I spotted Roselle Park while house hunting a year ago, and I never forgot it. Roselle is a community park in a charming little neighborhood in Pleasantville, but it was the sandbox that moved me: A large 40′ x 11′ rectangle filled with diggers and wheel loaders, bull dozers and dump trucks. Truck broke down? No worries, grab a tow truck. There are probably 30 or so trucks in the sandbox at any given moment; they’ve all been donated by local families whose kids have outgrown their use.
Little boys kinda go ballistic here. Take my 2-year-old. As soon as we pulled up, he made a beeline for a large metal crane and pretended to lift a smaller tractor, then he found a shiny red bulldozer he couldn’t part with for the next 15 minutes. Other little boys were busy driving big-wheeled trucks through the sand. One was hunting around for a wheel that had broken off a cement mixer truck. Little girls were playing in the sandbox too — but they had taken the sand buckets and shovels aside and were making a pretty row of castles.
The playground equipment is unique too. There’s a tunnel made of tires to climb up. The rock climbing wall has letters and numbers on the foot and hand holds, fun for kids learning to ID their letters. Monkey bars are low enough for young children to try out.
I also really liked this whirly thing that you could stand on and spin. My little one enjoyed pushing me around and around until I insisted on getting off — can’t spin like I used to. Other notable features: An extra big tunnel slide, a woven bridge for balancing, circular monkey bars, and plenty of green space for throwing and catching balls.
Roselle Park is located at Roselle Avenue in Pleasantville.
