Chin-up bars are playground equipment that were once ubiquitous on children's playgrounds. They are still important in the adult equivalent of a playground, the Par course . A chin-up bar is simply a smooth metal bar, often a pipe, held solidly above ground by a wooden or metal frame. Typical installations include 2 or 3 different heights of bars for people of different heights.

To use it properly, a person jumps up slightly to grab the bar in both hands so that the palms are facing away and the feet hang freely in the air. The exerciser then pulls himself up to where his chin passes the top of the bar, slowly lowers himself to hanging by his arms, and repeats as many times as possible.

Chin-up bar counts were a part of the U.S. President's Council on Physical Fitness program for evaluating the physical health of schoolchildren in the 1960s and 1970s.

Children found other creative ways to use them, however, such as hanging by the knees, pulling oneself up to the top and sitting on them, and so on.