Clemyjontri Park

Clemyjontri Park

 

Location: 6317 Georgetown Pike McLean, VA 22101 


Park Website

Metro: no convenient Metro access

My Opinion:

Features:

This park is huge!  In some ways it's actually a little too big.  We always feel the need to move on to the next area in order to fit it all in.   Also, keeping an eye on multiple kids is tricky.  Everything is very spread out, so even moving two or three activities away from each other is enough to put too much distance between parent and child..  Clemyjontri pretty much has everything you'd expect a playground to have, and lots of stuff you don't see in most parks.  There's also a carousel, but we don't usually ride it - I'd rather spend my money on the one at Glenn Echo.

What's Unique:

From the park's website: "CLEMYJONTRI PARK features a unique playground where children of all abilities can play side-by-side. It is a playground where every child is welcome.  This park is a place where children who use wheelchairs, walkers or braces, or who have sensory or developmental disabilities, can have a parallel playground experience of fun and exploration."


So that's pretty cool.

All the balancing activities have bars on either side.  Nice for kids that are still working on balance and need a little help.

I also thought this was pretty cool for little ones working on balance.  It starts at about a foot wide and tapers to about six inches.

We thought this was fun.  The bars spin like pedals on a bike so you can keep "climbing" up up up while staying safely near the ground.  A little tricky to coordinate hands and feet though... maybe kids are btter at it than adults.

 A lot of the monkey bars and rings are shorter what you see on most playgrounds.  Even my four year old could jump up to grab on and felt comfortable without me right there to catch him.

 The big kid area is almost like a maze there are so many bridges, platforms at different levels, and slides.  This big kid had fun running around on it too!

 Both my kids shouted "It's an airplane!" when they saw this.  Actually, I think it's a helicopter, but the ramps on either side look like wings.  Regardless, they had fun pretending to fly it and climbing all over it.  Notice the different colored landing pad as well.  The whole playground is covered in colored rubber surfacing, and a lot of these designs add to the fun.

 Like this!  We had some fun races on this multi-colored race track with checkerboard finish line.  There are lots of car themed things to climb on in this area, but nothing that actually moves.  Skateboards, scooters, and bikes, are not allowed in the park, so it will have to be foot races on this track.  A little disappointing since the rubber surface also includes a road complete with traffic circle and road signs - seems like this would make a good place to safely ride or skate, but again you'll just have to walk the road.  My kids weren't interested.

This was probably our favorite spot on the playground.  After wandering through the first time and finding our way out, I stood at the exit and timed the kids to see how quickly they could get through.

Another nice feature of the maze is that some of the panels have something for kids to learn from (like a US map) or some sort of activity (like gears to turn or a tic-tac-toe board).

This rainbow seems like a gateway to the sing area.  There are a variety of swings, some with backs and harnesses, one with two benches that just sways back and forth, and the typical big kid and baby swings.

The rainbow is fun to play on too, but my kids weren't able to climb up very far.  Maybe bigger kids would be able to get to the top.

Restrooms:Yes - nice restrooms and drinking fountain on the parking lot side of the playground.

Sun/Shade: Sunny!  As my daughter said on the ride home form our last visit, "Daddy, there is no shade at that park."  There are some small trees that will eventually grow into some nice shade tress...  for your children's children. There are also some umbrella type structures around the playground, but they don't cover anything that the kids want to play on - good for parents seeking refuge from the sun, but no good if you actually want to get out on the playground to play with your kids.  Go early in the morning. 

Surface:
Springy rubber surface on the whole playground helps avoid hard falls and skinned knees.  

Enclosure: the playground is not fully enclosed

Nearby:

A right on Georgetown Pike and then another right onto Dolley Madison Blvd (Rt. 123) will take you into the heart of McLean where you'll find a Safeway, Papa Johns, McDonald's, and more.