Intuitive family communication for child care programs

Make your families and staff happier with daily updates, secure messaging, and frictionless communication without juggling multiple apps.

Classroom Chat
Classroom Chat
Classroom Chat

Join 300,000+ owners, directors, teachers, and families already on Playground

Intuitive and streamlined

Engage families every day—without adding to your team’s workload

Playground makes it easy to keep families informed and engaged with real-time updates, media, and daily reports — all from a single, intuitive platform. Whether it’s a message about lunch, a sweet photo, or a full daily summary, families stay in the loop and feel more connected to your program.

Share photos and videos with real-time notifications

Send announcements as in-app messages, SMS texts, or emails

Customize automatic daily reports

Schedule publish times for posts and texts

Translations available for non-English-speaking families

Celebrate important moments

Document milestones, activities, and everything in between

From nap times to potty breaks, Playground makes it effortless to track and share key moments of a child’s day. Staff can log updates in seconds from their phones, and everything is automatically added to a child’s feed.

Track naps, potty, diapering, meals, sunscreen, fluids, injuries, and more

Add timestamps and notes to any activity

Automatically generated student activity feeds

Customize which activities to track and share

Post approvals, editing, and pinned posts

Digital parent signatures to acknowledge receipt

Branded & polished

Run professional newsletters with your branding

Keep families in the loop with beautifully branded newsletters that look great on every device.

Drag-and-drop editor

Fully branded with your logo, colors, and fonts

Share upcoming events, holidays, closures, and reminders

Add links, images, and attachments

Schedule or send instantly

Calendar management

Built-in calendar for events, menus, and RSVPs

Playground’s calendar supports everything from one-off events to recurring updates. Families get a clear view of what’s happening at your center, and you can collect RSVPs, post menus, and add important closures in seconds.

Shared program-wide calendar

Custom event types

RSVP support

Daily menus and flyers

Messaging

Streamline staff and family messaging

Send messages directly to families or groups without using your personal phone number. Staff can share updates quickly, while everything stays organized and archived on each child’s timeline.

Two-way messaging between staff and families

Custom group chats

Separate communication streams for each program or classroom

Chat moderation built-in

Engagement Dashboard
Engagement Dashboard

Live dashboards

Track engagement across classrooms and children

The Engagement Dashboard gives you a full view of how often families are receiving updates —and from whom. Ensure consistent communication across all classrooms and all children.

Posts per classroom or child

Compare engagement by day or team

Spot gaps in communication instantly

Preferred by families

The communication upgrade your families will thank you for

You no longer need five different tools to keep families updated. With Playground, everything’s in one place — mobile-friendly, beautifully branded, and built for real-time child care.

Cut down on missed messages

Simplify team workflows

Create more meaningful relationships with families

Keep licensing happy with well-documented, consistent communication

FAQs

How can I communicate with families on Playground?

Playground centralizes all child care communication through a real-time feed for daily updates, direct messaging between staff and families, customizable email newsletters, and a shared calendar for events, menus, and reminders.

Can families receive real-time updates about their child’s day?

Does Playground support direct messaging with families?

Can centers send newsletters and announcements?

Is the calendar shared with families?

Is communication included in the Playground subscription?

How can I communicate with families on Playground?

Playground centralizes all child care communication through a real-time feed for daily updates, direct messaging between staff and families, customizable email newsletters, and a shared calendar for events, menus, and reminders.

Can families receive real-time updates about their child’s day?

Does Playground support direct messaging with families?

Can centers send newsletters and announcements?

Is the calendar shared with families?

Is communication included in the Playground subscription?

How can I communicate with families on Playground?

Playground centralizes all child care communication through a real-time feed for daily updates, direct messaging between staff and families, customizable email newsletters, and a shared calendar for events, menus, and reminders.

Can families receive real-time updates about their child’s day?

Does Playground support direct messaging with families?

Can centers send newsletters and announcements?

Is the calendar shared with families?

Is communication included in the Playground subscription?

Easier communication starts now

Don’t settle for rigid or clunky apps. Book a demo to see how easy communication can be.