Play:groundNYC

On May 28, 2016, play:groundNYC opened a 50,000 square foot[4] junk playground staffed by playworkers on Governors Island.[5][6][7][8][9] The playground is divided into two sections: a "mud kitchen" for children ages 3 and up, and a larger "junk playground" for ages 6 and up. The mud kitchen consists of fabrics, tents, assorted toys, sticks, dirt, water, pots and pans, and mud. The junk playground contains hammers and nails, saws, shovels and other tools, tires, lumber, tarpaulin, pipes, and other materials.[10][11]

In May 2018, the playground was renamed "The Yard" after the Yard, the first junk playground opened in the United States, in Minneapolis in 1949.[12]

play:ground holds pop-up playground events in New York City. It has brought pop-up playgrounds to street fairs and several parks including Fort Greene Park,[13][14] Prospect Park,[15] Maria Hernandez Park, Governors Island,[16] and Brower Park.[17][18]

During January and February 2016, play:groundNYC installed and led an indoor adventure playground in the Brooklyn Children's Museum. The installation was located on the second floor gallery and consisted of loose objects–-cardboard boxes, fabrics, rope, tape, and other materials. It was staffed by playworkers.[19]

Play:groundNYC hosts film screenings and panel discussions related to adventure playgrounds, playwork, "risky play," and racial, socio-economic, and other barriers to free play, such as "play-averse schooling regimes."[20] These are generally held in museums and schools and feature The Land, a short documentary film about the nature of play, risk and hazard set in The Land, a Welsh "adventure” playground.[21]