Smith is excited to announce that we have a new mobile app featuring a variety of ways to engage children in playful learning and to support our nonprofit organization.
PLAY
Check in at Smith, earn points and rewards during your visit, and get playful learning ideas for home!
LEARN
Learn more about how our play spaces, events, and programs promote unstructured play, which is a powerful tool for social, emotional, and physical growth in children.
ENGAGE
Learn how you can support Smith through donations, volunteering, membership, and more!

Smith Has a New TV Show!
“Smith Play Jawn” is Smith Memorial Playground’s new TV show which encourages and models playful learning at the Playground, in nature, and in everyday spaces. Join us for music time, story time, at-home and nature play ideas, and to share YOUR jawn! Smith will produce a new episode with a special theme each month which will air weekly on Wednesdays.
Tune in Wednesdays at 3pm on:
Comcast 66/966HD | Verizon 29/30 | phillycam.org/watch
Family Time Activities

In celebration of Black History Month, check out our suggested “Family Time” activities inspired by 12 inspirational African American leaders. A few are featured in this month’s episode of Smith Play Jawn and all 12 are featured in our “Leaders and Legends of North Philadelphia” outdoor exhibition, on display at Smith from February 6 through 28!
Submit Your Jawn

Drawing by Lydia, age 7
Each month, Smith features something made by a young person on “Smith Play Jawn”. Submissions may be artwork, videos, poetry, or something else creative!
Music Needed!

Smith also needs recorded music and/or music videos to for the “Music Time” feature segment of the show as well as for background and transitions.
If you are a musician or music artist interested in submitting music, please email zoe@smithplayground.org to discuss further.

Smith Memorial Playground is currently closed to the public for the Winter season. Learn more about how you can stay connected and continue playful learning at home here!
Smith Memorial Playground has been a treasured destination for generations of families for over 100 years. An individual’s “Smith memories” can illustrate our positive effect on a child, which can last a lifetime.
Last month, Helen Porter, a 92-year-old Philadelphia resident, visited Smith for the first time as an adult. She brought two family members with her to reminisce about her time at Smith as a child. Helen recalls her first visit to Smith in 1930:
When I was 6 years old, my Sunday School teacher took our class and some of the mothers to Smith Playground. The year was 1930. It was a very long ride on the number 3 trolley. Because I got “trolley” sick, I was always given peppermint Chiclets. To this day, I seldom eat anything peppermint!

Helen (middle) visited us with her daughter, Gale, (left) and sister-in-law, Joanne.
We spent many hours in the big house playing checkers and other games, but the highlight of the day was the big sliding board. We went up and down, up and down. Every so often, it was adults only and the mothers stood in line and took their turns.After that visit, my mother took my brothers and me every summer. And now, the summer of 2016, 86 years later, I went back to Smith Playground! I remember the sliding board being much bigger, housed in a two story house with lots of steps to get to the top. Of course, I was very little and it seemed huge! What a surprise! My daughter, Gale, enjoyed her turn on the slide. We had a wonderful visit.
The mansion and grounds are a treasure and I was so glad to see it maintained so that it can be enjoyed by today’s children. Just like me, these children will have wonderful memories of Smith Playground.”

Gale goes down the Ann Newman Giant Wooden Slide for the first time!
Do you have a Smith memory you’d like to share with us?
We want to hear from you. Please email your story/memory to Zoe Hillengas, Communications Manager, at zoe@smithplayground.org.

Thank you to former Smith board member Terry Ruggles and film maker Meredith Nutting for creating this video about Smith. Feel free to share, so that more families can learn about us! Watch “A Mansion for Kids”