Maddy's Guide to Playgrounds in Burlington (Adjacent) - Kids Konnection

Basics:

Date of visit: July 5th, 2024

Where can I find it? Across the street from O'Connor Hardware. 

Bathrooms? 1 Portapotty.

Parking? Lots! Especially if no game is going on.

When open? Daylight hours. 

Review:

Astute readers of mine are doubtless aware of my penchant for the Floor is Lava. While, as a rule, I intend to only write about playgrounds located within Burlington town limits, I felt an exception was warranted for the Kids Konnection. From its animalistic architecture and its challenging structures allowing one maximum distance traversed away from terra firma, this playground has won a place in my heart. 

To start, there is a fully featured sandbox, complete with toys. Admittedly, many of the vehicles no longer have functional wheels, but they also never had motors to begin with, and spinning wheels does not prevent one from moving a toy car through the dunes. 

So many toys!

Not sure what happened here, but that party must have been lit!

For the more thespianic, there is a small stage just beyond for recitations of Shakespeare, Shaw, or Seuss. Unfortunately, the proximal locations of the two prove to be a questionable choice.

Sadly, the sign was not heeded.

The major draw of this park is not the sandbox, but the integrated structures forming a loop that couples in a slide, several arm bars, and an enormous spiderweb. 

This is my father's attempt to capture the entire loop. He gets a 'C' for effort.

Curiously, the designers behind the spiderweb structure appear to have chosen poorly in material choice, as it has warped and melted quite a bit under the unyielding sun. My father thinks it was intentional, showing that his mind has also warped and melted quite a bit under the unyielding sun. 

Warped, but I kind of like it better this way.

With plenty of space, the designers have opted to fill out the area with a menagerie of animal shaped structures, along with solitary climbing structures allowing one to quietly meditate on existential questions. 

This one make me feel like James Bond

Another not so subtle reference to our capitalistic tendencies for endless consumption

And the requisite nightmare fuel

Also, a train. 'Cause trains are awesome. 

All aboard!

For people needing some alone time for quiet contemplation of life's choices, there are several solitary structures that will abide. 

Seeing the world at the same height as my father. It is terrifying.

Finally, I must tip my hat to the signage makers for this area. At last, someone correctly understands that children my age are not the problem. It is the older ones that merit constant scrutiny!

Age 2-5, supervision is only recommended

But 5-12 is very much required!

With so much to do and see, I happily award the Kids Konnection at whopping 4 snapping alligators!

Madelyn Hope Lewis is the senior playground tester of Lewis Developments, and a connoisseur of playtime activities. When she's not exploring Massachusetts fun time architecture, she can be found scouting out where is exactly "the line" with her parents.