which kids love to climb and hug. It was donated twelve years ago by the world-renowned sculptor and a longtime neighbor of the playground, Tom Otterness. Large Coqui is named for the Puerto Rican tree frog and is a symbol of the diversity of the neighborhood.
Near the entrance, a wrinkly concrete elephant sits alone waiting to be climbed. In the middle of the asphalt, there is one spray shower that shoots up water. There is plenty of space for a game of half-court basketball. There is no sandbox nor swings.
What’s More? ABC Playground is at the base of Avenue A, just south of the neighborhood dubbed Alphabet City. An odd sight is the eighteen-foot tall statue of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of Soviet Communism, on a rooftop across Norfolk street. It was recently moved from East Houston St. where it had stood for more than twenty years atop the Red Square apartment building, so-named for its brick facade and boxy shape, and as a commentary on the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, according to the New York Times.
Snack Time/Coffee Break? Union Market, across East Houston St., is a gourmet market with snacks and prepared foods to go, as well as coffee. We love bringing ice cream over to the playground from Il Laboratorio del Gelato, a block west on Ludlow St. It offers a rotating selection from more than 300 flavors of small-batch gelato and sorbetto, including nearly twenty possible variations of chocolate. There are plenty of benches but no picnic tables at the playground.
Visibility/Safety: From a bench, it is possible to keep an eye on kids in both the toddler and older kid play structures at the same time. There is only one gate, and it is visible but far from the main play areas. There are rubber tiles under the play structure, but there are bumps and cracks between these.
Bathroom Emergency? There is no bathroom in the playground. Across East Houston at Suffolk St. is a Dunkin’ (Donuts)/Baskin Robbins.
Features: slides, monkey bars, water spray, benches, nearby snacks.
Gianna Abruzzo is a Brooklyn-born adventurer with nearly ten years of experience exploring playgrounds – in Lower Manhattan, around NYC, and in eleven more countries – with her three daughters. Gianna seeks to share a sense of community and pride in the places we play. Follow her on Instagram
Related articles:
 |  |  |
Macaroni KID Lower Manhattan is the family fun go-to source for the latest and most comprehensive information in our area. Subscribe for FREE today!
