Outdoor play is a vital part of childhood growth, and Little Tikes Commercial is dedicated to supporting that journey. Our playground equipment sparks creativity, fuels adventure, and helps children build essential skills through exploration. Whether you’re updating an existing playground or creating a brand-new play environment, our innovative designs and durable structures deliver an experience that exceeds expectations.
Press Releases
Picture a 2,000 square-foot facility at a campground on the Black River close to Lesterville, MO. It's 1979, and the president and founder of Iron Mountain Forge was envisioning his own creation of the best picnic tables, grills, and canoe trailers for his own use. He made his start with this and began building for others, beginning with his first order of barbecue grills from the State of Arkansas Parks and Recreation Department. This is how the legacy of Little Tikes Commercial Play Systems began, nearly 30 years ago.
A year later, the business was moved to a 30,000 square foot facility in Farmington, Mo. At this point, the repertoire included one truck, a trailer, and five employees. In its first year, sales reached one million dollars, and success was measured by how full the trailer was with products for each week.
Things have changed a bit since then. In fact, in 1984, Iron Mountain Forge moved to the current location of the current Little Tikes facility, which started out at 50,000 square feet and has been increased to 275,000 square feet, to house the manufacturing plant.
The first commercial play system by Iron Mountain Forge was the Kid Builder line, introduced in 1985. The purchase of Omni, an indoor play system manu?fac turer provided entry to the indoor market. A Canadian company, Paris Equipment Manufacturing Limited, was also purchased for the Canadian and European markets, and Ausplay was added to that list to serve the Pacific and Asian markets. The Kid Kube Line came into being three years later.
The company purchased its first rotational molding machine in 1990, and the company has continued to grow since. This machine allowed Iron Mountain Forge to produce award winning, one?piece spiral slides, earning the title of Product of the Year as well as first place in the Large Part category awarded by the worldwide Association of Rotational Molders (ARM).
The Wood Builder line was then acquired from Custom Structures, Inc. in 1991, and then redesigned and incorporated into the product line. Rubbermaid then purchased Iron Mountain Forge in 1993, bringing two companies of like-minded philosophies together. It was at this point that teams, trends, and technology merged to form Little Tikes Commercial Play Systems, a division of Newell Rubbermaid.
The rotationally molded PlayCenter line was then introduced in 1994, and in 1996, Australian, Canadian, and California facilities were combined and brought to the Farmington, Mo., facility, providing better utilization of Little Tikes Commercial Play Systems facilities as well as its assets.
Things were going rather smoothly until the manufacturing facility met with catastrophe in 1998, destroying the rotational molding area and damaging the rest of the facility to a great extent. To keep production on track, contractors and other Rubbermaid facilities were utilized until the facility was completely rebuilt and reengineered to resume operations in the Spring of 1999.
At this point, Rubbermaid and Newell Corporation joined forces to form Newell Rubbermaid, which later opted to sell Little Tikes to PlayPower in 2004, a leading manufacturer of outdoor and indoor commercial and early childhood playground products, expanding the product range.
Today, the PlayPower brand also includes Miracle Recreation Equipment Company, Hags, Soft Play, EZ Dock, and Miracle Water Slides.
This brings us to Little Tikes Commercial at the present, which remains committed to the development of fun and innovative new products to engage children in all developmental aspects of play. Its new SkyBuilder series is a unique style of structure taking play to a new level. It towers 30 feet from the ground with enclosed tube slides twisting and turning from over 17 feet. Inclined crawl tunnels encourage challenge as well as the reward of physical accomplishment.
In addition to these benefits, the variety of climbers promotes upper-body strength development. This playground, as a whole, provides an inspiring space for imaginative play opportunities, and it's fully compliant with all applicable playground safety standards and guidelines. It can also be configured to ful?l com pliance with ADA accessibility guidelines.
All needs have been taken into consideration with the design of KidBuilder products, its most flexible line, as well as other innovative solutions like PlayBuilders and SkyBuilders. Whether a community is looking for compact structures, towering challenges, or fully inclusive play environments, Little Tikes Commercial continues to offer designs that inspire imagination, foster development, and bring people together.
From its humble beginnings on the banks of the Black River to becoming a global leader in playground innovation, Little Tikes Commercial has stayed true to its vision: creating play environments that spark joy, encourage exploration, and help every child grow through the power of play.
