The Detroit Mower Gang was formed to rescue abandoned parks in the city of Detroit, Michigan. Because of the economic downturn that greatly affected Detroit in 2009, city government was strapped to sufficiently maintain many of the public city parks. Rather than allow them to be overrun with weeds and become unusable for children, Tom Nardone decided to do something about it, one park at a time.

Jessie H. Bancroft wrote Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium in 1909 as a practical guide of 400 games for adult and child players in active games, quiet games, singing games, skilled athletic feats, and ball and bean bag games. He believed that "play, in games and other forms, is nature's own way of developing and training power."

When Shane Alexander was born to Catherine Curry-Williams and Scott Williams in 1997, he was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which prohibited him from moving or breathing on his own. He died a few weeks later from this genetic disorder. Had he lived, he would have been confined to a wheelchair. Shane's Inspiration is one of the first Universally Accessible Playgrounds (UAP) in the Western United States and one of the largest in the nation.

Fibar, Inc. was founded by Robert Heath in 1979 as a Wood Fiber supplier for equestrian training surfaces. In 1986, the idea of using wood fiber for under playgrounds was proposed and researched. After testing, Robert found that wood fiber was substantially better at cushioning children's falls than sand, grass, dirt, or gravel, which were the current "safety" surfaces in most places at the time.