Adding & inviting guardians to Playground is one of the most important parts of getting started. Invitations are sent to guardians via email, and they must activate their Playground account through the sign-up email to access the family mobile app. If a guardian does not receive the invitation, please ask them to check their spam folder, as the email may have been filtered there.
💡 Use our draft emails and messages to tell families about Playground before inviting them
Add Guardians to Playground
Admins can add guardians to Playground in bulk by uploading student rosters. Alternatively, guardians can be added individually to new or existing students. Additionally, primary guardians can add other guardians to their student's account.
💡 If you wish to solely manage guardians and turn off this ability for families, toggle the setting off in your settings.
Add Guardians in Bulk via Roster
Guardians can be added to Playground when you upload your student roster. If you have recently signed up for Playground and need assistance with your roster upload, please reach out to your onboarding specialist.
Add Guardians to a New Student
Every student must have at least one guardian in Playground. When adding a student, you can assign one or multiple guardians.
From your Admin Dashboard, click My School and then Students.
Click the blue Add Students button in the top right corner of your screen and then click Add Single Student.
Add the student's first name, last name, and classroom.
Deselect This Student's Family Already Exists. Now, you can add the guardian's name, phone, email, and relationship.
[Optional] Click + Add New Guardian to add additional guardians for the student.
Click Finish to save the student and guardians to Playground.
The guardian will not be invited to create a Playground account until you send them a sign-up link.
Add Guardians to an Existing Student
Admins and families can add new guardians to an existing student account. We encourage you to share this article with your families so they can add guardians to their student's account.
From your Admin Dashboard, click My School and then Students.
Click the name of the student for whom you would like to add a new guardian.
From the student's profile, scroll down to the Guardians section and click the blue + Add Guardian button.
The Add Guardian window will open. Add the guardian's name, relationship, and permissions. If the guardian needs a Playground account, you must add an email for them.
[Optional] Add the guardian's email, phone number, and street address.
When ready, click Save.
If you entered a guardian email, a pop-up will appear asking whether you would like to send a sign-up email to the new guardian. Click Send Sign-up Email to send the guardian an invitation to create a Playground account.
Alternatively, click Skip For Now.
You'll be returned to the Guardians page of the student's profile with the new guardian now in the table.
Invite Guardians to Playground
Guardians can be invited in bulk or one at a time. Guardian sign-ups can be tracked from the guardian table in your Admin Dashboard.
💡 Guardians must have an email to be invited to Playground.
Invite a Single Guardian
From your Admin Dashboard, click My School and then Guardians.
Click the three dots to the right of the guardian's name you'd like to invite.
There are two options to invite this guardian:
Click Sign-up Link and then click Send Sign-up Email to send the Playground automated sign-up email to the guardian
Click Copy Sign-up Link to copy the guardian's unique link to your clipboard and send it to the guardian from a personal email address
🚨 Each guardian has a unique sign-up link. Do not share copied links with multiple guardians, as this can result in guardians being linked to the wrong students.
Invite Guardians in Bulk
Administrators can send invitations to multiple guardians at one time. If you have recently joined Playground, you will see an orange banner at the top of your Guardian page with a blue Send Sign-up Link button. Click this button to send a sign-up link to all guardians at your school.
Follow the instructions below to send sign-up links to selected guardians only:
From your Admin Dashboard, click My School and then Guardians.
Select the check boxes next to all guardians you would like to invite.
Then click Send Sign-up Email from the top grey bar of the table.
The Signed Up status will change from Not Invited to Invited, and guardians will be able to create a Playground account by following the instructions they received by email.
Track Family Sign-ups
View which families have signed up or not from the administrator dashboard.
From your Admin Dashboard, click My School and then Guardians.
Sort by their account status by clicking Signed up in the header column to sort and organize families.
Signed up - finished creating their account
Not invited - was never sent an account invitation
Invited - was sent an account invitation but has not finished creating their account
Filter by guardian relationship, student status, and/or classroom to configure the view.
Manage Guardian Permissions
Administrators can edit guardians' permissions. See below for a description of each permission type.
💡 Primary guardians can also manage the permissions of other guardians in their family. If you wish to solely manage guardians and turn off this ability for families, toggle the setting off in your settings.
Permission Type | Description | Pick-up Authorization | Billing Authorization |
Primary Guardian | Primary guardians will have access to all Playground features and can manage permissions for other guardians. Only the primary guardian will have access to the student schedule and school calendar. | Yes | Yes |
Family Member | Family members can view the feed, chat, and the ability to check a student in and out. | Yes | No |
Family Member + Billing | This permission type has billing access in addition to family member access. | Yes | Yes |
Authorized Pickup | Authorized pickups only have the ability to check a student in and out. | Yes | No |
Billing Only | Billing access only. | No | Yes |
Emergency Contact | No access to Playground. | No | No |
🚨 If a guardian is changed from any permission type to Emergency Contact, they will lose their ability to log into Playground.
Change a Guardian's Permissions:
From your Admin Dashboard, click My School and then Guardians.
Select the pencil icon next to the guardian whose permissions you would like to change.
The Edit Guardian window will open.
Change the Permission Type and then click Save.
Edit Guardian Information
Administrators can edit a guardian's name, phone number, email, and PIN code from the guardian's profile.
💡 Administrators cannot edit guardian profile photos. Only guardians can edit their own profile photos.
From your Admin Dashboard, click My School and then Guardians.
Select the guardian whose information you want to edit.
From the guardian's profile, click the blue Edit button or simply type new information in the details fields.
If using the Edit button, click Save when you are done making changes.
If editing directly in the fields, a green check mark will appear to confirm your changes have been saved.
Recent changes to the guardian profile will appear to the right of the Details section.
Add Custom Fields to Guardian Profiles
From your admin dashboard, click My School and then click Guardians.
Click on any guardian to navigate to their profile.
Once a custom field is added to one guardian, it will be visible on every guardian's profile.
Click the blue + Add Fields button in the top right corner of the details section.
The Add Field window will open. See below for a description of each option in this window:
Custom Field Type: Select the type of answer that will be entered in this field (Ex: short text, phone number, email, date, single choice, multiple choice)
Custom Field Label: Type a label for the field.
Role visibility: Select who this information will be visible to (admin and teachers).
Visible to Guardians: Toggle this setting on if guardians should be able to view this field.
Click the blue Save button to add the field.
💡 Edit or delete custom fields by hovering over the custom field and selecting the cog wheel icon.
View Guardian Email History
Administrators can view a record of all emails and reminders sent to guardians.
From your admin dashboard, click My School and then click Guardians.
Click on the guardian whose email history you want to view.
Scroll down to the Email History section at the bottom of the guardian's profile.
Click Click to Load Email History.
A table with a list of emails, date sent, status, and open history will appear.
If the guardian is subscribed to emails, a blue Subscribed label will show in the top right corner of the table.
To unsubscribe the guardian, click the red Unsubscribe button.
Switch a Guardian to a Different Family
If you need to switch a guardian from one family in your center to another, reach out to [email protected] — we'll take care of the switch for you.
💡 Editing a family number from the Edit Guardian pop-up editor will update the number across all the guardian and student profiles associated with that family. It will not switch a guardian from one family to another.