WORLDWIDE | PLAYGROUND BUDDY, THE FIRST PLAYGROUND TRACKER

(By Charlotte Burgoyne)

You've just spent a couple of hours in the Louvre Museum in Paris and your kiddo desperately needs to run around. The nearest playground please? No need to dig out your best French to ask around, just open your Playground Buddy application on your phone. In seconds you will have access to over 200 000 playgrounds around the world, including the most touristic places, as well as other random destinations. For instance, you will find over 20 000 playgrounds in the States, 8 000 in France, 400 in Mexico, 39 in Morocco and 14 in Vietnam.

Developed a couple of years ago by two moms, Playground Buddy's main goal is to help out parents in need. "I remember being in the car once with my two young kids and they were going crazy. I needed a playground right then, and had no idea how to find one", explains Christine Baghdassarian, one of the founders.

Today about 25 000 parents have downloaded the app, and Christine often receives messages from happy parents. Her favorite one? A simple "Thank you!!!" Christine confesses,"This email made me feel so good as I can imagine they were in same situation that I was and needed something fast."

Available on iOS and Android, Playground Buddy is free to download and use, all you need is an internet connection. In order to locate a playground near you, you just open the map and zoom in on where you are and the playgrounds will appear in green (see the screenshots below). You can easily zoom in and out of the map.

  In addition to the playground's location, you can also get info about its infrastructure if available, such as benches, picnic tables, play structures, slides, swings, washrooms, etc, as well as a picture. The additional information is mainly available in the States but you are welcome to add info on any of the playgrounds pinpointed, or even add any new ones you may find.