Playfront Park

Playfront is easily the most popular playground in Duluth.  It is located right off Interstate 35 between the downtown area (library and Depot, specifically), the Great Lakes Aquarium, and the Decc/Amsoil Arena.  Is is connected to the Bayfront Festival grounds and has a bathroom facility and recreation equipment rental area.  There is a good amount of parking that has a two hour limit and I have never found it full (barring an event at Bayfront).
Parking is on two sides and there are paths on the other sides.  Roads are far enough to not be worrisome, but some adventurous toddlers do like to take off on the paths....ahem....

The surface is recycled rubber tire chips which is a controversial material among some parents for fears of toxicity and off-gassing and it's worrisome when little ones inevitably put it in their mouths.  There is also rubber mat surface in select areas (under one tire swing, near the toddler area, and by some of the stepping stones.

Some features of the playground:

• 2 tire swings
• 4 baby swings (on different side of the park from regular swings)
• 5 swings
• 1 accessible swing
• 2 bouncy riders
• Pavilion in center of playground

The area designed for older children has:

• X-Wave 2
• Monkey bars
• Wobbly steps
• Netting to climb
• Hoops to climb through
• Rock wall structure
• Stepping stones

The area for younger children is a ship that features:

• Speaking tubes
• 2 slides
• Ladders and steps
• Periscope
• 4 steering wheels

Duluth Parks page

Lincoln Park

Lincoln Park is a beautifully wooded area that follows the Miller Creek downhill from Piedmont to the Lincoln Park neighborhood.  It is surrounded by housing on several sides with paths and sidewalks going off in many directions.

The playground is not fenced and it is right next to the road that goes through the park.  The road is solely for the park, so it is not busy, but it is a road nonetheless.  Across the road is a bridge over the Miller Creek to a field and closed off structure.  The creek is not very blocked off, so younger children will need close supervision.  We did not find any porta-potties or restrooms.

The park has a disc golf course, a pavilion, and plenty of paved and unpaved walking paths.

The playground is a sand surface with two separate areas, one for older children and one for younger.  When we visited, there were several abandoned sweatshirts and food wrappers throughout the playground area.

EDIT: I just read an article that Lincoln Park will be going through a major renovation to improve safety and access to natural elements!  http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4061878-plans-improve-lincoln-park-get-boost-vikings-us-bank

The larger structure is one of the most varied we have come across.  It has:

• 2 slides and 1 double slide
• Track glider
• Monkey bars of several varieties
• Ladders and steps
• Wobbly balance beam
• Fireman pole
• 4 swings
• 2 baby swings

The other section is intended for toddlers.  It is a cute little house with a picnic table inside and also includes a steering wheel, tunnel, and two bouncy animals to ride on.

Duluth Parks page

Lester Park

Lester Park playground is located between two rivers on the farthest eastern edge of Duluth.  The rivers are enough to make me a little nervous with toddlers and keep a more vigilant eye that they don't wander too far but the playground is situated a good distance from them.

The surface is a rubber mat, which is great for shock absorption and means no little pieces for kids to throw or babies to put in their mouths.  There is still some concern among parents about off-gassing but it doesn't seem to be as worrisome as the recycled rubber tire mulch.

There is no fence around the playground, but a good tree line separating rivers/trails and open play area.  The parking lot is across a bridge and river, so plan on taking everything you will need out of the car in the first go.

There is a pavilion with tables, a soccer field, picnic tables, benches, and a lot of nice trails for walking and mountain biking.  The Lester River is a very popular swimming hole in the summer but it can be a trek to carefully get down to it, so take you time and assist little kids.

The playground consists of:

• 2 slides
• A climbing wall
• Steps and ladders
• A bridge made up of individual round steps at differing levels connected by rubber coated chains.

There are no swings, and if there is a large number of kids playing, the structure quickly gets overrun and it becomes hard to keep track of kids.

I didn't manage to get a picture of this playground when we recently visited because my son actually slipped and fell on the bridge section, hitting his head on the hand railing and necessitating a visit from the paramedics to make sure he was ok.  I am most definitely NOT a fan of that bridge, especially with the hard metal pieces and metal hand rails.  It is definitely not accessible to kids under about 4 and I really wish it had a traditional bridge that wouldn't allow kids to slip through the cracks.

EDIT to add picture:

Duluth Parks page

Memorial Park

Memorial park is right downtown in West Duluth.  It is situated on the corner of Grand Ave. and Central Ave., and as you can guess by the names, they are very busy streets.  Fortunately, the entire park is enclosed by a chain link fence, minus one entrance/exit right at the corner.  It does make me a little nervous with a very adventurous two year old, but the entrance is a good enough distance from the playgrounds that I can see if he takes off before he would reach a street.

The park actually consists of two separate playgrounds but are close enough together that I wouldn't worry about kids being at both structures at the same time and trying to keep an eye on them.  Both are a sand surface with a fairly large area for kids to spread out and dig/drive trucks and not run into any other kiddos.  It is also located right next door to Laura MacArthur Elementary School (rubber tire chip surface), so if you want a lot of variety in play structures, this might be a fantastic location to go and flit from structure to park to park.

There are several benches surrounding the playgrounds, a picnic table or two out in the open and an entire pavilion filled with picnic tables.  There are three porta-potties next to the entrance.

The playground that is designed for younger kids is a ship, just like the one at Playfront park.  It consists of:

• 2 slides
• Speaking tube
• Periscope and steering wheel
• Ladders, steps

The older kid playground has:

• 2 slides
• Rock climbing walls (one with holds, one without)
• Digger
• Monkey bars
• Steering wheel
• Wobbly steps
• Speaking tube
• 2 swings
• 2 baby swings

Duluth Parks page