In 2009, Curtis Stoddard developed the concept of a business plan for a play and playground encyclopedia. Curtis had been participating in many aspects of the playground industry and had amassed thousands of books, articles, and other information about play and playgrounds. The encyclopedia idea appealed to Curtis as he had a high regard for history, and an encyclopedia would be a wonderful way to record play and playground history.
Playground Professionals LLC was created to develop and produce the Play and Playground Encyclopedia. Playground Professionals debuted the Play and Playground Encyclopedia in January of 2011 with 100 listings. At the beginning of 2012, Playground Professionals began their first marketing campaign and by then the Encyclopedia contained over 400 listings. They had also introduced the Park and Recreation Equipment Directory, the Local Playground Professionals Directory, and the Playground Professionals News Center in 2012. By 2015, the Encyclopedia contained over 635 listings.
The Play and Playground Encyclopedia mission statement is that the encyclopedia is to research and document play and playground information in a general nonbiased, fact-based synopsis that gives a reader a brief but accurate assessment of that play or playground information.
Information begins at Jane Addams, a 20th century play advocate, and moves through the alphabet to zoos. In between those listings are listings about companies, manufacturers, historical and current play people, organizations, safety, health, play and playground terms, books, magazines, blogs, events, and anything that relates to play or playgrounds.
The Play and Playground Encyclopedia is not a wiki publication. All articles and listings are researched and written by the Play and Playground Encyclopedia staff of writers. Listings on the encyclopedia are free of charge. The encyclopedia is supported by paid advertising. The encyclopedia is a living document which is continually growing and evolving with new listings and updates to existing listings.
Writers for the encyclopedia have included Judy Atchley, Ken Kutska, Jan Neish, Peggy Payne, Curtis Stoddard, Larry Watts, and Rita Watts.