Choosing a playground by your child's age.

One to three years.

At this age a playground is about reach. A toddler needs things at their height: a bucket-shaped baby swing with a back and a bar, low platforms, a short slide they can climb without help, and sand. A climbing frame built for schoolchildren is a wall they will want you to lift them up, and then you spend the visit holding them in the air.

Two things matter more than the equipment itself. A fence, because a child who has just learned to run will run, and it decides whether you sit on the bench or follow two steps behind. And a toilet within reach, which quietly sets how long the outing lasts.

Worth looking for

• A baby swing, the bucket or cradle seat, not just the flat ones
• A sandbox, which holds attention longer than almost anything else
• A fenced play area
• Shade, because a toddler cannot tell you they are overheating
• A bench where you can actually see the whole area

Three to six years.

Now the equipment starts to be used as intended. Slides get climbed and re-climbed, spring riders and small carousels come into their own, and climbing frames become a project rather than an obstacle. Water play, where a city has it, turns a warm afternoon into the highlight of the week.

This is also the age where a playground can be too small. A child who has outgrown the toddler corner gets bored in minutes, and the visit ends before you have sat down. If you can, check the photos before you go: a wide frame and a tall slide usually mean the place will hold them.

Worth looking for

• A climbing frame with more than one way up
• A proper slide, not the toddler ramp
• A seesaw, a spring rider or a carousel
• Water play in summer
• Enough space that two groups of children do not queue for the same slide

Six to twelve years.

Older children want height, speed and something to master. They also want to be trusted: at this age most parents watch from a bench rather than from arm's length, so what matters shifts towards the size of the place and whether there is anything to come back for. A playground that is perfect at four is a two-minute stop at nine.

Larger playgrounds, often the ones inside parks, are usually the answer. In Vilnius, for example, the city register records the area of each playground, so the biggest ones can be listed directly: the largest playgrounds in Vilnius are a practical starting list for an older child.

How to find them without walking there first.

This is where a map with equipment data saves the afternoon. In KidMap you can filter by 17 kinds of equipment, from baby swings and a sandbox to a fence, shade, a toilet, benches and water play, and only playgrounds recorded with that equipment stay on the map. Photos, where families have added them, show the rest: the size, the surface, the state of the place.

Two honest limits. First, equipment is recorded for a small share of playgrounds in most cities, because open map data usually holds only a location; parents fill in the rest as they visit. Second, no dataset tells you how a playground looks today. KidMap does not inspect playgrounds and does not judge whether one is safe. Use it to choose where to walk, and your own eyes when you arrive.