Treasure Island Playground — Attraction in Saint Paul

Ignore the direction Google Maps gives you. The entrance is on Pascal street, just off Hartford Ave to the south.

One of the best playgrounds in the Twin Cities! This is a very large playground with multiple structures for all ages. I believe it must be part of the Sisters of St Joseph school immediately next to it (looks like their recess playground?) but is open to the public and serves the surrounding neighborhood. Having the school there is great, because there are often kids or families still around in the after-school hours, so this rarely feels like a lonely/empty playground. It also seems popular both with neighbor kids in the area and families who drive over from other parts of St Paul. It's worth it.

The playground itself has a toddler-oriented structure that looks like a ship (hence the name), SEVERAL structures for kids of all ages with a couple of nice tall slides, some terrific features like cargo nets to climb, balance beams, stepping stones, etc., then another LARGE structure aimed for toddlers with some fun igloo type things, and finally a big set of swings — never a line. Past that there are some trees and natural objects like large stones to climb on. Like I said, it's a big place.

That said, it also feels safe, because it's fences on two sides and has the school on the third side, with the other side open to a quiet parking lot rather than a street. You can pretty much let your kids run wild.

My only complaint — they have a merry-go-round but it's one of those modern ones that's designed to not go fast, huge pain for parents to push it and not as much fun for the kids. But, hey, that's the cost of living in the age of safety.

The whole thing adjoins a soccer field, baseball diamond and tennis courts. There is a basketball hoop and hopscotch area as well. There are also some wooden bench structures for parents to congregate on or leave their diaper bags, and a number of picnic tables.

Last note — the sense of community and friendliness here is very strong, maybe because the school is attached. There are balls and other toys laying around that any kid can use, people pick up lost jackets or mittens and put them on the wooden benches for their owners to find, and sometimes there are even school staff around.

I tried a lot of playgrounds with my son and this one has quickly become our favorite....

I'm super disappointed that this is what they replaced the iconic wooden playground with something generic that is nothing special and doesn't stand out. As an adult, I still visit the old wooden playground in my dreams. At least there are plenty of other playgrounds around the twic cities that challenge kids' creativity, leave impressions, and actually keep kids from getting bored and asking for their...

Such a great playground if you have kids of multiple ages and abilities. It's entirely contained, so one parent can keep track of multiple kids, and 3 play structures geared towards different ages/ability levels. The only downside is that there is no bathroom...