Parks in Antwerp

What I adore most about Antwerp is the city's recognition that a community is only as strong and sustainable as the quality of the human networks that underpin it.

With that in mind, the parks in Antwerp are truly designed to create and foster those networks from each Antwerpian's earliest age. There are, within the city and its suburbs, two the three well-designed and maintained parks within walking distance. (Seriously, someone posted a Tweet about a broken net at one park and it was repaired by the next day.)

The park games are gorgeous and usually made with environmentally-friendly materials, and the goal of each park, one of the urban planners educated at the University of Antwerp informed me, is to bring together the sometimes disparate communities found in each city quarter. If we play together from an early age, sharing the slides and swings, we tend to do a better job working and living together as adults.

To further support that goal, the city hosts, particularly during school vacations, a variety of free activities overseen by expert animators for kids within the parks. Below is a sample from one park, aptly named Harmony Park, for the summer of 2018.


For those too lazy to figure it out:

• uur is hour (so it denotes the hour the activity begins and ends.) 
• Maandag is Monday.
• Dinsdag is Tuesday.
• Woensdag is Wednesday.
• Donderdag is Thursday.
• Vrijdag is Friday.
• Zondag is Sunday. 

Omnisport included a lot of random sports equipment for kids, from coloured cones and a parachute to baseball bats and (soft) baseballs and, at one point, an inflatable bouncy castle. Kleutersport is even more (if possible) random sports equipment for the pre-school age (again with the bouncy castle.)  Judo is judo, Kung Fu is Kung Fu, Zumba is Zumba, Yoga yog, etc.

For each activity, local animators help all those that show up participate in the available games. Because this is Belgium, indeed, Europe, the animators speak an overlapping assortment of languages. 

Quick disclaimer: This is Europe, so no one has to sign a disclaimer, and this is Belgium, so there is no request for a medical certificate that states you are okay to participate. You participate at your own risk (or at the risk of your kids) and you can't sue anybody if things go south. This is to strengthen the community not inject fresh life in your bank account at the community's expense...

Some random park pictures:

Short Jacket - An Antwerp Symphony musical event for newborns

Looking for something fun, innovative and educational with a newborn or a toddler?

Try the Antwerp Symphony.

Working with a children's development through theater group called De Spiegel, the Antwerp Symphony has developed a series of "musical experiences" aimed at specific age groups.

I went to "Short Jacket," the under one year experience with my three-month old. He was attentive and quiet through the forty-five minute "concert" and slept incredibly well just after.

Kortjakje trailer from Theater De Spiegel on Vimeo.


For the experience, you and your baby (and an adult friend, if you like) show up about 15 minutes early and wait in a comfortable, baby-friendly room.

Then the leader of the experience takes your group into a room full of light and shadows and pillows and weird mobiles designed to stimulate the under-age set.

Once everyone's found a nice place to lie down with each baby, a couple of Antwerp Symphony musicians come in and play random musical chords and noises that science says intrigue baby and stimulate cognitive growth.

You and the baby can move around the room during the "concert" to get a full experience. After about 45 minutes (when science indicates the baby has probably had enough), the musicians take their leave. My baby and I stayed a bit longer - maybe 10 more minutes - to try a few more of the funny mobiles, and then we gathered up our diaper bag and left.

He fell asleep immediately.

Duck Xrossing

 Seen in downtown Antwerp, heading for one of the city's many, many parks...