Places to Play

Playspaces are a critical part of the infrastructure of childhood. High-quality places to play offer children opportunities to get physical activity, build social skills, and use their imagination. While the importance of play opportunities is widely recognized, many children still lack access to safe places to play, especially in communities of color and lower-income communities. Playspaces, a term that encompasses both conventional playgrounds as well as less traditional spaces that encourage play, serve a critical role in providing children with the landscape they need to grow.  

These spaces are especially important for children ages 0-6. During these years, children rapidly develop critical skills they need for their future success, and research shows that playspaces help build the foundation for their physical, cognitive, and social emotional growth. 

• Physical Health:  Outdoor play, such as playing on playgrounds, provides the best opportunity for physical activity and motor skills development for many children ages 0-6 ( Koepp et al. 2022 ). Age-appropriate play equipment has been shown to help children develop muscle strength and coordination ( Sutterby and Frost 2002 ).   

• Cognitive Development & Learning: Physical activity and outdoor play has been linked to increased school readiness in preschoolers ( Becker et al. 2018 ). Children who get more activity tend to have better attention spans and memory recall, as play promotes executive function, which is the process of learning ( Yogman et al. 2018 ). Social interactions through play also contributes to critical-thinking, creativity, and language development skills ( Zosh et al. 2017 ).

• Social and Emotional Skills: Playspaces provide young children a foundational opportunity to practice social emotional skills, heavily contributing to their success and wellbeing in many facets of life beyond the playground. Engaging in play is an age-appropriate learning opportunity for children to practice self-regulation behaviors which they then apply in other settings ( Bodrova and Leong 2008 ). Young children who engaged in pretend play in their early developmental period are found to be more prosocial in later periods of life ( Spivak and Howes 2011 ). Children also develop skills they need to deal with toxic-stress through play ( Yogman et al. 2018 ).   

While the benefits of play for young children are well documented, far too many children – especially children of color – miss out on access to quality playspaces where they live, learn, and play. A recent Review of Studies and Data on Playspace Equity for Children completed by KABOOM!, NC State University, and the College of Charleston ( Huang et al. 2022 )  identified four primary themes regarding equity in access and quality of playspaces available for youth:  

These themes, which disproportionally impact low-resourced communities and communities of color, bar children from access to quality playspaces, limiting their ability to gain the multitude of benefits derived from play.   

To further our understanding of playspace inequities across Philadelphia,  KABOOM!  and  Child Care Aware ^®  of America  (CCAoA) partnered together to create the 2023 Playspace Equity Story Map for the City of Philadelphia. KABOOM! and CCAoA believe that playspaces are a developmental necessity for children ages 0-6 and that access to quality playspaces in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods and child care facilities will benefit all children and families. KABOOM! and CCAoA created this Story Map to understand the landscape of Playspace Equity in Philadelphia for children ages 0-6 and to identify priority areas for investment of playspaces through an equity-informed approach.  

Creating this story map was as much a science as an art; to fully understand the state of play in Philadelphia  we mapped playspace access and neighborhood priority for future early learning playspace investments using priority scores ,  explored access to playspaces for Early Care and Education providers through walkability models and surveys , and  we worked to validate and contextualize our findings through community interviews.   Finally, we suggest some strategies for how to move the work of playspace equity and access forward.  We invite you to explore the tabs above or simply scroll down to explore our findings and the map. 

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KABOOM! and CCAoA’s overall goal was to develop a map of priority spaces for early learning investments for Philadelphia’s youngest children ages 0-6, especially those in child care settings. To do this, we analyzed demographic data, locations of existing playspaces and other early learning infrastructure, and locations of child care. The final results produced "Priority Scores” which, when displayed on a map, help identify census tracts, neighborhoods, and planning throughout the city that are a priority for early learning playspace investments. The lighter the purple, the lower the priority score. The darker the purple, the higher the priority score, suggesting the need for increased investment in early learning playspaces.

To validate and contextualize the playspace equity map, KABOOM! partnered with a local Philadelphia-based consultant to interview more than 25 representatives from 11 of the higher-priority neighborhoods. Residents who we interviewed overwhelmingly validated the map and affirmed the need for playspace investment in their communities. In addition to validating the mapping results, residents shared key insights into the unique barriers and challenges they face in accessing quality playspaces.  

Our map indicates that many young children in Philadelphia (ages 0-6) are missing out on access to quality playspaces in their neighborhoods and early childcare centers. Nearly 40% of surveyed early childcare providers lacked access to an on-site or off-site playground and nearly one third of Philadelphia’s census tracts do not have a playground. 

Addressing these equity gaps demands that we look beyond individual projects or programs and adopt a comprehensive, equitable, and holistic approach. Children spend only an estimated 20% of their waking hours in school, so while it’s important to build playspaces at ECE and PreK centers where kids learn, it’s also essential to create playspaces in the neighborhoods where kids live, and in the parks and libraries where kids play. Our vision for playspace equity in Philadelphia (shown on the right) is to provide young children with a “surround sound” of play and early learning opportunities in the spaces where they spend time.  

In order to end playspace inequity, we must first understand where inequities exist and the communities impacted. Through efforts such as mapping playspace access and assessing playspace quality, which take a data-informed approach with a commitment to racial equity, organizations, systems, and partners can address the issue of playspace inequity by directing resources and investments to the highest priority communities.

Looking ahead we hope that policymakers, city leaders, planners and change makers use this story map as a tool to inform investment in play, learning, and recreational infrastructure. By taking a more targeted approach that focuses on priority neighborhoods, we can coordinate efforts to infuse play and learning opportunities into areas where there is the greatest need for playspaces and the greatest potential for transformative impact.  

We encourage further endeavors to use data-driven and community engaged research methods to continue to advance early childhood access and equity nationwide. It’s important to recognize that quantitative data is a valuable starting point for understanding the equitable distribution of playspaces in a city, but it alone doesn't provide a complete picture of a community. Residents of the identified areas need to be engaged to provide qualitative context and better understand the challenges they face and the solutions they envision.  

On another note, the lack of playspace quality data was a limitation in this study. It would be beneficial to have more information about the quality of existing playgrounds to better understand the opportunities for improvement.  

Both KABOOM! and CCAoA will continue to use data-driven and community engaged research methods to advance early childhood access and equity nationwide. And, we encourage you to take the methods, ideas, and principles discussed here and implement them in your work.

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