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Today's Play News and Views

Playground Professionals keep you up to date on relevant play & playground information, covering a broad range of topics about organizations, events, companies, and articles from people who have contributed to the play and playground industry.

08/26/2026

You've had the bake sales. You've sold the popcorn. You've washed the cars, hit up every local business, and squeezed everything you can from your community's fundraising goodwill.

And the playground project is still short.

Grant writing is the natural next step — but if you've never done it, the process can feel like a wall. Where do you even find grants? What do funders actually want to see? What do you do when a proposal gets rejected?

A practical guide for playground fundraising committees ready to move beyond the bake sale: https://bit.ly/4gUdElT

08/12/2026

Most communities don't set out to leave anyone behind. Parks get built to code. Playgrounds get approved. Ribbons get cut. And yet — somewhere between the blueprint and the swing set — a child ends up standing at the edge of the fence, watching. 🛝

That gap between "playground" and "plays with everyone" is where inclusive design lives.

A new feature on Playground Professionals walks through the framework guiding the field's best inclusive spaces, five advocates whose stories will stick with you (including a young girl in Texas whose mother's advocacy transformed every elementary playground in her school district), and the hard question every parks director should be asking:

Not just "can they get in?" — but "once they're in, can they stay, play, and connect?"

Read the full feature: https://bit.ly/4i3IMAr

07/30/2026

Have you ever been "voluntold" to plan a new playground?

If so, you already know it's a bigger project than it looks — and a really important one. There's a right way to do this: form the right committee, phase your fundraising, hire a certified installer, and plan for maintenance from day one.

Here's the first-timer's guide we wish everyone had before they started: https://bit.ly/4bo1FKp

07/22/2026

Our comment section has been busy this month — and the conversations are as good as the articles. 🛝

📌 A wall still standing after 25 years. One of BOLDR's earliest customers wrote in: the climbing wall they installed in their township park around 2001 is still in use and in good shape — but the signs have faded. We answered with what to do when the original manufacturer is no longer in business: reproducing signage from ASTM guidelines, sourcing compatible handholds and hardware, and getting a CPSI evaluation.
👉 https://bit.ly/4fu9pM3

📌 A reader summed up playground construction better than we did. On Tim McNamara's build guide, a commenter nailed it — the projects that run smoothly are the ones where the budget, the preconstruction meeting, and a realistic timeline are locked down before anyone breaks ground. Equipment lead times, utility locates, and weather delays are where schedules go to die.
👉 https://bit.ly/4vP6cwJ

📌 From the archive: a 10-acre park build in Port Orange, Florida. Impact-fee funded, ADA-accessible, 10 inches of wood chip surfacing. A reader's take: "I love to see local councils make an effort" — agreed.
👉 https://bit.ly/4waqqC2
playgroundprofessionals

Got a question about a playground you own, build, or maintain? Drop it in the comments. We read every one — and we answer.

07/15/2026

In 2006, this magazine published an urgent warning about a hidden fall hazard on multi-deck playground climbers — the kind of hazard that had already claimed a young girl's life.
The article called out a specific loophole in industry standards. It named the problem. It told owners and operators what to look for. And it worked.
Twenty years later, the CPSC and ASTM standards have been revised multiple times, and the equipment configurations that killed children in 2001 can no longer be sold as compliant. But older equipment installed before those changes may still be in service — and that's where playground owners and operators still come in.
Read the original 2006 piece and our 2026 update: https://bit.ly/4hdId6C

07/08/2026

There's a rumor that only highly trained experts can design a great playground.
It's not true. 🛝
One of the best planning guides for the job has been sitting on a state agency's website for over 20 years — free, 55 pages, developed by parks professionals for the small communities, PTAs, and parks departments who need it most. Site analysis, budgets, accessibility, installation, maintenance — all with checklists at the end of every section.
If you're planning a playground project, this is where to start: https://bit.ly/4gnmvge

07/01/2026

A playground is only as safe as the person who builds it. 🛝
Before you sign a contract with any playground installer, there are four things worth verifying: state licensing, insurance coverage, CPSI certification, and experience. Here's how to check each one — and why the installer really is the final link in the whole playground process.
Read: https://bit.ly/4gm8Lm1

06/24/2026

You see a broken swing at the playground. Now what?
Most parents and grandparents have been in this position — wondering whether to say something, who to call, whether it'll even matter. Turns out, your local parks department really wants to hear from you. They just need you to know how to reach them.

Here's a practical guide to reporting playground issues in your community, plus a little history on how citizen reporting became one of the most effective tools in parks maintenance: https://bit.ly/4vtDEt9

06/17/2026

Protect the right to play for all children by recognizing the signs of bullying on the playground: https://bit.ly/4eMUEoq

05/20/2026

Small site? Small budget? You can still build a great playground.
Two real schools prove it — one a landlocked elementary in Indiana, one a district of 23 playgrounds in North Carolina. Both started with the same constraints most communities face, and both ended up with spaces their kids genuinely love.
Practical tips for committees, equipment choices, and phasing the work: https://bit.ly/3PM4A7Y

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