How to Plan a Playground Crawl in 4 steps

My first summer home with both of my kids I wanted to create a couple summer traditions that we could keep for years to come. As of right now, it seems we have quite a few traditions, but one of our favourite is our annual Playground Crawl. We schedule this for the end of August as a last Hurrah before September and back to school.
Here are the 4 steps that I do to make our crawl a success.
Step 1: Create the Event
Choose a date and create an event on Facebook. I usually pre-plan a rain date as well to share in the event as I am creating in. You could make your event and invite people to it, and then try to come to a consensus on a date, but I like to keep things simple and just give the date at the beginning.
Step 2: Get Recommendations
Ask all the people in your group what their favourite playgrounds in the area are. We always seem to have at least one playground recommended to us that we haven’t been to before. I always try to include those in our crawl so the kids have a chance to explore a new place.
Step 3: Make your Schedule
Use the recommendations to create a list of playgrounds to hit and in an order that makes the most sense for transportation. If you tend to go to the same playgrounds that you are including in your crawl, and it’s going to be a hot day, you might even be able to plan your visits in an order that would maximize shade cover. We learned last year that one of the playgrounds on our list got extremely hot in the sun and there were not a lot of places for the kids to seek shade if they got too hot, so we put that on the list really early this year to avoid the middle of the day heat.
Don’t forget to add times to your order. We usually plan to have 45 minutes at the playground and 15 minutes in between playgrounds to allow for potty breaks, snacks, and wrangling the kids off the playground.
Step 4: T-Shirts!
What crawl would be complete without t-shirts?! One year we had t-shirts made, and they were super cute! But the other years I bought white t-shirts and fabric markers and made my own. As the kids get older, I would love to have them tie-dye t-shirts prior to the crawl and have them use those, or even just give the kids the fabric markers and have them create their own shirts. If you’re going to playgrounds that can get pretty crowded, I recommend everyone buying or wearing a specific colour shirt that is bright and easy to spot.
That’s it, all that is left to do is to show up at the playgrounds at the given times on the crawl day and enjoy your day with your kids and your company.
A few things I recommend packing though in the car for the crawl are:

• Snacks for yourself and the kids. Some to share is always a nice gesture too.
• Water for yourself and the kids. Even if it’s not hot out, the kids can play pretty hard on playground equipment and you don’t want them to get dehydrated.
• Potty. Unless your kids are amazing at peeing in tiny little bushes, you may want to throw in a potty if you have one. We brought one this year because we were in the middle of potty training my youngest, but she was not the only one that benefitted from having it there.
• Wipes. Because you have a potty, or you don’t, and because you have kids who always seem to have a reason to require a wipe.
• Towel. The first couple playgrounds you go to, if it’s early in the morning, can be wet from the dew. A quick wipe with a towel will save the first kid down the slide from looking like they had an accident.
• Coffee, for you. Because you are at a playground with more than just your child, and you are going to need energy and patience.

We always do our Playground Crawl in the Summer, but I think a Fall or Spring one would be great times as well. In the Winter, if you won the lottery, you could always do an indoor playground crawl!
Where is your kids favourite playground?