I used to work at a McD’s that had an indoor playground. We had a vacuuming ball washer. We had to vacuum out all the balls, twice a week, and spray the ball pit with hot water, then sanitizer.

If we found anything in there, like keys, we put them in the office. You’d be amazed at the kinds of lost items in the ball pits.

Credit cards, expensive jewelry, cell phones, watches, shoes, pacifiers, oh my god the food, dirty diapers, socks (so many socks), toys of all kinds, a remote control car, and the controller, that we played with for an hour, opened packs of cigarettes, drug paraphernalia (needles, bowls, small handmade bongs, vials), lighters, and yes, keys.

Just ask the manager. They’ll shut down the equipment, and empty the pit. It shouldn’t take longer than ten minutes.

I just realized, you were looking for a way to search, instead of a way to find your keys.
The best way to search a small area, like a ball pit, is in quadrants. Square off as many 2′ x 2′ areas, as needed, to cover the entire pit. You’re searching the floor of the pit, so it doesn’t really matter what you do with the balls. Once you’ve searched an area, move on to the next. Most indoor playground ball pits aren’t very large, so it should take you less than 30 minutes to thoroughly search.

Are indoor playgrounds (like at fast food places) safe for kids?

At McDonald’s the Play Places are cleaned on a regular basis to prevent children from getting sick or dirty. If you think something may be wrong, be sure to report it to the management of the store!

What are the legal requirements for opening a kids indoor playground centre in India?

For setting up a playschool, first and foremost a Business plan must be prepared to take into consideration all important issues and challenges. This shall serve as a blueprint for guiding further course of action and include details like the

• Number of children to be catered to
• Location & Infrastructure: The selected area should be well maintained, safe for children and adequate to set up the infrastructure. A playschool can also be started from a residential area which fulfills safety requirements.
• Business Mode of the playschool: whether it is Full time or part time or Daycare, playschool with afterschool activities, etc
• Financial considerations/Budget in relation to Investments for infrastructure, supplies, equipment, advertising, etc of the playschool and whether a loan needs to be arranged. For instance, the Government has come up with schemes providing a loan to women entrepreneurs for establishing a preschool or child day-care centre by Bharatiya Mahila Bank and Punjab National Bank called the BMB Parvarish loan scheme which requires loan repayment in 5 years and a 12% rate of interest.
• Recruiting of Teaching and administration staff: As per National council for Teacher Education (NCTE) guidelines, a preschool teacher must have a Secondary School certificate or its equivalent and preferably a Diploma/Certificate in Pre-school teacher education programme of not less than one year, or B.Ed.
• Deciding Curriculum be taught and followed in the school, for instance, the Montessori Method of education that focuses both on social interaction and academics.
• Advertising and marketing

Can adults with special needs play at the kids’ playground?

Anyone can play on a kids playground- as long as the person is not being rough or dangerous to the littles, and as long as the equipment can handle their weight (which will be no problem). Obviously do not attempt to put an adult-sized person into the baby swing or those tiny little rocking things (like animal shaped chairs on springs), because the equipment will be too small.

Consider writing to the council that are responsible for the playground, and suggesting some options for more inclusive equipment like adult sized safety swings, and wider, longer slides.

If you can, do some research on play equipment designed for adults with special needs, and present this to the council and the community. Pushing for development of inclusive services like this could help more people than you know.