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. 

Orchard Park, St. Clair

 

Location: 1295 Orchard Dr., St. Clair, MO 63077

Website: https://stclairmo.us/residents/parks_and_recreation.php

Playground Ground Cover: Poured Rubber

From the website: "Orchard Park is a beautiful 24-acre municipal park located along Orchard Drive and the South Service Road of I-44. Orchard Park is the home of Reed Field, a magnificent baseball and softball diamond that is used throughout the spring and summer by various softball organizations. Orchard Park provides a wide array of scenery through the natural beauty of trees and decorative landscaping. There is a beautiful 1-mile figure-8 asphalt path that winds its way through the center of this park, along with a regulation-size soccer field, two handball courts, a basketball court, a memorial stage for performing arts, playground equipment, and multiple pavilions that may be reserved for a small fee. Orchard Park also hosts the annual Freedom Festival, the annual Fireworks Display, and our community movies in the park."

The playground equipment was replaced in May 2025, and it's a very large playground now, with all-inclusive equipment. 

There is an ADA swing, a sling swing, and a netted saucer swing.

The play structure has steering wheels, interactive boards, ramps, slides, drums, cable climbers, climbing wall, xylophones, bells, a tic-tac-toe board, and more. 

Fitness equipment

Modified merry-go-round

More fitness equipment

Restrooms and a covered pavilion is a short walk away.