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Kids Nonfiction
Welcome to Our Playground: A Celebration of Games Children Play Everywhere

Welcome to Our Playground: A Celebration of Games Children Play Everywhere

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Author(s)

Moira Butterfield

Co-Authors / Illustrators

Harriet Lynas

Publisher

Nosy Crow

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

September 09, 2025

ISBN

979-8887771571

Buy This Book

Find out how children play all around the world in this beautifully illustrated follow-up to Welcome to Our Table!

From basketball to board games, clapping games to climbing frames, duck duck goose to doll houses, there are so many ways to play and have fun around the world. In this fascinating book, children can learn all about the different games, toys, and playtimes around the world, as well as the playgrounds, fields, and beaches children play in, and the many different words they use when they play.

Editor review

1 review

This is the Way That Games Are Played

December 03, 2025 (Updated: June 22, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Learning Value

4.0

This lengthy picture book holds a wealth of information about games and amusements around the world, as well as about the language that pertains to them. Starting with traditional games and historical toys, this continues on with explanations of different kinds of games enjoyed by children all over the globe. These are broken down into categories, so we see different permutations on games with sticks and stones, outside games, drawing games, and even descriptions of different types of playgrounds. There are so many types of physical games; catching and kicking, hopping, clapping, and tagging all have a lot of games described, complete with instructions. There are also imaginative games delineated, as well as games that center around water, and even some that require nighttime. In between these descriptions of games are pages that extend some vocabulary surrounding them, in different languages. There are phonetic spellings, but I appreciated the note in the front that said that the best way to get the pronunciation right is to hear a native speaker say the words.

Good Points

I would have been the sort of child who would have read through this book and tried to get my brother to try all of the different games with me, but this would also be an excellent book for a research project in elementary school. Because there are so many good inclusions, like the ancient boardgame from Ur, I would have loved to see a bibliography of books the author used to do her research. There isn't an index, but the table of contents is very complete.

Lynas' illustrations are bright and charming, and also useful when showing how games are played. The end papers are particularly sweet; I rather wanted wallpaper or fabric with the print because it would be fantastic in a nursery. The words on in a somewhat smaller font than I would like, but that's because there is so much packed into the pages.

This is a great resource filled with multicultural games, history, and songs and chants from around the world. It would make a fantastic gift for a preschool or kindergarten teacher. Readers who found Le and Elliott's Game On!: Ready-to-Read Level 2 (Kids Around the World), Lawrence's Playtime around the World (Welcome to My World), or Perritano's Games Around the World interesting but wanted even more information would do well do go directly to Welcome to Our Playground... and pass "Go" if they need to!