When I asked my Instagram followers what they wanted me to write about here in my blog, the majority replied they wanted to know my experiences as a family with three kids at various playgrounds and hotels in Malta.
This is my first blog post about playgrounds in Malta, a lot more to follow. In this post, I am comparing two playgrounds. The reason being, they are in the same town and very close to each other (on the same road).
There is no view and lots of traffic passing by both of them. But if you are shopping in the area, which has become so busy, and have little time, I think they are a good way to pass a bit of time there.
So, one of them is the playground exactly in front of the entrance of Pavi supermarket called De La Cruz. This is a very traditional playground.
De La Cruz is nice and small. There are only 5 things there, but I feel comfortable as you can see the kids even if you just sit down on a bench. The only time we have to follow them is when they go on the merry go round in another area. When I asked Jaimee if she likes this playground, her answer was yes because of the big see-saw, the merry go round is fast and the swing goes really high! Sam was also enjoying himself mostly with the xo-xo and the see-saw. He cried a lot when I told him we were leaving. The floor is not 100% perfect, but safe, if the kids fall there is a mat.
It is not super clean, but when we went it was a very windy day, so there were some plastic bottles on the floor and lots of leaves. But other than that it's quite clean.
One thing I like doing is this. When I am throwing away clothes or pieces of cloth, I keep them and put them in my car. After Maltese rain, you know you get lots of sand everywhere. So with this piece of cloth, I wipe the slide/swing/see-saw. Then I throw the cloth away. The result - clean kids!
There is also a slide with the letters x and o underneath it.
With regards to gates, there aren't any that close. There are some metal bars on both sides to stop the kids if they are running away from the playground. But even if they do run away, there is a big public garden on one side and the other.
There are also a lot of benches along the way in the gardens around it.
So, at this playground I felt relaxed, it's good for a 9 year old, for a 3 year old and also a 6 month old (baby swing).
The other playground opposite the public school in the St. Sebastian area, Qormi Public Park, is much bigger, there are more things to do and there is also an outdoor gym (which needs to be restored - as most of it is rusting).
The one in the picture below, is by far Jaimee's favourite. She can stay on this for hours.
There isn't the traditional swing in this one and there is nothing good for babies. But Jaimee and Sam love it.
There is rock climbing, and other things. Which are mostly for the older children.
The place was very clean.
If you plan on going there, you can take a small racket and a small ball, coz you can play table soccer.
My kids love the trampoline.
Then there is an area where you enter a gate and it is mostly for younger children. Even though Jaimee enjoyed it there too.
The flooring in this one is better than the other one.
In this one I felt a bit more safe coz it has a gate with a lock. Part of the fence broke but they closed it with this temporary wire. If the little ones play in the grown up area they can just run off and be on the busiest main road of Qormi. So just watch out for that. A big area for the little ones is covered with artificial grass.
The kids loved both as they had different things. So mainly what I look for between these two, is where there are less people. And we vary, once there and another time in the other. There weren't moments where I was panicking in both playgrounds.