Adding students to Playground is simple and efficient. You can upload students in bulk using roster uploads or add them individually through the Students tab. You can even add siblings to existing students.
Upload Multiple Students via Roster
Administrators can add multiple students to Playground through a roster. Playground provides a simple roster template to download. You can also upload a roster from another child care management roster.
Download and Complete a Roster
If you've recently been onboarded to Playground, your onboarding specialist may have emailed you a roster template directly. If you need a new roster template, you can easily download one from your Admin Dashboard.
Download a Roster
Navigate to the My School and then click the Students tab.
Click the blue Download Roster button in the top right corner of your screen.
A .CSV roster template will download to your computer.
Open the file with the editing software of your choice.
Complete and Format a Roster
The first row of the roster includes the column titles. Do not edit the column titles; editing them can cause your roster upload to fail.
The first four columns are highlighted in green. These columns are required. If you do not enter information in one of the green columns, the student(s) with missing information will be skipped in the roster upload.
All other columns are optional. Add as much information as you'd like.
🚨 The roster must be saved as a .CSV file to be uploaded to Playground.
Add Additional Guardians to a Roster
To add more than two guardians to a roster, follow the steps below to add additional columns and column titles.
Add four columns to the end of the roster template.
Copy and paste the Parent 2 column titles into the top row of the four new columns, changing the "2" to a "3."
Parent 3 Name
Parent 3 Email
Parent 3 Cell
Parent 3 Relationship
Enter as much information as you'd like.
Note: If you do not add an email, you will not be able to invite the guardian to create a Playground account.
You can repeat this process as many times as you like. The number of guardians you can have for a student in Playground is unlimited.
💡 Parents 1 and 2 will be added to Playground as Primary Guardians. Parents 3 and beyond will be added as Authorized Pickups. You can change a guardian's permission type after adding them to Playground.
🚨 Enter the child and parent's first and last name into the name columns, separated by one space. You cannot upload the first and last names in separate columns.
Upload a Completed Roster
From the Admin Dashboard, click on the Students tab on the left-hand side of your screen.
Click the blue Add Students button and select Upload Multiple Students via Roster.
The roster upload flow will open.
If you still need to complete your roster, click the Download Our Sample Roster. Complete the roster before moving to the next step. Click here for tips on completing your roster.
You can also upload a roster from another child care management roster.
Be sure that your roster is saved as a .CSV file to your computer. Then click in the grey rectangle to add your file.
Once you've added your roster, click the blue Continue button.
Review pages: On the next screen, you can review the students you will be adding to your school. Students will have a New or Existing status next to their name.
If a student already exists, Playground's system will automatically update the student's profile with the new roster information.
Once you have reviewed the changes, click the blue Finish button to add the students to your school.
A green banner will appear confirming that the students are being added to your profile.
This process can take up to 5 minutes.
🚨 Students cannot be added to Playground without a guardian email. If a student in your roster does not have at least one guardian email, they will not be included in the upload.
💡 Student's with the same guardians will automatically be added as a family in Playground.
Add a Single Student
From your admin dashboard, navigate to the My School tab and then click Students.
Click the blue Add Students in the top right corner of the screen and then click Add Single Student.
The Add Student window will appear.
Add the student's first name, last name, and classroom.
[Optional] Click the blue Show Additional Information button to add some or all of the information below:
Birthday
Address
Allergies
Medications
Medical Conditions
Meal Subsidy
First day of School
Nickname
Comments
[Optional] Click the blue Add Sibling button to add the student's sibling as well.
Add the student's guardians:
For new families, uncheck the This Student's Family Already Exists option.
Add the guardian's full name and email.
[Optional] Click the blue Add Another Guardian button to add additional guardians.
For existing families, check the This Student's Family Already Exists option.
Use the search box to search for the existing guardian's name.
Click the blue Finish button to add the student to Playground.
Add Multiple Students Manually
If you'd like to add multiple students directly through the dashboard rather than using a roster upload, follow these instructions:
💡 With this method, you can only add the student's basic information (Name, Classroom, Guardian Name, and Guardian Email). You will also only be able to add one guardian. If you want to add more information and/or more guardians, use the roster upload or the add single student option.
🚨 With this method, guardians will be automatically added to Playground.
From your admin dashboard, click My School and then click Students.
Click the blue Add Students button in the top right corner of the screen, and then click Add Multiple Students Manually.
The Add Students window will open.
For each student you want to add, complete the student's Name, Guardian Name, Guardian Email, and Classroom.
Click Add another student to continue adding students.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have added all desired students.
When you have finished adding all the students, click the blue Invite Students button to send the guardians an invite to join Playground. Guardians will receive an email to sign up and join your school on Playground.
Add Siblings to Existing Students
From your admin dashboard, navigate to the My School tab and then click Students.
Navigate to the profile of the student whose sibling you want to add.
Click the white + Add Sibling button in the top right corner of your screen.
The Add Student window will open.
Add the student's first name, last name, and classroom.
[Optional] Click the blue Show Additional Information button to complete the optional fields.
[Optional] Click the blue Add Sibling button to add additional siblings.
Click the blue Finish button to add your students.
