Play is a fun and integral part of a young child’s day as they learn, grow, and develop. Outdoor playspaces, such as playgrounds, offer children multiple avenues to engage in physical activity with peers, which promotes physical, social-emotional, and mental health. However, these opportunities are not universally available to families: One study found that fewer parks were available to children living in poverty, a finding that was true in both urban and non-urban settings and for children of different races.

To effectively make the case for more playspaces, we need more information on how playspaces promote children’s development. Evaluations of outdoor playspaces must consider both children’s development across multiple domains (i.e., physical, social, and emotional/mental health) and the characteristics of the playspace itself (e.g., design, quality, and utilization). This blog highlights potential tools and best practices for measuring child development outcomes in playspace evaluations.

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We reviewed 132 different tools in total—115 child development measures and 17 playspace assessments. We narrowed the list of to 15 promising assessments:

These measures covered the developmental domains of interest noted above, were appropriate for use with children ages 3 to 5, and were classified as assessments, not screeners (since developmental screeners are only designed to identify children at risk for some form of developmental delay, which requires further assessment to confirm a diagnosis).

For we also identified 15 tools:

These tools were considered because they measured playspace use and acceptance by capturing group activity levels and/or children’s engagement with the playspaces, measured the developmental appropriateness of playspaces, and covered group social dynamics within the playspace.

The project team piloted two child development measures and one assessment of playspaces that seemed best suited for our needs: the Child Development Inventory (CDI), Developmental Profile 4 (DP-4), and the System for Observing Play and Leisure Activity in Youth (SOPLAY). These measures aligned with our priority child-level outcomes and were accessible to the research team within a short timeline, including time for training field staff. Two additional promising measures of child development stood out—Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (PDMS-3) and Penn Interactive Preschool Play Scales (PIPPS)—along with two additional useful playspace measures—the Playspace Inequity Prioritization Index (PIPI) and the 2024 KABOOM! Playspace Assessment Tool (PAT)—but we lacked time or resources for additional piloting.

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After piloting the CDI, DP-4, and SOPLAY in selected early childhood programs in Philadelphia, we offer the following recommendations for implementing evaluations of child outcomes and outdoor playspace characteristics.

Evaluating the role of outdoor playspaces on child development offers families, early learning providers, policymakers, and researchers more information about the value of play in a child’s development. Collectively, we can use the recommendations in this blog to plan effective evaluations that aim to assess the impact of playspace features, quality, and use on child development outcomes.

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For this series that includes examining the physical, social-emotional, and mental health benefits of playgrounds, Child Trends performed the literature and measures reviews while KABOOM! staff conducted the measures pilot. KABOOM! is a national nonprofit organization focused on promoting playspace equity—i.e., addressing the limited access to high-quality and age-appropriate playspaces for children in communities experiencing the ongoing effects of systemic racism.