Centennial Park, Swansea

Location: 300 N. Belt East, Swansea, IL 62226

Website: https://stclairtownship.com/parks/centennial-park/

Playground Ground Cover: Wood chips

This is a nature park with a one-mile looped walking trail on both sides of the creek, as well as an asphalt trail on the west side of the creek. It is a unique urban forest featuring lots of wildlife. Individual covered picnic tables are available off the parking lot area. A restroom is located next to the parking lot. This park is connected to the St. Clair County Transit District bike trail. There is a small playground that doubles as a nature play area, featuring a log, a balance beam, a boulder, and stepping stones. There is also a creek running through the park. 

Covered pavilion

Swansea Kingdom at Schranz Memorial Park, Swansea, IL

Location:  377 Honeysuckle Lane, Swansea, IL 62226

Amenities: playground, picnic shelter, restrooms, sprayground, trails

Website: http://www.swanseail.org/1082/Parks-Recreation

Playground ground cover: Rubber chips & wood chips

This is a great park with a castle theme. The equipment is all new as of 2025 on the big playground.  A ramp connects the regular playground to the tot lot, which is fenced in except for the one entry point. The tot lot has two baby swings, an adaptive swing, and a sling swing. There is a toddler/preschool-sized slide, monkey bars, a bridge, a steering wheel, drums, and a small sand play area. There's a fenced-in splashpad on the other side of the parking lot, (I would consider the location to be a bit of a drawback, because children are often running back and forth across the parking lot between the two). It has two child-operated spray guns, as well as fountains of various types and heights. There's also one large picnic shelter, several smaller ones, and a walking trail that winds around the park. 

The splash pad

The tot area

Amphitheatre

The big playground is huge and has everything a kid could want, including a modified merry-go-round, interactive boards, boulders, a modified teeter-totter, drums, a rock wall, a tunnel, lots of slides, and a dragon climber. 

There is one expression swing, 3 sling swings, 1 adaptive swing, and 2 baby swings.