Why these playgrounds disappeared
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@ChrisCB0328
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Alfred NY still has one! It’s technically a part of the Montessori daycare, but they let anyone use it year round. I really hope it doesn’t get replaced by the time my future kids are able to use it.
@Adam_0_310
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I miss the one I grew up with. My uncle had even helped build it back in the 80s as part of the volunteer group
@ECKohns
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Kids kept getting splinters. That’s why.
@BanishedDragoon
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I feel like the modern world has become so… alienating towards children, we've sterilized playgrounds at the parks, I don't see them in the malls anymore, certainly not at fast food establishments. I have yet to be at an apartment complex that has any kind of playground for kids. What options do parents have to let their kids be kids rather than pacify them with digital tablets?
Then what about the older kids? To big for the playground, but certainly not old enough to get a pint. Where do they go? Cause rest assured no one is thrilled to see kids in large numbers show up at a café or a grocery store where at best they're gonna be loud and at worst up to no good.
I don't have kids, so maybe I'm just not in the know, but if I did I have a hard time imagining where they can go and have anything approaching what I had as a kid.
@sbug4
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I grew up with one of these! It was called Castle playground and it’s still standing!
@chloeannie6516
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
i live in south east London , England and my area have tore down three old metal and plastic playgrounds ( Parks) Beckenham place parks two play grounds and crystal palace park and rebuilt them in wood they are so much better so there's defiantly a movement i love the community build aspect of this that's a amazing idea i think most Londoners would love that.
@frempy4426
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Also I love/hate how Trump has been a cartoon villain for decades and somehow he still ended up as president just incredible
@frempy4426
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Apparently the main difference in a dangerous playground has less to do with the materials and more to do with how rigid they are. Rigid/fixed modern playgrounds, plastic or wooden, are more dangerous, while playgrounds without fixed structures are safer
@jumpingman6612
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Thank you for this. It's insane how bad playgrounds are now.
Looks like a mini crossfit gym that NO ONE plays at. Meanwhile I remember me and my friends spending hours after hours in a huge wooden castle. Which generation moved the most..?
@draxgoodall3685
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
In central Mass we had the Miracle Maze. It was so much fun to play on growing up.
@cobmeister.01
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
My childhood park in my town still has it, its been repaired here and there a few times, i have many memories of playing here as a kid, i hope it remains as is for my future kids
@bigOleBear
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Lowkey though these wooden playgrounds were wasp city. So many wasps and they would build nests in them.
@lisatayne
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I can feel the slivers from here. 😂
@leopardangelwing
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I had a small wooden playground at school growing up. They tore it down when I was 9 and replaced it with a plastic one because kids were getting "too many splinters"
@bweber02
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I used to go to one in Little Compton RI that had an alligator tunnel where you climbed through its mouth and ended up underneath a tower structure. I think it got torn down in mid-2000s. Such a shame.
@lisacarpenter5776
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
We have a playground where I live known by locals as "Monkey Park" where the primary play structure is a giant wooden monkey with both climbing implements inside the structure (which is built with no visibility inside from the outside) and climbing holds going all the way up the 20 foot high exterior. As a mom it gives me a heart attack, but I do think its a good thing for kids to be able to take some risks when they play.
@zh4899
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Leathers built our playground Kids Castle in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. So many good memories there.
@wednesday181
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
(I just want to know where that fantastic Leathers playground you filmed in the video itself is located, because it is a BEAUT' and, were I ever on a road trip with my kids and needed a playground to stop at to let them get some energy out, that would be *ideal*.)
@missatomicbomb9387
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I am from Elko Nevada and when I read Johnny apple seed on the map, I thought to myself 'Wow, was all of these playgrounds called johnny appleseed??' Imagine my surprise when you're actually talking about my old childhood park! 🙂 So many wonderful memories, I played there as a child up through my late teen years too. It's next to the fenced in community pool and I remember many times wishing I was at the pool, or if I was at the pool, I was wishing I could go to the park haha
@WickedWithItYT
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
We had one of these we simply called "castle park". Was playing hide and seek when I tripped on the last stair of one of the tall parts. Ended up cracking my head open lol. I am much more careful on stairs now.
@IndianaNorthWestern
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I miss playgrounds in general, lots of them have been ripped up around me because the old people don't like the noise they cause
And then they also cry about how kids don't want to be outside, but like where can they go? They made it so kids can't be outside anywhere anymore then get mad about it
Bring back the playground in general, especially the ones that maime
@newjersey973
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
3:27 JERSEY
@newjersey973
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Lot of splinters
@joefrew1614
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Our town’s local American Legion Park still kept its neat wooden castle playground
@shoulderingworlds
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
the stephan joke was so good omg
@gnome5676
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I remember visiting Jurmala and Riga in Latvia around 2013 when I was a kid. There was huge playgrounds EVERYWHERE. It seemed like a big project, there was similar playgrounds all around. Big, few meters tall, colorful, all was bars or net structures to treat as obstacle. I encourage you to check it out on google, theres some photos of them, I had so much fun as a kid there even tho I was already an older kid:)
@zahanmalkani
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I've noticed that playgrounds in other countries (say the UK) tend to look a lot more interesting (wood, build up structures) than ones in the US. Did other western nations end up in a different place than the US?
@tirzanicole
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
When you started talking about the slide in Boston I fully expected the cop slide to appear on screen 💀
@Sonick92
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Fort Fraser in Fraser, MI is probably the last kind of these playgrounds in that area. I was born in 92 and these places were GOATED
@aredub1847
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
we have a big fun one in downtown chicago.
my oldest memory are the old metal jungle gym ones that could take out your teeth
@alisonhansel9202
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
my kids loved an old playground like this in needham, ma. we called it "the castle playground." the city tore it down about a decade ago. i wonder if it was from leathers???
@Hippie2936
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I used to go to fort kid pretty often when I was little. Completely forgot about it until my mid twenties and have wondered about it ever since. Glad to know others are nostalgic for it too. Sad that we may never get something like that again. It truly was magical.
@TheAutisticWorldAwesome-2023
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Doesn’t plastic leak chemicals when they get too hot…
@TheAutisticWorldAwesome-2023
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
But what about the tall metal slides. They were the best!
I know England has in ground bouncing squares too.
I also know there used to be playground monitors which I think would be helpful these days
@PNWguy83
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I miss those types of playgrounds, but some of the new ones are pretty cool looking.
@ms_cartographer
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
People are too afraid of fun
@Kirk-g7f
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I have two favorites from when I was a kid in St. Louis, MO. When was at Queeny park. It was made out of concrete, sand, and skinned knees. It had tunnels and those rough brick pyramids they show on this video.
The other looked like an army door from the 1870’s. I think it was made out of cedar. Both were awesome!
@spartasown808
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Wood is magical! Plain and simple.
@JamesWard3
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
There is one from my childhood that remains. at the Beauvoir School in Washington DC. Still made from wood. And yes Its still magic my kids play there whenever I can take them.
@JamesWard3
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I used to love these playgrounds. They were everywhere in the late 80's and 90s when I was a kid
@Mattznick
May 9, 2026 at 9:47 pm
In my town ours was called imagination station
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