For Administrators

First day of school

Helpful tips and resources for your first day!

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Prepare for the first day of school

Follow this guide to make sure your students, guardians, and you are prepared for the upcoming school year!

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Welcome to Playground

Bookmark this page to refer back to as you set up your Admin Dashboard.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Playground glossary

Common Playground terminology.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Onboarding FAQ

Frequently asked questions about the transition to Playground.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Introduction letter for parents

Inform parents of the center's switch to the Playground app and let them know the next steps to take.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Iowa Home Daycare Onboarding

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Admin Dashboard Walkthrough

A general overview of our Admin Dashboard.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Getting started with Billing

Sign up for Playground online payments

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Create a new document

Create a new fillable PDF document on the Paperwork tab

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Food program management FAQ

Manage all of your student's meals and subsidies in Playground.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Administrator App Walkthrough Video

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to set up multiple Playground accounts for one person

If an individual is both a staff member and parent, you'll be able to link their accounts to one username and password.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Procare Roster Upload

Export your Procare data and upload it into Playground.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Procare Staff Roster Download

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to add a class

Add a classroom to the Admin Dashboard

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Setting students' schedules

How to apply a schedule for an individual student or a group of students

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Exporting a Student Roster & Contacts from Brightwheel

How to export a Contacts report from Brightwheel for upload into Playground as a class roster

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Onboarding guide

A detailed guide for setting up your center in Playground.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Creating a Playground school

How to create a new Playground school

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

How to set up a program

Extracurricular activities can be managed as Programs through the Administrator Dashboard.

Written by Josh Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Email settings

Edit email templates that go out automatically in Playground

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

General settings

An overview of Playground's general settings.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Managing student schedules in the Administrator dashboard

Creating and managing student schedules

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Whitelisting Playground on your wifi

Some centers have firewalls set up -- you may need to whitelist our cloud provider

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Payment Settings

A walkthrough of the Playground Payment Settings

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Customized view of the Admin Dashboard

Adjust the columns on the Students or Guardians tabs to display the most important and relevant information.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to stop Google Chrome from blocking downloads in the Admin Dashboard

Temporarily or permanently enable your browser to download Playground files and reports.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Settings walkthrough

An overview of the Settings tab of the Playground Admin Dashboard

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Phasing out the Families tab

A guide to where to find and how to use the features that have been relocated from the Families tab.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to lock a student from getting checked in

What it means to lock a student, how to lock & unlock students, what it looks like for teachers, and more.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Delete student

Delete a student from the Admin Dashboard.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Bulk mark students inactive

Mark multiple students inactive at the same time.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Bulk mark students active

Mark multiple students active at the same time.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Mark a classroom inactive

Mark a classroom as inactive if it is not currently being used

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Inactive students

Inactive, Dropped, Disabled, and Graduated students

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Contactless check-in/out

Send guardians a prompt to their phone to check in

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Changes dashboard

The Changes Dashboard will keep a change log of edits or changes made by guardians.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Add sibling

Add a sibling to an existing student

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to schedule a future class change

Schedule an automatic future classroom change for a student

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

View the students enrolled in a program

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Add a missing program check-in

Record a date and time of a student's program check-in from the Admin Dashboard.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Enroll students into a program

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Enroll a single student into a program

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to schedule a future inactive date

Mark a student inactive in advance of their last day at your center

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Edit program times

Correct a program check-in or check-out time.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Remove an absence

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Delete a program check-in

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Edit an absence

Edit a recorded student absence.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to add a single student

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to view carpools at your center

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Add a missing check-in or out for a student

How to add a missing check in or out for a student

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to edit a wellness check

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Preparing for the last day of school

Follow this guide to end the school year off strong!

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Mark a student inactive

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Immunizations

Track your students immunizations and vaccine records on the Student profile.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Viewing current classroom ratios

How administrators can see their current classroom ratio numbers

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Editing a student attendance record

Editing a student's attendance record check-in/out times

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

How to enable, complete, and run reports on daily wellness checks

Ensure your school's safety with daily health surveys for you and your staff members.

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Changing a billing plan in the middle of the year

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Calculations in amount fields

Make percentage and flat rate calculations in amount fields.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Send overdue reminder

Remind guardians of their overdue balance by sending them an email

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

See a family's charges from the Admin Dashboard

View an entire family's charges from the Admin Dashboard.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Billing: Add Charges

Create charges for your students

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Switching to Payments Plus

Instructions on how migrate to Payments Plus to receive faster payouts.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Fee Approvals

Overage charges and program enrollment fees must be approved or waived by an admin in the Admin Dashboard.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Charging multiple students or siblings at one time

How to charge multiple students, the same amount, at one time.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Charging a guardian's payment method

Charge the guardian's payment method on file on their behalf.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Enabling mandatory autopay for guardians

Ensuring payments are made when a guardian adds a credit/debit card/ACH for autopay

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Set up student overage billing

Ensure parents are automatically billed when students remain past their scheduled time.

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Subsidies

Track and manage subsidy checks received and amounts distributed to students.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

CACFP

Use Playground's powerful tools to provide the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) with what they need.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Adding a new parent payment card from the Administrator dashboard

How to manually add a credit or debit card to a student's record

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Accepting payments

The different methods of making payments in Playground.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Request autopay from guardians

Send an email to primary guardians to request they enable autopay.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Schedule a payment

Schedule a future payment for a student.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Set payout dates

Set the dates you'd like Playground to initiate payments to your bank account.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Add a guardian's credit card to their account

Add a guardian's credit card through the Admin Dashboard.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Save as a new item on statement while making a payment

Do two actions in one by saving a new item on statement while recording a payment.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to refund a guardian

Refund a parent or guardian for a payment they've made.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Payouts

View payouts to your bank account.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Disable autopay

Disable autopay for a parent that is currently enabled.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Subsidies FAQ

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Generate a statement or invoice for families

Produce a statement for families to see their balance and past transactions.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Amount unposted

What the amount unposted means and how to adjust it on the student's Payment tab

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to Enable ACH on Stripe

Learn how to enable ACH through Stripe to collect ACH payments

Written by Josh Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Transaction fees

An explanation of the transaction fees that apply to payments collected by credit, debit, or ACH through Playground's Payments feature.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Payments overview for administrators

An overview of how payments work through Playground, featuring links to additional resources and Help Center articles.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to add or edit a discount

A guide to adding or editing discounts on one-time charges or payment plans invoiced to a student balance.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to apply a discount

A guide to applying discounts on one-time charges or payment plans invoiced to a student balance.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to fix an incorrect charge

A primer on three different methods to fixing an invoiced charge, and why we don't recommend deleting charges.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to record an offline payment

A guide to recording payments that aren't processed by debit, credit, or ACH through Playground's Payments feature.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to apply a credit

A guide to applying a credit to a student balance from the Administrator Dashboard.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to edit or delete a saved charge template

Manage saved charge templates from the Billing Overview page on the Administrator Dashboard.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to edit a payment plan

A guide to editing a payment plan that has been invoiced to a student.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to edit a one-time charge

A guide to editing a one-time charge that has been invoiced to a student.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to create charges

Using recurring charges allows you to automate weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly charges to your guardians.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to create a one-time charge

Through the administrator dashboard, create a one-time charge to add to a student's balance.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Setting up payments for your school

Verify your business with Stripe to start collecting payments on Playground

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Download paperwork responses

Download all paperwork, forms, fillable PDFs, or file requests in bulk to your computer.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Forms

Create a form for guardians to complete.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Iowa Templated Documents

Add Iowa state documents to your dashboard for parents to complete.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Preview a document

View a document as it is seen by parents

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Edit a Document

Edit an existing document from the Admin Dashboard

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Document recipients

Share documents with a specific group of guardians

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Send document to parents

Send a document to parents after creating a new fillable PDF

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Connect a form field

Use connecting a form field in your fillable PDF documents to auto-fill information you already have.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Complete a document on behalf of a guardian

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

View only documents for parents

This is great for school calendar or parent handbook

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Upload a file for a student

Upload a file for a student into the Playground dashboard.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Document settings

Manage access and permissions of documents to teachers or parents.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Introduction to paperwork for administrators

A guide to Playground's Documents features

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

File Requests

Let families upload their own documents

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to view and download completed documents

View and download completed file uploads or documents.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Resend a document to parents

How to resend the link to an already-created document by email

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Turn off automatic emails sent through enrollment

Automatic emails are sent out by default as students move through the enrollment funnel. Follow the steps below to turn this off.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Cannot accept students via enrollment

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Enrollment forms

Build out your application with questions a family will answer in order to apply to your center

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Plan groups

Create groupings for your enrollment plans to better organize and categorize your pricing options.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Center details

Add your center's information on an enrollment listing.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to delete a student from the dropped column of the enrollment funnel

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Enrollment FAQ

Frequently asked questions about the enrollment flow

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Delete a plan grouping

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Board options in the enrollment funnel

Choose the information you'd like to see on an applicant's card in the enrollment funnel.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Parent-view of enrolling to a listing

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Enrollment plans

Create price points for specific schedules or groups of students for guardians to apply to.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to accept a student through the enrollment flow

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

View a completed application

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Enrollment additional charges

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Programs through enrollment listings

Add additional programs that a family can register for when applying to your center.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Add documents to your enrollment listing

Select documents that guardians must complete prior to submitting an application to your center.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to edit an enrollment listing

Editing an enrollment listing for administrators

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Create an enrollment listing for your center

A tutorial for Admins to create a listing where families can complete the application process online.

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Enrollment email templates

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Sharing your enrollment listing link

Giving families direct access to your center's enrollment page.

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Managing the Enrollment funnel

How to manage applications once they've been submitted.

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Custom reports

Create a report template with specific fields you need.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Payments reports

A description of each of our Payments reports.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to create an attendance signature report

A guide to creating and adjusting a dynamic attendance signature report for licensing.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Tags

Use programs to tag and group students together.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Program reports

How to see how much time a student has spent in a program and how to make changes to that time

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

How to run an attendance report

Generate sign-in/out reports to comply with licensing

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Generating Contacts/Guardian Reports

How to generate a report showing contacts/guardians.

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Text from the feed

Send a text to guardians from the Admin Dashboard.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

View a student's feed

View the feed and posts relevant to one specific student.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

View post recipients

View which guardians or staff members have seen your post on the feed.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Pinned Posts

Pin a post so it's at the top of the feed at all times.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to create an announcement from the Administrator Dashboard

A guide to creating an announcement from the Administrator Dashboard.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Control who can start conversations using Playground's Chat

Choose which staff members and parents can start a new conversation with each other.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Edit a staff member's information

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Delete staff

Delete a teacher or admin from Playground.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Switch Accounts

Switch between different views of Playground if you're signed up using one email

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Customize the student profile

Add custom fields to all student profiles to store specific student data.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to disable a Staff member's account

Restricting a staff member's account without deleting it

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Filter students

Filter your students to see a specific group.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Adding an existing guardian to another student's account

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Active vs. inactive

The difference between active and inactive students.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Staff roles

An explanation of each staff role

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Invite guardians to Playground

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to switch one or more students between classes on the Administrator Dashboard

A guide to switching students from one classroom to another on the Administrator Dashboard.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Guardian relationships

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

How to edit a student's information from the Administrator Dashboard

A guide to updating a student's information as an administrator.

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Assigning Teachers to Multiple Classrooms

How to use the administrator dashboard to assign a teacher to more than one classroom

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Adding multiple students to a school

Bulk upload students, add a student to an existing family, or add a student to a new family.

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

How to add parents or guardians to Playground

A guide to adding parents of new students and existing students to Playground through the Administrator Dashboard.

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Add staff

Invite your teachers to join your center on Playground

Written by Sasha Reiss
Updated over a week ago

Change a classroom name

Quickly change a classroom's name.

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago

Teacher Training Time

Record trainings your teachers have completed on their teacher profile.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Staff Overview Tab

Record your staff's employment and personal information in the Admin Dashboard.

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Add a day for staff hours

Written by Stephanie Blitshtein
Updated over a week ago

Editing Staff Time Sheets

How to edit a staff member's time sheet to modify their logged times in and out.

Written by Daniel Andrews
Updated over a week ago