Dwyer Road Reserve Playground Review
5 Dwyer Road, Oaklands Park
Dwyer Road Reserve is Adelaide’s first hi-tech playground and includes interactive games as well as the more traditional play set for younger kids, mixing modern with nature play. The community space caters for the older kids crowd with a court that has a basketball and netball ring; grassy areas to kick a ball or just hang out.
It’s located right next to the train station where you will find toilets and the South Australia Aquatic Centre is just across the road with Marion Shopping Centre there too. It’s not fenced though and happens to sit right next to the busy Diagonal Road, so it’s not one for ‘runner’ toddlers.
- Interactive electronic games including the ‘Spider’ and a dance pad
- An interactive screen that provides community information on events, community facilities and public transport timetables
- Sensors to track the use of play equipment, including swings, basketball ring and slide
- Sensors on a recycling bin to measure how often it is used
- Weather station and soil moisture probes that activate the irrigation system as required
- New turf variety planted that has been documented to consume 38 per cent less water
- Sensor activated lighting on paths to improve safety and reduce carbon emissions
Spider Electronic Game
The feature piece of equipment at Dwyer Reserve is the Spider electronic game climbing frame. We first saw one of these fun pieces at the amazing Loxton Pioneer Playground in the Riverland.
It’s a clever piece of electronic equipment which encourages kids to climb and run around all over, and around the Spider, to hit the markers when they light up. There are a few different timed games you can play and it’s suitable for solo play or with friends – even in teams. The markers light up and make a beeping noise and you need to quickly hit it in time before moving to the next marker.
Kids will need to listen and look for which markers are on. It’s a great way to tire out the kids and those who love playing video games will enjoy this aspect of it but they’ll be getting plenty of exercise instead of sitting in front of a screen at home playing PS or Xbox.
The other electronic game is this one below which has four games to play by hitting the buttons and then jumping onto the circle pads. These are the games programmed:
- Musical Chairs
- Tic Tac Toe
- Memory Game
- Mission Game where you catch the circles before they disappear and avoid the cross.
The only thing is that you can’t really see which circles are lighting up during the day in bright sunlight.
Play Equipment for Toddlers
For the younger kids there is a play set pictured below with climbing, steps, a little shop front and slide.
Three different swings are suitable for babies, older kids and there is a basket swing.
Nature & Water Play
A section of the Reserve is dedicated to nature play with some sand and water play.
The creative guys at Climbing Tree have created these timber table and stool settings encouraging traditional board games like Chess or Draughts (bring your own set), and Tic Tac Toe which you could find twigs or stones to use as markers.
The timber pieces could be used to sit and have a snack, or for jumping on as an obstacle course.
Accessible Play
There are also mounds to balance on in the main play area which has a soft fall surface. This surface, and the access around the Spider, means that it would be accessible for a wheelchair. This accessibility means that a child or adult in a wheelchair could join in with the games and hit the markers near them when they light up.
A drinking fountain is provided as pictured below.
There is a BBQ and table and benches. Here you can use the solar powered hut to charge your device.
Sports Play
The small basketball and netball court with grass surrounding, is a good spot for older kids.
It’s great to see a playground with some dedicated equipment for older kids. Our 12 year olds had a ball on the Spider game and if we had brought along a basketball they would have enjoyed that too.
As mentioned earlier it is not fenced at all so if you have a ‘runner’ and looking after more than one small child you may not feel safe with the busy road nearby. There is car parking, and Marion Shopping Centre is just down the road for coffee, food, snacks, shopping.
See the City of Marion website here for more info.
Click here for all the Best Playgrounds for Toddlers
See our Top Parks & Playgrounds Around Adelaide here.
Location:
Dwyer Road Reserve Playground | 5 Dwyer Road, Oaklands Park
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently. All photos are by Play & Go.
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