State of play: Pinterest searches for "screen-free activities" are up 200% year-over-year, per the platform's 2026 Parenting Trend Report. "No phone summer" is up 340%.

• "DIY kids playground" is up 630%.
• "Basement jungle gym for kids" is up 345%.
• And "sensory play ideas" are up 1,070%.

A new niche has emerged: Interior design firms led by people with education backgrounds who treat kids' rooms as learning environments.

Zoom in: Zoom in: Anne Gillyard — co-founder of one of these firms, D.C.-based Groh Playrooms — has a master's degree in early childhood development. She spent a decade teaching and training other educators before launching her kids' design company in 2018.

• She says her team now designs about 150 custom playrooms a year. Think: colorful rock walls, big foam pits, vibrant murals, hanging swings and themed playhouses with art tables and toy bins.
• Groh's custom playrooms can cost anywhere from $100,000 to a million dollars for an "amusement park"- level build, Gillyard tells Axios.
• The firm primarily gets new customers via Instagram, where Groh shares before-and-after videos and tours of playrooms.

What they're saying: "The biggest misconception that people have… is that play is extra," Gillyard says. But skills that make for "better readers, better thinkers, better mathematicians, better problem solvers," she says, "all come directly out of play."

• Bonus: She heard from a client that their playroom likely increased their house's resale value well beyond the cost they paid to build the room.

Yes, but: Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology and neuroscience who studies play, is skeptical of the whole "designer home playroom" category.

• In his view, unrestricted outdoor spaces known as adventure playgrounds — where kids can climb trees and build their own towers out of nature or junk — "are far more creative than if you've got all those structures already there, made by somebody else."
• "How many times do you climb the climbing wall before it gets tiresome?" he asks.

The bottom line: Thoughtful play doesn't require a major investment — even when the kids have to stay home.

• Gillyard's low-lift tip: Install a ceiling swing hookup. For $15–$20 in hardware, it can hold a swing, trapeze, yoga silk or punching bag.
• Get several and swap them out as your kids grow, she says.