From Crossroads Knits Pattern Notes:

“As a mother of small children, I know that while mittens keep small hands warm, kids need their fingers available. It is hard for small fingers to zip jackets or tie shoes, and it is practically impossible to cross monkey bars with mittened hands.

Most children solve this problem by simply removing their mittens, and this is how many mittens get lost. Moms have responded to this by threading mittens on string through coat sleeves, or clipping mittens to the wrists. I came up with a different solution.

I started with a regular convertible mitten, but decided that it was too much bulk for tiny hands and too much effort for a busy preschooler. Playground mittens are mittens with a slit, so that kids can slip their fingers or even their entire hands out of their mittens without actually taking them off. Adding a flap keeps the palm completely covered for warmth without adding too much bulk.

Playground Mittens are a modification of any basic mitten pattern, for any size or gauge. I used Ann Budd’s The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns (Interweave Press, 2002) as my source, but any basic recipe would do. At the end of this pattern is a list of links for such basic mitten patterns available online.“

Additional note from LizK: Thanks to other Ravelers, a small error was found in the pattern. As of February 2008, the pattern has been updated to reflect the correction.