Playground: Child Care App

After School Development

About this app

Playground is the leading early childhood management system used by hundreds of thousands of child care providers, teachers, and families. It is an all-in-one platform for child care operations & family connection
From classrooms to the front office to families at home, Playground gives everyone the tools they need to stay in sync, reduce administrative overhead, and create better child care experiences. Get real-time access to daily activity updates, billing, enrollment, compliance, messaging, and more. Directors save hours of admin work per week. Families get a window into their child’s day. Teachers spend less time on paperwork and more time teaching.

FAMILY EXPERIENCE
Engage families with a single platform that makes communication effortless and meaningful.
Real-time activity feed (meals, naps, diapering, potty, sunscreen)
Daily reports with photos, videos, and notes
Personalized calendars and newsletters
Digital paperwork and e-signatures
In-app messaging, announcements, and RSVPs
Mobile check-in/out with ETA sharing
Tuition billing and payment in one place

CENTER OPERATIONS
Manage daily workflows across every area of your program, from check-in to licensing reports.
Digital attendance & live ratio tracking
Staff clock-in/out & timecards
Pay staff and file payroll taxes
CACFP and subsidy tracking
Paperwork automation and custom packets
Late pickup fee automation
Allergy alerts and food program tracking
Licensing-ready reports

LEARNING & OBSERVATION
Support child development and curriculum planning with tools that work for teachers and families.
Lesson plan builder and internal curriculum bank
State standard alignment or custom domains
Developmental milestone tracking
Child development reports
Activity observations with media
Easy family sharing

ENGAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION
Keep families informed and staff aligned—with minimal lift.
Messaging, daily student feed, branded email newsletters, and SMS announcements
Staff <> family communication
Scheduled posts and approval settings
Media gallery and downloadable content
Engagement dashboard with classroom and student-level insights

REPORTING & COMPLIANCE
Replace clunky systems with one fast, customizable reporting suite.
Customizable, real-time reports across billing, attendance, staff time, food, and more
Exportable and printable reports for licensing and audits
Ratio alerts and missing signature flags

Whether you’re a parent checking in from your phone or a director running a multi-site operation, Playground brings clarity, connection, and control to every part of your day.

Download Playground today and experience the difference.

Ratings and reviews

Checkout never works right. Half the time it doesn't register at all. The other half it randomly checks in/out hours after the fact. Brightwheel so much better. Videos lack a time bar or zoom. Photos snap back to unzoomed. There no parent directory. Signin/sign requires a signature is pointless. Who is actually signing and is verifying it? Messages and child updates are in the same list so important things get buried. Also they charge you $ no matter how you pay bills.

this app payment processing is set up and running in an illegal way in Indiana. they charge 3.09% +30 cents processing fees at my daycare that is set up to be a non-profit. when making a payment in the app in indiana its suppose to differentiate between debit and credit and be no fees for debit. however since it does not its defaulted to automatically take the higher fee which in Indiana is illegal 🤔

Staff is friendly and the platform is easy to use. My center is loving Playground!

What’s new

- Optional support for geofencing check-ins when door locks are managed by Playground
- Performance improvements and bug fixes