Playtime Creations a playmaker for kids.(Playtime Creations Inc.)(Company overview)

It's not every day a mother can relax as her energetic toddlers flip from fried egg to fried egg, slide down a slice of bacon, or bounce from banana to banana.

The play area in Cherry Creek Mall, created by Colorado-based Playtime Creations Inc., offers parents an exciting place for their kids to burn off steam in a safe enclosure, whether it's for an intermission during a shopping trip or the reason for the trip itself.

"This is a destination in and of itself," says David O'Niones, Playtime vice president and director of sales as he looked over one of Playtime's creations at its manufacturing center and warehouse in Southeast Metro Denver. "We've found that over 10 percent of the people that come to a shopping center are there primarily for the play area, and that's it."

Nationally, Playtime provides almost 90 percent of the soft play areas in shopping centers in the U.S. The company's hand-crafted, soft-sculpted, interactive play spaces not only inspire imagination but teach children use of motor skills.

Playtime products can be found in amusement parks, restaurants, water parks, and shopping centers around the country, but all of them are conceived, created and manufactured locally.

O'Niones says when he gets a call from a customer who has been given the green light to buy a play area, he discusses with them what's important to their region and what has market relevance before going on to establish the best design for the area.

"We start with an idea, and I help them bring it to life," he said. "Then, I take that energy and pass it down to the next step, which is design. We don't dilute the magic, and we make it come to fruition, more than the customer expects.

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"We're always over-achieving expectations."

After a play area has been designed, its specific objects are sculpted out of foam by one of Playtime's artists.

When the desired shape is made, a hard layer of plastic surrounds the foam. Next, another layer of softer, squishy foam is molded over the hard layer.

Once that creation has its final shape, it is rotated and sprayed with a plastic coating, and when the coating dries, an artist paints and airbrushes the object to bring it to life.

"We build it for children," O'Niones says, so the areas are designed to handle whatever wear and tear the kids can put to it. "If it can happen in a play area, it will happen. If it looks like it can be climbed on, it will be."

And Playtime's products are built to last. "It's virtually indestructible," said O'Niones. "At the end of the day, they're in malls forever."

Playtime is a member of the American Society for Testing and Materials, and sits on the committee that has written the standard for sculpted-foam play equipment.

The safety of materials is checked at every step from concept to creation.

An ASTM-tested carpeting system called dura-soft, which is carpeted over one and a half inches of foam, is also used in every play area produced by Playtime. Also, all pieces created by the company intentionally do not exceed 42 inches in height in order to avoid head injuries in case of a fall.

"If a kid can run full blast, launch off that alligator and try to jump over a bridge, I don't care how soft it is, he's going to break a bone," O'Niones says. "So we encourage the design to the developers, and we're so well known in the way we do things safely, that they just recognize that this is how it needs to be done, because Playtime says so."

Mike Evans, Playtime's president, started the company in 1992 as Playtime Entertainment. After Evans purchased Superior Foam in 2001, the firm grew to more than 40 employees. The company would not disclose revenues other than to say they've grown more than 400 percent over the past few years.

O'Niones says he first discovered Playtime years ago.

He would take his daughter Morgan and her friends to Cherry Creek Mall for Morgan's birthday and make a day trip of the visit. "What a cool thing, to work for a company that brings families together, that makes children smile, and creates that energy in the community," says O'Niones. "What a great need to fulfill! To let kids do what they do best: burn off energy, go crazy, and do it in a safe way."

RELEVANT URL: WWW.PLAYTIMECO.COM

COLORADO MANUFACTURER BUILT 90 PERCENT OF SOFT PLAY AREAS IN U.S. SHOPPING MALLS