Playground Director

A playground allows children to run, jump, splash, learn, and interact. It also allows parents to take a break from the arduous task of entertaining their children day in and day out. This means that if you’re a Playground Director, you’re like a temporary “parent” while the kids are in your playground. Playground Directors develop activities to entertain the kids, and make sure the playground is safe for them to use.

As a Playground Director, you walk around the playground and examine the equipment long before the first kids arrive. You ride the merry-go-round, swing on the swings, take a spin down the slide, and walk along the monkey bars. If you find that any equipment is broken, you notify your Supervisor and rope off that equipment so children will stay away. If your park has a wading pool, you may drain it and refill it each morning.

You also set up special activities, such as face painting or crafts. You may hold one activity per week, or one activity every day. Along the way, you keep track of how many kids come to your special activities, and how many stay away in favor of playing on the equipment instead.

You watch over the children in the playground with care. You break up little squabbles if the parents haven’t already done so. And if a child falls or is somehow seriously injured, you call for emergency help.

You do your best to make the playground both safe and fun. You look for new equipment that might be fun for kids to use, and then you gambol about on the equipment yourself to show those shy kids just how fun that equipment can truly be. You’re not afraid to look foolish in front of your tiny customers.