Play areas of entertainment and development are new recourses for modern city children, but at the same time, they produce risks of road traffic accidents, deviation, social inequality and social exclusion. Playgrounds in city/town yards are free zones of children's pastime, where children communicate and play together. The aim of this article is to consider children's playgrounds as semantic centers of town children's everyday life and to analyze their role in the social life of children of different age groups. Our research has made it possible to compare children's and adults' views on playgrounds. The position of parents is characterized by assessment of safety, variety of play equipment and developmental orientation. The importance of playgrounds for children is defined by possibilities of free communication and playing with other children.