Take the Kids: New Panthers-themed playground, challenge course offers something for all ages

Here, you'll find traditional play pieces for toddlers to tweens — the usual slides, swings and climbing apparatuses, but the slides are taller, the swings offer more options and there are lots of ways for kids to climb.

Check out this tall, twisty slide.

When my daughter's friend went down, I heard her yell, "That's a drop!" The swings include bucket and belt options, along with a swing that parents and babies can use together. On its own, these traditional play pieces would make Barwell Road a park worth traveling to.

But what really makes this new playground stand out is the Panthers Play 60 challenge course, which has been described as a Ninja Warrior meets NFL combine experience.

The course takes kids (and adults if you want!) through a series of 11 different obstacles — from ninja steps to a traverse wall and u-turn ramp like these.

Kids line up at the start, start a timer so they can time how long it takes them to run through the course and go one-by-one through it, trying to best their time. You might be skeptical that a bunch of kids can wait their turn patiently to run through this really fun-looking course, but I saw it happen Wednesday night. As many as eight kids waited their turn, helping each other to press the button to ensure the fastest time.

Next to the starting line for the course also is a 40-yard dash with two lanes for kids to test their speed. Unfortunately, the timer for this feature wasn't working when we were there. But that didn't stop kids from running their fastest. (I actually timed a few while I was standing there with my daughter and her friend.)

There's also spot to take your picture and to hear a pep talk (though that wasn't working when we were there either).

The intent of the challenge course is to provide kids ages 13 and up, who have aged out of traditional play equipment, a place to play.

When we were there, most of the kids were under 13. But my almost 12-year-old daughter, who is nearly four inches taller than me and often too tall for traditional play equipment, and her good friend had a blast, along with the other kids who lined up to wait their turn. My daughter says she thinks kids ages 10 and up would have fun navigating the obstacles.

Last August, the Carolina Panthers presented a $150,000 check to the Raleigh City Council to build the Panthers Play 60 course. The play space is intended to provide new kinds of health and fitness opportunities in southeast Raleigh. It's part of a decade-old NFL initiative to encourage kids to get at least an hour of physical activity each day.