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Back2BasicPlay

Back2BasicPlay
John LaRue founded Back2BasicPlay, a not-for-profit corporation, to promote how play and games help produce children of character while promoting healthier lifestyles. Back2BasicPlay has formulated a procedure to teach children to create their own games to help them learn how to resolve conflict and gain social skills through play.

Balance Bike

Balance Bike
A balance bike is a training bicycle that has no pedals, gears, or chains. It offers an easy transition from walking to riding, for young children especially.

Bankshot Sports

Bankshot Sports
Invented by Rabbi Reeve Brenner in 1981, the sport of Bankshot Basketball was the beginning of the company, Bankshot Sports. The all-inclusive games offered by Bankshot Sports allow a large number of people of varying abilities to challenge themselves to complete various challenges.

Barbara Butler Artist-Builder, Inc

Barbara Butler Artist-Builder
Barbara Butler Artist-Builder, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 to custom design, build, and install play structures. Barbara Butler combined play and art in her backyard play designs. Most of the play spaces fit one of four standard categories: playhouses, play forts, theaters, and outside structures for grownups.

Basketball

Basketball
The game of basketball is a team sport enjoyed both on the school playground and on indoor courts. The history of the game goes back to the early 1890s with peach baskets nailed to the lower rail of a gymnasium balcony.

BCI Burke

BCI Burke
One of the oldest playground companies in the United States, BCI Burke was founded by John E. Burke in 1920 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Besides having innovative products, safety is also a priority at BCI Burke.

Bears Playgrounds

Bears Playgrounds
In 2000, Danny and Marcye Bears founded Bears Playgrounds, which designs, manufactures, and installs nature-inspired playgrounds nationwide and internationally. The company uses natural materials in their effort to "marry nature with play."

Beckwith, Jay

Jay Beckwith
Jay Beckwith, one of the "fathers of the modern playground," attended Whittier College starting in 1961. He then went to San Francisco State University for a Fine Arts & Design degree in 1963 and did graduate studies at Pacific Oaks College in Child Development in 1965. Jay started designing unique play environments in 1970.

Berliner Seilfabrik Play Equipment Corp

Berliner Seilfabrik Play Equipment Corp
Beginning in Berlin in 1865 as a manufacturer of steel cables for the Berliner elevator industries, Berliner Seilfabrik entered the playground industry in the 1970s with their world famous ropes made into play climbing structures. With nearly 40 years in the play equipment industry, Berliner Seilfabrik GmbH & Co. established the subsidiary, Berliner Seilfabrik Play Equipment Corporation in 2008.

Beyond Access

Beyond Access Logo
Founded by Dr. Keith M. Christensen, the Beyond Access program disseminates information on designing physically accessible and socially inclusive playgrounds for children of all abilities.

BigToys

BigToys
BigToys was started by Chuck Kirby and Al MacPherson in 1962. BigToys' mission has always been "to offer all children commercial playground equipment that provides a safe, positive play experience that is also fun, exciting and most importantly developmentally appropriate."

Biophilia

child loving nature - Biophilia
Described as the love of life and living systems, biophilia is thought to be a genetic result of evolutionary processes. Biophilia is seen in children, especially as they are drawn to animals and enjoy playing outdoors in natural settings.

Block Play

Block Play
Building blocks offer hours of open-ended play and learning, and block play has been a classroom mainstay in early childhood and elementary school education for years. Block play was emphasized and studied by early educators, such as Froebel, Montessori, Hill, and Pratt.

Blue Imp

Blue Imp
Derived from Blue Implement, a farm implement company, Blue Imp became a playground equipment manufacturer in the 1950s. Blue Imp takes safety issues in playgrounds and playground equipment very seriously. They believe, "A well-designed playground gets kids moving without realizing they are getting fit at the same time."

Board Games

Board Games
One of the most popular and enduring types of games are board games. Board games offer an opportunity for people to interact with each other in an entertaining way, as well as exposing children to real life situations that expand their knowledge.

Body Awareness

child holding all ten fingers up, representing her understanding of body awareness
Body awareness is the knowledge of a person’s body parts along with the knowledge of what the parts can do and how to make the parts move. Body awareness helps people orient their bodies to their surrounding environment and helps them navigate through that space.

Bone Fractures

Bone Fractures
Two-thirds of all injuries on playgrounds involve bone fractures. Nearly all of these fractures (90%) involve upper limbs and come from falls from monkey bars or climbing frames.

Boston Schoolyard Initiative

Boston Schoolyard Initiative
The Boston Schoolyard Initiative (BSI) was a partnership with private and public organizations for the purpose of "transforming schoolyards into dynamic centers for recreation, learning and community life."

Boundless Playgrounds

Boundless Playgrounds
Amy Jaffe Barzach founded Jonathan's Dream, which led to Boundless Playgrounds mission to create truly accessible and integrated playgrounds within reach of every child. Boundless Playgrounds raised awareness of the play needs of all people and in the process was instrumental in helping raise the standards in the playground industry.

Bowers, Louis

Louis Bowers
For 40 years Dr. Louis Bowers was a physical education researcher, grant writer, professor, author, and administrator in the higher education arena with a specialty in Adapted Physical Education and a focus on the development of children with disabilities through play.

Boy Scouts of America

Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is a youth program based on character development and values-based leadership training with the mission to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Boys & Girls Clubs of America
As a coalition of over 1100 independent clubs in America and on U.S. military bases, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America support the development of good character and citizenship, academic success, and healthy lifestyles for school-aged youth.

Brachiation

Brachiation
Defined as locomotion accomplished by swinging by the arms from one hold to another, brachiation is the action used to maneuver overhead playground equipment. Skills developed from brachiation include building strength, endurance, and flexibility as well as eye-hand coordination, visual distance perception, and balanced locomotor patterns.

Brain Injury Association of America

Brain Injury Association of America
As the "voice of brain injury," the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) is the oldest and largest brain injury advocacy organization in the United States. Advocacy, research, and educating the public have been the primary focuses of the Brain Injury Association through the years.

Braucher, Howard S

Howard S. Braucher
Howard S. Braucher provided a clear vision of the role and importance of recreation for all people, guided the emerging American recreation movement, and anchored the National Recreation Association as a supportive organization of play and recreation.

Brewer’s Ledge

Brewer’s Ledge
Founded by Jeff Brewer and Conant Brewer in 1990, Brewer's Ledge designs and manufactures climbing structures for playgrounds. At Brewer's Ledge, they "believe climbing is one of the best full body, functional training activities in the world and has a valued place in every training and recreation program."

Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play

Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play
Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, now known as The Strong, officially named their library and archive holdings the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play in 2009. With 130,000 volumes the library is "devoted to the intellectual, social, and cultural history of play."

Bricks 4 Kidz

Bricks 4 Kidz
A LEGO-based play and learning franchise business opportunity owned by Creative Learning Corporation, Bricks 4 Kidz offers building activities for children ages 3-13+ that engage their curiosity and creativity.

Brown, Stuart

Dr. Stuart Brown
Dr. Stuart Brown is a leading play expert who has researched and written about the significance of play in the lives of animals and humans and how free play develops the social and locomotive skills in children that are necessary in life. He founded the National Institute for Play to focus on the research on play.

Brown, Virgil K

Virgil K. Brown
Virgil K. Brown was a scholar and an author of the recreation movement in America as well as the administrator of the Chicago Park District Recreation Division.

Build Your Own Playground!

Build Your Own Playground!
Build Your Own Playground! A Sourcebook of Play Sculptures, Designs, and Concepts from the Work of Jay Beckwith contains planning and building details for creative playgrounds built from unorthodox materials with community volunteers. The book was written by Jeremy Joan Hewes with Jay Beckwith and was published in 1975.

Build-A-Bear Workshop

Build-A-Bear Workshop
Founded in 1997, Build-A-Bear Workshop is a global company that offers an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment experience. Maxine Clark opened the first Build-A-Bear Workshop in the Saint Louis Galleria.

Bullying

two young girls verbally bullying another young girl
Bullying has been defined as a type of aggressive behavior that causes distress or harm, demonstrates an imbalance of power, and is repeated over time. There are three major forms of bullying: physical, emotional, and verbal.

Burriss, Kathleen

Dr Kathleen Burriss
An authority on early childhood development and play, Dr. Kathleen Burriss is professor at Middle Tennessee State University. Dr. Burriss is a prolific writer and speaker on the subjects of early childhood learning, outdoor learning, and play.

Butler, George D

George D. Butler
George D. Butler was the National Recreation Association's Director of Research for forty-three years and the author of several recreation books. George became known as "a pathfinder, a ground breaker, and a pioneer" who "laid the foundation" of an effective service infrastructure within the emerging recreation field.

BYO Recreation

BYO Recreation
As a playground, sports, and park equipment distributor, BYO Recreation's company motto is within their name: Beyond Your Ordinary Recreation. They believe that "play is an important part of a child's development" and that "playgrounds provide numerous benefits for children, both mentally and physically."

Byrd, Danny

Danny Byrd - Cre8Play designer
Danny Byrd is a playground equipment designer for Cre8Play, a custom play designer and manufacturer. His work in the playground industry included serving on several ASTM International committees.
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