Playground plays important roles for children not only to accommodate their physical activities but also to improve their mental health. However, it is currently difficult to conduct playground activities regularly due to COVID-19 outbreaks. This study aims to explore the spatial structure of the playground based on space syntax analysis. It specifically investigates six different criteria through simulations (i.e., street accessibility, occupancy rates, visibility graph analysis), and an on-site observational approach (i.e., time sampling and user characteristics). As a result, this study presents playground catalogues that allow one to rethink new configurations of future playgrounds when dealing with pandemic and post-pandemic situations. © 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.