Ramsey, NJ (Finch Park)

Finch Park

194 Church Street

Ramsey, NJ 07446

Pros: 

• Plenty of parking close to the entrance of the playground
• Some picnic benches and a water fountain near the playground
• Fencing around most of the playground
• A few different, spacious structures (one castle themed, the other a ship, a small "train set" with a tunnel, slide, and table in a "train car").  Claire (who is nearing 2) likes to go on the "big kid" structures and they were spacious enough for me to follow her comfortably while other kids were playing
• 6 toddler swings
• Fairly shady
• There is a very large sand box!  Shovels and pails included.  I have not come across a sand box at any other park thus far.  It was cool to see.

Cons:

• Not totally fenced in.  This is a non-issue for me now, having only one child, but when I spoke with another Mom she said she loved a particular park because it was completely fenced in and even though she was watching her kids she liked knowing it was fenced in.
• There is a very large sand box! The germophobe in me was freaking out a little.  I am okay with playing with sand, but I prefer it to be our sand that only we handle...

Nice to know:

• Right next to a train track.  While we were there (for about 40 minutes), 3 trains went by. 
• There are 5 baseball fields and when there is a little league game, the snack bar at the John McKeown Pavilion is open.  The snack bar is open only during games, and after 5pm during the week if there is a game going on.  
• There are restrooms located in this pavilion, which is about 100 steps from the playground.
• There are 2 basketball courts, what looked like a roller hockey rink, and what looked like batting cages.  If this is something you are interested in, try to confirm it before going there and being disappointed by my description of what I saw.
• No dogs allowed.

Our rating:  We give this park 4 out of 5 swings.  ;)