Everybody loves karaoke!

(Except, you know, for those who don't.)

But for those who do...we've got an awesome prize pack for you this week in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes!

First, you've got a portable karaoke machine that hooks up to any TV.

Then, you've got two disc sets that include a total of 168 songs! Yowza! The first set includes the top 10 songs from the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, while the other set is a "Pop, Rock, & R&B MEGA PACK." So you won't lack for options when you host your first karaoke party!

This is the last week of our weekly prize giveaway, so be sure to add at least one playspace with a photo to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time Dec. 29 to be eligible to win!

Here's a sneak peek of some of the cool stuff you'll be able to do on kaboom.org starting next week:

Find people easier
You'll be able to easily browse and search for members of kaboom.org by name, username, and location. You can even select online friends and keep track of their updates!

Create and join groups
Your playspace planning committee, play task force, friends and people with similar interests will be able to organize and have conversations online. Each group gets its own Forum, photo gallery, and more - and you can make it either open to the public or private.

Visit our improved Forums
You'll be able to use the new and improved Forums to learn, teach and share with other people who are advocating for play and building playgrounds easier than ever before!

Share photos and videos
You'll be able to upload pictures and videos from your play projects and share playful memories with the community! You can sort your pictures and videos into albums for easy browsing, and rate and comment on other people's pictures and videos, too.

Invite people to events
You'll be able to post your events and support other playful happenings!

Set your privacy settings
You'll be able to decide exactly how much (or how little) of your information you want others to see.

So stay tuned! Be sure to check back on Dec. 29 for all these cool new features and more!

Are you on Facebook? Now you can promote the cause of play by "poking" your friends! Here's how.

First, login to Facebook. Make sure you've added the SuperPoke application.

Then, go to the SuperPoke application (which looks like this):

Select the friends you want to poke (we recommend using the "select all" button!).

Then, select the "Causes" tab and choose "Build a playground with KaBOOM!" (see below).

Then click the big "SuperPoke Them!" button.

Once you’ve sent the SuperPoke to all of your friends, you’ll be taken to a page where you can donate your Facebook status to KaBOOM!, and recruit your friends to the cause of play with KaBOOM!.

By Lian Mah

Lian Mah is a KaBOOM! Project Manager based out of the Washington, D.C. office.

SUSTAINABILITY: meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

When you hear the word “sustainability,” what immediately comes to mind? Is it recycling? “Going green?” Maintaining what is already there? Some people might think “reduce, reuse and recycle,” but sustainability is so much more than that.

With each build that KaBOOM! helps to plan and execute, we make a big impact, both on the community through the playground and surrounding area, and on the environment through the different materials that we use. We realize that there need to be steps taken and actions performed to offset the impact that every build has on the environment. This holds true not only for KaBOOM!-led builds, but for any community playground build or Play Day.

I was recently in Tampa, Fla. to kick off another great project with the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa, Inc., the Tampa Bay Community and Family Development Corporation, and The Home Depot in conjunction with the NFL Neighborhood MVP program. A large part of our project is going to focus around making our Build Day more sustainable. Beginning in 2009, The Home Depot will be the official Sustainability Partner of KaBOOM!. We will be working together not only to lessen the impact that we have on the environment through our playground builds, but also share best practices with other organizations leading service projects. Here are some of the questions that we are already asking:

• How can we encourage more volunteers to carpool? 
• What native plants and trees can we use that will thrive in the environment around the playground?
• How can we reduce waste on our build sites?

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting updates on how and what we are planning for the build. My final blog post will reveal to everybody how much waste we were able to reduce and how we were able to make the site more sustainable through the collective effort of the community and The Home Depot!

My group has already nicknamed our Build Day “Earth Friendly Day,” and I would love to hear what ideas other people have to make a playground build more environmentally friendly!

If you are the lucky winner of this week's KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes, you'll find yourself the proud owner of a TomTom ONE 130-S Global Positioning System!

All you need to do to enter is add at least one playspace with a photo to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder by 11:59 p.m. Monday, Dec. 22. That's it! Entering a playspace with a photo automatically enters you into the sweepstakes.

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

KaBOOM! is dedicated to bringing play back into the lives of our children. We passionately believe that play has purpose. A playground is the place where a child can discover and develop all the skills it takes to become a well-rounded adult. A playground is a proving ground where values, behaviors, and social skills are not only learned, they are experimented with, grown and nurtured.

As you're considering your charitable contributions this holiday season, consider what a gift to KaBOOM! can do.

A gift of $10 provides...
A place where dreams become reality. KaBOOM! works with kids all over the country to design their dream playgrounds.  Your donation helps provide paper and crayons to help them put their imaginations to work.

A gift of $25 provides...
A safe place to land. When building a great new place to play, we always encourage the community and kids to keep their playground safe.  Your gift will allow us to purchase 25 cubic feet of surfacing to keep kids safe as they fly off the swings!

A gift of $50 provides...
A home base for my community. At KaBOOM!, we strive to build great places to play that become gathering spaces the whole community can enjoy.  Your gift allows us to help construct a community bulletin board to keep the playspace the center of the action.

A gift of $75 provides...
A celebration of local culture. Every KaBOOM! playground is designed by kids and built by the community. Your gift will allow us to purchase paint and supplies to bring that culture and community spirit to life with a colorful mural.

A gift of $100 provides...
A place to learn and grow. Kids learn important social and cognitive skills on the playground. With your help, they can learn math and science there too! Your gift allows us to build an outdoor classroom so that on a sunny day kids don’t have to come in from recess to go to class.

Click here to learn more and donate.

There are only three weeks left to go in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes! For those who haven't been briefed, here's the deal:

1. Every week we give away a prize (or prize package) valued between $100 and $200 to one lucky winner.

2. The winner is chosen from those who entered at least one playspace with a photo into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder that week.

3. Each time you enter a playspace with a photo, it counts as an entry. No messy forms to fill out, plus your odds of winning go up as you add more playspaces!

4. Each week's sweepstakes starts on Tuesday (Eastern time) and ends the following Monday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time. So the only eligible playspaces for that week's contests are those entered during that timeframe.

So.

That being said, who wants to win an Elmo Live and an MLB Pitching Machine?

We'll draw the lucky winner on Dec. 16. It could be you...but only if you add at least one playspace with a photo to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder before 11:59 p.m. Monday.

This is the last package of kids' toys we're giving away this year, so...on your mark, get set...ADD PLAYSPACES!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

By Nancy Serrand
Code Enforcement Officer/Chairperson, Playful City USA Committee
City of Canton, Ga.

Nancy Serrand is leading a webinar on "Revitalizing Your Playspace on a Shoestring Budget" Dec. 16.

The first hurdle is timing. If you piggyback on another event where your audience will already be on location, you're good to go. We plan our Annual Play Day immediately following the city's Holiday Parade. The parade begins at 1:00 p.m. and usually ends around 2:30. The park is located within walking distance and conveniently visible by patrons leaving the parade. In trying to recruit business participation, we invite them to join the parade and carry signs that say, "Follow us to Family Fun at Heritage Park from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m." This gives families who are already out for the day with their children something to do with the remainder of the day.

Our invitation to businesses includes an opportunity for them to get free exposure. The fee for participation in our Play Day is providing a game, activity or demonstration in exchange for space. They can set up a booth or table with signs and/or displays promoting their business, but they must provide all the materials and volunteers for their activity. There are no opportunities for the sale of any product or service. As a parent, it is frustrating to go to an event to be hawked by your children asking you to buy trinkets, food and other items, especially as in our situation, with the holidays being so near...

America’s Promise Alliance, KOOL-AID & KaBOOM! Team Up
With City of St. Petersburg & Mayor Rick Baker to Build New
Playground in Just One Day for Children at Trailhead Park

Child-designed playground to be built by hundreds of volunteers on Dec. 6

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – A 2008 KaBOOM! Playful City USA community and one of the 2008 100 Best Communities for Young People by America’s Promise Alliance, the City of St. Petersburg was selected among more than a dozen other communities to receive a new community-built playground to be built on Saturday, Dec. 6 at Trailhead Park.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, City Council Chair Jamie Bennett and District 6 City Councilman Wengay Newton will join more than 200 volunteers from America’s Promise Alliance, KOOL-AID, the City of St. Petersburg, organizers from KaBOOM! and residents of the local community to build a new playground at Trailhead Park. The new playground’s design is based on drawings provided by children who attended a Design Day. The playground build will begin at 8:30 a.m. with a kickoff ceremony and will conclude with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2:30 p.m.

St. Petersburg was selected as the winning community for its outstanding work to ensure that all children and youth in its community have a safe place to play. The city’s innovative “Play ‘N’ Close to Home” program utilizes public-private partnerships to build public playgrounds within a safe walking distance (1/2 mile) of every child in the city.

This week in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes, you could win a Disney Pixar Wall-E U-Command Robot and a Fisher Price "Kid Tough" Digital Camera!

The Wall-E U-Command Robot features a remote control that you can use to tell Wall-E to dance, change his expression, move, speak, and more.

The "Kid Tough" Digital Camera, meanwhile, lives up to its name by being not only shock resistant and easy for a preschooler to hold and operate, but it's also waterproof! Kids can instantly see the photos they've taken on its 1.5 inch, color LCD screen.

How can you enter to win these great toys? It's easy! Just add at least one playspace, with a photo, to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time Dec. 8.

Start entering playspaces today!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

At KaBOOM!, we count on the close working relationships that we share with our play equipment and safety surfacing vendors: our KaBOOM! Partners in Play. The expertise of our Partners in Play in site preparation and installation, their flexibility in the face of all weather conditions, and their enthusiasm for working with volunteers are vital to the success of our community projects.

Equipment manufacturers are selected as KaBOOM! Partners in Play for a three-year period. KaBOOM! selects only vendors who meet stringent guidelines. Working with the same vendors for a three-year period means that our Project Managers gain a high level of expertise on that equipment and are prepared with all of the appropriate tools and know-how, ensuring each build is completed in one day! With few exceptions, the playground projects KaBOOM! manages will use our Partners in Play vendors. We take our responsibility to identify vendors for hundreds of communities very seriously; play value and safety are foremost in our minds and mission.

Vendors of play equipment and safety surfacing are selected as KaBOOM! Partners in Play (PIP) for a three-year cycle from a competitive process using the following criteria:

• Quality of product
• Innovation in design with a focus on play value and accessibility
• Customer service, including ability to serve all 50 United States and Puerto Rico, all 10 provinces and 3 territories in Canada, and all 31 states and the Federal District in Mexico
• Insurance, warranty and product liability
• Reputation and good standing
• Meeting and/or exceeding current safety standards established by ASTM, CPSC and IPEMA and accessibility guidelines as established by ADA
• Comprehension and value of the community-build process and ability to support the KaBOOM! community-build process
• Attention and adherence to environmental standards and issues in the manufacturing process and commitment to reduce environmental impact
• Timely service (for playgrounds- ability to manufacture and deliver custom playground equipment and custom graphics in a reasonable timeframe)
• Demonstration of your organization’s alignment with the KaBOOM! core mission and values
• Commitment to research and development of innovative play equipment
• Cost and value added

Learn more about equipment and surfacing partners.

By J.C. Boushh

We've all heard the saying "imitation is the greatest form of flattery," and now it may also be the greatest source of learning for the brain. Consider how infants begin to acquire specific motor skills. "If you stick out your tongue to an observant infant shortly after birth, the probability is high that he or she will reciprocate the behavior" (Sylwester, 2005). This behavior, triggered by "mirror neurons" in the brain, is the beginning of a lifelong quest to understand the world around us, especially in relationship to each other…a development process that thrives on the playground.

Today's playgrounds provide incredible opportunities for children to observe and practice their highly-sophisticated gross motor skills. Many times this process of advance motor skills involves an action that takes place in the brain prior to the physical domain. "Mirror neurons make it possible for people to learn complex motor skills simply by seeing others perform them" (Hamilton, 2005).

The ability of our mirror neurons to translate the complex motor skills we observe into the direct learning of motor skills is one of the many mysteries of the human brain...

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,
In the lane, snow is glistening
We want to learn more,
What's KaBOOM! got in store?
Check out all their winter webinars!

Gone away is our playground,
We must build a fun-n'-games-ground,
But we don't know how,
So let's learn how to now,
Regist'ring for winter webinars!

In our city we can build a playground,
Then our kids will laugh and run around,
They'll say "Can we play more?
Love this playground!"
And we'll build it all thanks to
kaboom.org!

But for now, as we wander,
On these topics we must ponder.
To face unafraid,
The plans that we made,
Let's register for winter webinars!

Thank you!

Now that "Winter Wonderland" is stuck in your head, go register for our fantastic webinars, covering the following topics:

• Finding Play in Playful City USA Communities: The KaBOOM! Playspace Finder and Widget
• Extra! Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Working with the Media
• How to Rally Your City to Become a Playful City Part II: Developing an Action Plan for Play
• KaBOOM! Success Stories: Washington Mutual and McKinley Elementary
• Playgrounds, Mental Health and Brain Development
• Success Stories: Volunteer Recruitment with Mara Kaplan
• Grant Writing 101
• Incorporating Service Learning Into Your Build
• Success Stories: Revitalizing your Playspace on a Shoestring Budget
• Making Your Build Day Green
• Fundraising 101
• Volunteer Recruitment: Managing the Process
• The KaBOOM! Road Map
• Safety, Surfacing & Vendors...Oh My!

For the next few weeks in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes, we're giving away some of the hottest toys of the holiday season!

This week, one lucky winner will receive both a Fisher Price Elmo Live and a Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera!

These two toys are in high demand this year! Elmo sings, dances, and tells jokes and stories. The camera is appropriate for a preschooler to use, with its two-eye viewing, sturdy grips, and waterproof casing to protect against splashes and spills.

To enter this week's sweepstakes, all you need to do is add at least one playspace with a photo into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Dec. 1. Every playspace you add is another entry in the sweepstakes, so add lots of playspaces to increase your chances of winning!

So start entering playspaces today!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

As families gather for the Thanksgiving holiday, KaBOOM! CEO & Co-Founder Darell Hammond invites you to join us in honoring and recognizing outstanding volunteerism in the U.S. and throughout the world.

Hammond offered online commentary in support of CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, which will air on Thanksgiving night, Nov. 27 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT). Hosted by Anderson Cooper, the program recognizes ordinary citizens whose extraordinary deeds are making a difference in their communities and beyond.

After receiving nearly 4,000 submissions from 75 countries, a Blue Ribbon Panel including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Jane Goodall, Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Franklin Graham, Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson and George Lopez (to name a few) selected this year’s Top 10 CNN Heroes. Each honoree will receive a $25,000 award for his/her organization.

We encourage you to tune in to CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute on Thanksgiving night. For more information, please visit www.cnn.com/heroes.

Update: Hammond's commentary is now available here.

Thanks to everyone who nominated the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder for the Mashable Open Web Awards! During the nominations round, Mashable received over 43,000 verified nominations. They narrowed down this huge pool to the 10 most-nominated sites and services in each category.

Thanks to your efforts, we've passed the nomination process, and now you can vote for the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder in the next round!

The first and final voting rounds will be held from November 19th till December 15th. You can use the web form below (or click "Read more") to vote for the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder for the Open Web Awards! You can vote for one item per category per day, so vote often and tell your friends to do the same!

The Mashable Open Web Awards is the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology. Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements in 26 categories.

For the next few weeks in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes, we're giving away some of the hottest toys of the holiday season!

This week, one lucky winner will receive both a Fisher Price Elmo Live and a Disney Pixar Wall-E U-Command Robot!

These two toys are super interactive and fun. Wall-E has all kinds of sound, light, and motion effects, and Elmo sings, dances, and tells jokes and stories.

To enter this week's sweepstakes, all you need to do is add at least one playspace with a photo into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Nov. 24. Every playspace you add is another entry in the sweepstakes, so add lots of playspaces to increase your chances of winning!

So start entering playspaces today!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

The Mashable Open Web Awards is the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology. Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements in 26 categories. Nominations will be accepted through Nov. 16.

You can use the web form below (or click "Read more") to nominate the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder for the Open Web Awards! Tell your friends to do the same!

This week in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes, you could win a really cool personal trainer system that tracks your distance traveled, heart rate, calories, burned, and more!

More than just a pedometer, this two-piece system consists of the wrist unit and a digital heart rate transmitter that you wear around your chest, and can be used while running, biking, or participating in other activities. One of the really neat features is a "virtual partner" you can program to train against.

All you have to do to enter to win this nifty gadget is to add at least one playspace with a photo into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time Nov. 17. So grab your camera and head out to your community's playspaces today!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

The Home Depot NFL Neighborhood MVP is a new program designed to recognize NFL players who are making a positive impact in their local communities through charitable programs and contributions.

The Neighborhood MVP program will reward 17 players, one for each week of the regular season, with a football field refurbishment or a playground build in their honor and a donation to the charity of their choice. Each player will work with representatives from KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit whose vision is to create a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America, and volunteers from The Home Depot and the local community to complete the field refurbishment or playground build projects. Learn more about this program and vote for The Home Depot NFL Neighborhood MVP! [More]

There are numerous reasons for cities and towns across the country to apply for Playful City USA status and KaBOOM! just added another! Five communities honored with Playful City USA designation in 2009 will receive an Imagination Playground in a BOX – the innovative playground collaboration between KaBOOM! and architect David Rockwell!

Applications to become a Playful City USA community in 2009 are available. Communities who submit their application by the early deadline of April 1, 2009 will be eligible to receive an Imagination Playground in a BOX – a playground that features a system of loose parts children can put together in limitless combinations that allows for turning a playground into a space constantly built and re-built by their imagination.

Another benefit of being named a Playful City USA is national recognition. KaBOOM! honored 67 Playful City USA communities in 2008 and each will be honored in front of more than 4,000 individuals at the 2008 National League of Cities Congress of Cities and Exposition, which will be held Nov. 11-15 in Orlando. Representatives from communities will also participate in a KaBOOM! led Playful City USA themed playground build in Orlando courtesy of KOOL-AID on Friday, Nov. 14.

Learn how to apply for 2009 Playful City USA.

By David Elkind

Free, self-initiated play is the child's own way of learning about self and world. An infant who drops a rattle out of the crib discovers gravity. But the baby also learns that he or she can hold something and let it go. Likewise, no one teaches infants to babble. Yet in so doing babies create all of the sounds they will need to speak the language of their parents. In the dramatic play of preschoolers they learn who are the leaders and who are the followers, who are outgoing and bossy and who are shy and retiring. When school age children play board games like checkers and Monopoly they learn to read their opponents' body language and speech intonations. And when children make up their own games, they learn mutual respect; to follow the rules that others make and to see others follow the rules that they themselves devise...

This week's prize in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes is both super cool and super easy to use!

The Flip Video camera fits in your pocket and can record up to 60 minutes of video, then plug directly into your computer to download. No need to mess with memory cards, DVDs, or tapes - the built-in hard drive holds the video and then transfers it right to your computer.

Built-in software lets you easily e-mail videos, upload to YouTube, and capture still photos from your video.

All you need to do to enter the sweepstakes is add at least one playspace with a photo into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder before 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Nov. 10. Each playspace you enter with a photo counts as an entry!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

Start entering playspaces in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder!

Nothing like some boo-tiful new webinars to celebrate Halloween!

Just announced for November are FREE webinars covering these topics:

• Introduction to the KaBOOM! Road Map
• Almost There! Getting Ready for Your Build Day
• Bringing Your Build to Life: Success Stories
• Making the Ask: Getting Business Sponsorships
• Why Play Matters

Learn more and register!

This week in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes, you could be the lucky winner of a Canon Powershot SD1100IS Digital Camera!

This 8-megapixel camera features a 3x optical image-stabilized zoom and an easy-to-read 2.5-inch LCD monitor. It's perfect for taking great photos on the playground, in the park, at the skatepark, at the ice rink, etc.

What do you have to do to enter to win this beautiful little camera? It's easy! There are no forms to fill out. All you have to do is enter at least one new playspace with a photo into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder by 11:59 p.m. EST Nov. 3 and you're automatically entered to win. The more playspaces you add, the better your odds - so start adding playspaces today!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

This just in...KaBOOM! will be joining the NBA All-Star Game Team for the second year in a row! That’s right, hoops fans...KaBOOM! and the NBA will be building a great place for kids to play on February 13, 2009 in Phoenix to celebrate the All-Star Game and the NBA's commitment to creating places where kids can live, learn and PLAY!

On Build Day, 200 NBA volunteers will be matching up with local volunteers to create a great new EVOS playground that will be built in an afternoon building bonanza!

As the NBA season opens this week, be sure to give a HUGE KaBOOM! cheer for our friends at the NBA to thank them for supporting KaBOOM! and its mission for another year.

Learn more about sports teams partnering with KaBOOM!.

KaBOOM! is all over the Internet! Did you know you can be our friend on MySpace? A fan on Facebook? A follower on Twitter? Join us today!

	Let's be friends on Myspace!
	Become a fan on Facebook!
	Recruit friends with our Facebook Cause!
	Get mobile updates with Twitter!
	Network with us on LinkedIn!

By Nancy E. Serrand
Code Enforcement Officer/Chairperson, Playful City USA Committee
City of Canton, Ga.

In order to build a playspace, you need a design that suits your budget. In an economic crunch, it requires that you think about minimum requirements, lots of volunteers and a great deal of creative begging. Here are a few ideas:

1. Build benches and tables using 2 X 6 pressure treated-lumber and 4 x 4 posts.

2. Consider using a "living fence" -- a hedge or fence made out of shrubs. Most large landscapers, when doing corporate jobs, order far more than they need. Depending upon the type of shrub, 50 - 60 of them placed 4 feet apart will go a long way.

3. When pricing out equipment such as swings, slides and other play equipment, get at least three quotes. Make sure you let the vendor know your financial position in order to create competitive quotes and possible donations...

Did you know?

Organic yogurt-maker Stonyfield Farm is teaming up with KaBOOM! to provide much-needed places to play for two deserving schools or youth organizations!

One winner of the Stonyfield KaBOOM! "Double Play" program will win a $50,000 grant to build or improve a playground, skatepark, basketball court, sports field or other type of playspace.

That school or organization will then help select a second $50,000 grant recipient from a list of KaBOOM! applicants, chosen on the basis of their financial need.

Learn more.

If you are the lucky winner of this week's KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes, you'll find yourself the proud owner of a TomTom ONE 130-S Global Positioning System!

All you need to do to enter is add at least one playspace with a photo to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder by 11:59 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27. That's it! Entering a playspace with a photo automatically enters you into the sweepstakes.

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

By Todd Redenius and Deb Dyar
City of Ankeny

Residents of Ankeny, Iowa get a unique opportunity to contribute and become involved with the city’s decision-making process when it comes to new parks and playgrounds.

When planning a new park or playground, we first mail a conceptual plan and a letter announcing a park development neighborhood meeting to each property owner within a four to six block radius of the park that is being developed.

At the park development meeting, neighbors review the plan and give their input on the process, and we invite people to leave their name, address and email address, which provides a great volunteer base for landscaping and fundraising.

During the neighborhood meeting, we discuss people’s desired amenities for the park playground, including play equipment, colors and styles...

Is your city a playful city?

Prove it!

Submit an application to get your city declared a Playful City USA community. Make your community a national role model, leading the way for play and growing the next generation of healthy and productive adults!

Playful City USA is a national recognition program honoring cities and towns across the nation committed to taking action for play. Those communities who apply and meet five commitments will:

Learn more and get your application today.

Hey, all you workout fans - check out the super deluxe sports watch you can win in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes this week!

The Garmin Forerunner is no ordinary watch, my friends. It's a workout management system that works like a pedometer, heart monitor, and calorie counter all in one.

It lets you easily calculate your running or cycling speed and distance. You can set it to beep at certain times for interval training, or to alert you if you vary too much from a set pace you determine.

And here's the super cool thing - it'll log your workouts and wirelessly trasmit them to your computer!

How can you win one of these cool workout toys? First, make sure you're a U.S. resident age 18 or older, and then simply add at least one playspace with a photo to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time Oct. 20.

Everytime you enter a playspace with a photo, you're automatically entered in the sweepstakes. Couldn't be easier!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

Read the official rules.

This week's prize in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes is, once again, one of the hippest tech toys of the moment - but it's also really easy to use!

The Flip Video camera fits in your pocket and can record up to 60 minutes of video, then plug directly into your computer to download. No need to mess with memory cards, DVDs, or tapes - the built-in hard drive holds the video and then transfers it right to your computer.

Built-in software lets you easily e-mail videos, upload to YouTube, and capture still photos from your video.

To enter, add at least one playspace with a photo into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder before 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Oct. 13. Each playspace you enter with a photo counts as an entry!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

Start entering playspaces in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder!

24 Hour Fitness and KaBOOM! Team Up to Build Playgrounds for Houston Children

SAN RAMON, Calif., and WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 6, 2008) – 24 Hour Fitness, the largest privately-owned U.S. fitness chain and a health club industry pioneer, and KaBOOM!, a national non-profit dedicated to bringing play back into the lives of children, are teaming up to build new playgrounds in Houston communities impacted by Hurricane Ike. The partnership will help children in the region get fit and stay healthy while aiding communities that are recovering from the storm.

Throughout the month of October, 24 Hour Fitness will donate $1 from the monthly dues of Houston area members to KaBOOM! to help build the playgrounds. 24 Hour Fitness team members will join members and community volunteers to build the first playground on December 13, with a second playground to be built in early 2009. Locations for both playgrounds will be announced at a later date. 24 Hour Fitness club members will also be invited to donate through an in-club fundraising campaign, with all proceeds going to KaBOOM!.

"24 Hour Fitness is part of the Houston community and we want to ensure that kids in these neighborhoods have a place where they can just be kids again," said 24 Hour Fitness CEO Carl Liebert. "Physical fitness and staying active can help change a person’s life and we hope that bringing these playgrounds back to the region will help families recover from this disaster."

"KaBOOM! knows that disasters such as Hurricane Ike affect everyone, especially kids, who depend on peaceful, familiar routines to keep them feeling safe and secure," said Darell Hammond, CEO and co-founder of KaBOOM!. "As we’ve seen with the playgrounds we’ve built in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, playgrounds give kids a great way to stay mentally and physically healthy when the rest of the world around them is chaotic."

KaBOOM! is also calling on Houston-area residents and organizations to document playgrounds damaged by the storm on the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder, at http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org. As the damaged playgrounds are added to the online database, KaBOOM! will work to recruit supporters in the region to help clean-up and repair those playspaces that need attention. 

Is your nearby playground a bit drab? Maybe it needs a colorful pick-me-up!

Pick up a paintbrush and give a bench or wall a nice makeover. (Be sure to check with whoever’s responsible for the playground first!) Consider painting a mural or some games on the asphalt. Bright, attractive colors could bring more kids – and their parents – out to play!

Learn how.

See more actions.

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If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

WE Play! Phoenix
Phoenix Marriott Mesa
Oct. 10
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Register now
Learn more

WE Play! San Francisco
Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf
Nov. 8
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Register now
Learn more

Learn how to fundraise, build and advocate for great places to play in your community! Thanks to the generous support of our partners KOOL-AID and The Home Depot and led by KaBOOM! presenters, KaBOOM! Workshops Entirely on Play are one-day, FREE regional trainings (including a free continental breakfast, snacks and lunch!) packed with interactive sessions, including:

• Guidance on how to build a playground in a day with volunteers from your community
• Research to build your case for play
• Proven fundraising techniques and planning strategies to get the job done
• Tried-and-true ways to engage the community
• The opportunity to meet other local and national activists who share your commitment to kids

Learn more about WE Play!

This week in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes, you could win a cool prize package that allows you to bring your favorite music to the playground! (Or the beach! Or hiking! Or pretty much anywhere else!)

This week, one lucky person who enters a playspace with a photo into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder will win a Targus SonicPak backpack and an iPod Shuffle.

The Targus SonicPak is a backpack with a built-in speaker you can connect to just about anything that plays music - an MP3 player, laptop, or CD player, for example. Three AA batteries provide up to 100 hours of continuous listening time, and its water resistant panel will help protect against the elements.

The iPod Shuffle, meanwhile, holds 2GB of flash memory, which stores up to 500 songs. It's extremely small and portable, with a built-in clip that attaches easily to a belt loop, lapel, pocket or bag. And it's silver, to match the backpack!

Combine the two prizes and you'll have many, many hours of listening fun on the go!

To enter, just add at least one playspace to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder, with a photo, before 11:59 p.m. EST Monday, Oct. 6. That's it! You're automatically entered if you add a playspace. To be eligible to win a prize, you must be a U.S. resident of at least 18 years of age.

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

KaBOOM! had over 300 volunteers at Park Southern Apartments in Washington, D.C. Sept. 20 to build an amazing new playground with KOOL-AID and Antawn Jamison of the Washington Wizards. OH YEAH!

The KOOL-AID Man couldn't wait to be a part of the build, but first he had to get there!

He found his way around Union Station...

Whoops - he remembered he needed cash for a taxi.

Cash in hand, he hailed a cab...

And then took a little time to see the sights of Washington! You can't visit Washington without seeing the Capitol!

And then it was time to go to the build! He arrived at Park Southern Apartments and really got the crowd revved up!

He took some great photos with families and kids...

And then he took a dance break with Washington Wizards star Antawn Jamison! Antawn spoke about why play was important and how KOOL-AID and KaBOOM! were making dreams come true for kids.

OH YEAH! Everyone had a ball, and a great playground was built in just one day for the kids at Park Southern Apartments.

Learn more about KOOL-AID and KaBOOM!.

Send an email

Is something taking away the time and space for your kids to play? Send an email to someone who can make a difference!

For example, if recess time is being cut from your schools, email your principal, superintendant, or school board to complain. If you notice playgrounds in your neighborhood need repair, email your parks and recreation department to ask if they can be fixed.

Just one email can make a difference!

Learn how.

See more actions.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

Organic yogurt-maker Stonyfield Farm is teaming up with KaBOOM! to provide much-needed places to play for two deserving schools or youth organizations!

One winner of the Stonyfield KaBOOM! "Double Play" program will win a $50,000 grant to build or improve a playground, skatepark, basketball court, sports field or other type of playspace.

That school or organization will then help select a second $50,000 grant recipient from a list of KaBOOM! applicants, chosen on the basis of their financial need.

The Double Play Program is being promoted via Stonyfield Farm yogurt lids.

Schools, clubs and other organizations can collect specially-marked 6-ounce and 32-ounce yogurt lids and mail them with an entry form to Stonyfield Farm. The group that collects the most lids will be the winner.

The program ends Dec. 31, so get started collecting lids today!

Learn more.

Stonyfield Farm, celebrating its 25th year, is the world's leading organic yogurt company. Its all natural and certified organic yogurt, smoothies, milk, cultured soy, frozen yogurt and ice cream are distributed nationally. The company advocates that healthy food can only come from a healthy planet. Stonyfield donates 10 percent of its profits to efforts that help protect and restore the Earth. For more information about Stonyfield Farm, its products and initiatives, visit www.stonyfield.com.

Saturday, Sept. 27 is the Worldwide Day of Play. If you live in one of the following cities, you've got a Play Day to attend on Saturday!

Albany, N.Y.
Atlanta, Ga.
Encinitas, Calif.
Lamoni, Iowa
Murray, Ky.
Nampa, Idaho
New Lenox, Ill.
Phoenix, Ariz.
San Jose, Calif.
Shirley, Mass.
Wapello, Iowa
White, Ga.
Bloomington, Ind. (Sept. 28)

(See other upcoming Play Days and register your community's Play Day here.)

If your community isn't hosting a Play Day, that doesn't mean you can't celebrate! We've got a great list of outdoor games and ideas for nature play. The important thing is to just get outside and have fun!

And while you're out playing this weekend, why not snap a few photos of your local playspaces to add to the new KaBOOM! Playspace Finder? Don't forget, every entry you add before 11:59 p.m. EST Monday enters you to win a Kodak EasyShare camera!

You’d think that after building another playground that I’d be completely tired and wiped out of all my energy! Actually, I’m not doing too badly at all. I had a fantastic weekend building the playground for the Park Southern Community in Washington, D.C.! I feel very fortunate to again have been involved with a great project, a wonderful neighborhood and amazing volunteers.

I have to admit, when I first walked up and saw the huge mountain of mulch (about three times larger than the one at our Shreveport build two weeks earlier) that I wondered if we’d actually make it though the build! I just had to pace myself and help put together different pieces of the playground first and really save my strength for the mulch move. Not only was the mulch pile larger than life, it was also at the top of a very steep hill! OK, I’m finished with talking about the mulch… at least until my next build!

I’ve got to send out some serious thanks to KaBOOM! and KOOL-AID for making this project possible and inviting me to be a part of it. The build was special for many reasons. For one, it was one of the five builds going on that day that let KaBOOM! move past their 1,500th build! I want to congratulate them on that feat. They are truly providing hope and inspiration to so many kids and communities by providing these wonderful playgrounds. I hope I can one day say that I’ve been a part of another 1,500 builds with them!

The build was also special because it was the first time I’d worked with KOOL-AID and hung out with the KOOL-AID Man! KOOL-AID not only made such a huge impact with their financial and marketing contributions, but also through the excitement they provided with their name and having their famous KOOL-AID Man being on site (I think he signed more autographs than me)! Just want to say thanks again to both KOOL-AID and KaBOOM! for allowing me to help them make a difference!

Well, I’m starting training camp at the end of the week and have already begun working out with my Washington Wizards team. I think that we have a good chance of making some noise in the NBA this year so don’t forget to stay tuned and cheer for us! It’s back to business but you can expect to hear from me again when my season is done and I’m able to get back to building playgrounds!

-Antawn

Learn more about Antawn Jamison, All-Star Playmaker!

See photos from the build.

Read more about the build:

Wizards’ Jamison organizes hundreds to build playground

Washington Wizard Antawn Jamison helps build playground

Antawn Jamison, Kool-Aid and KaBOOM! build playground in Southeast D.C.

Jamison plays on

NBA.com story

NBA.com photo gallery

The prize for this week's KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes is a Kodak EasyShare M1033 10 megapixel digital camera with 3x optical zoom!

How awesome is it? Let me tell you.

Awesomeness point #1: It's red.

Awesomeness point #2: While the camera itself is nice and small (easy to fit into a pocket), you can view your photos on a nice 3-inch wide screen on the back of the camera.

Awesomeness point #3: It has face detection technology, so you don't end up with those photos where the person is blurry but the stuff behind them is perfectly in focus.

How can you enter to win this very awesome camera? Simply add at least one playspace with a photo to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time Sept. 29. Each playspace you add counts as an entry.

Sweepstakes is valid only for U.S. residents age 18 and over. Learn more about the sweepstakes and read the official rules.

Sit on a bench

You can help make your park safer simply by sitting on a bench. But you’ll need the help of a couple of friends, too.

Organize a playground or park watch. Sit on a bench at your local park with a friend to make sure the kids are safe and people aren’t committing vandalism. Make sure you have a cell phone to report any suspicious activity. Make a habit of it and people will start to see the park as a safe place to bring their kids.

Learn how.

See more actions.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

By Jared Liu

From my earlier article, you know that there are critical benefits for incorporating trees at playspaces. Now let’s talk about technical details of planting and caring for trees. Unfortunately, it may not be as easy as it sounds. You need to know about managing inventory and quality control, tree selection, site preparation and planting, and proper tree care including watering, mulching, pruning, and fertilizing. Otherwise, you could quickly end up with a row of dead trees.

The best option is to contact your community tree organization. Ask them to help in early in the playspace planning stages. You can find the one nearest to you by visiting the Alliance for Community Trees at www.actrees.org/aboutus.

Trees are an investment: take good care of them and you’ll reap the benefits. Here are some critical rules for how you can invest in the safety and health of our communities...

I've been back in D.C. since last week, working out with my Wizards' teammates and preparing for our upcoming training camp. It's still hard to believe that we're in the middle of September and the NBA season is here again. Before I get back and sweaty on the basketball court, I'll be getting my hands dirty this weekend in D.C. by building my final playground of the summer!

I've already heard that the playground I helped build in Shreveport/Bossier City, La. has gotten a ton of action from the kids in the neighborhood there! I only wish I could have been there to see the first kids playing on the site. Hopefully I'll have the chance to get back there next summer to see them!

I'll be promoting this week's D.C. build through various channels, such as radio and television interviews Wednesday and Friday morning. I have numerous interviews scheduled, but am looking forward to them because it's easy to talk about something I'm so passionate about. I'm used to doing lots of interviews after my Wizards' games throughout the season, but they're usually more serious since they involve my "job." These interviews will all be about "play"!

I'm expecting a great build on Saturday with nice weather and lots of volunteers. We're building the playground in a community called Park Southern in D.C. Park Southern is committed to providing a better life for the kids and families who live there. I'm just appreciative for the opportunity to partner with KaBOOM! and KOOl-AID to help further their efforts by providing this new safe and fun place for their kids to play.

Park Southern, here we come!

-Antawn

Learn more about Antawn Jamison, All-Star Playmaker!

View photos from his build in Bossier City, La.!

At the end of the day Sept. 20, after building brand-new playgrounds in Chicago, Gulfport, Miami, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! will have built over 1,500 playspaces across the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

The 1,500 playgrounds KaBOOM! has built, along with our generous funding partners and amazing community partners, serve more than 750,000 children each year!

We can’t wait to build 1,500 more!

Playworkers at Imagination Playground in a BOX opening, July 9, 2008 Learn more about Imagination Playground

By Penny Wilson and Joan Almon

When adventure playgrounds began in London after World War II they were staffed by “wardens.” They kept the keys for the tool sheds, which held the building materials and bits and pieces that the children needed for their playing. This role rapidly developed as the wardens discovered the wonder of play and became advocates for children's play. They gathered materials and local support and facilitated the play processes of the children. Gradually the wardens became “play leaders” and then “playworkers,” because they understood that they must not be leading the play of children — rather they should be working with play.

The term playwork is a deliberate oxymoron. It is a craft filled with paradoxes, for in an ideal world playworkers would not need to exist. Across Europe and in Japan playworkers manage the spaces for children’s play, but their work needs to be as invisible and unobtrusive as possible...

This week in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes, you could be the lucky winner of a snazzy, portable photo printer!

The Polaroid PoGo prints borderless 2 inch by 3 inch color photos from your digital camera in under a minute. The best part is, it doesn't use ink! You won't need to replace any ink catridges or ribbons, ever. And what's super cool is that it not only connects to digital cameras, it can also print photos from select Bluetooth-enabled cell phones!

Imagine playing with your kids on the playground, taking photos of them with their friends, and then printing the photos right there for them to take home. (And while you're on the playground, don't forget to take a couple good photos of the area to add to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder!)

To enter, all you have to do is add at least one playspace with a photo into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, Sept. 22. So grab your camera and head out to your nearby playgrounds today!

Start entering playspaces in the NEW KaBOOM! Playspace Finder.

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

Official rules

Pick up a newspaper

Helping make play a priority can be as easy as picking up a newspaper.

Take a walk through your park. Do you notice newspapers and other litter on the ground? Bring a trash bag and some gloves and start tidying it up. A clean playspace is much more inviting than a dirty playspace! Better yet, get some friends to help you. We’ve got the tools you need to organize a playground cleanup.

Learn how.

See more actions.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

Here are some of the new features you're going to love on the new KaBOOM! Playspace Finder:

• Interactive maps. Find out exactly where a playspace is located with a detailed map view!
• More details. You can now add up to 149 different amenities, equipment, and playspace types to make your entry as detailed as possible.
• Better search. Filter your searches by the type of playground and/or by rating.
• More ratings. In addition to an overall rating, you can now rate playspaces on its condition, safety, the level of innovation, amenities, and maintenance.

Got a blog or website? Be sure to grab one of the shiny, new KaBOOM! Playspace Finder widgets. They're free!

The all-new KaBOOM! Playspace Finder wouldn't have been possible without the very generous support of KOOL-AID. Together, KaBOOM! and KOOL-AID are making great play possible, and making great playspaces easier to find.

Complain

Are the playgrounds in your neighborhood unsafe? Ill-maintained? Say something!

Call or write a letter to the mayor, city council, or parks and recreation department. Ask them to make these community spaces a priority.

Learn how.

See more actions.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

Carla Mannix of Reading, Pa. is now the proud owner of an Audiovox Audio Homebase Message Center and 7" Digital Picture Frame, thanks to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes!

Carla started using kaboom.org last year to help raise money for a new playground at a local school. "It was nice to get ideas for fundraising and see what other people are doing," she said. "We have a very small school, one class, one grade, and there's a playground for very young children on one side of the school but nothing for the older children."

Carla sent letters to businesses and wrote a grant to help fund the new playground, and her group also held a walkathon to raise money. "Combining all that, we managed to scrape together $14,000 and bought a playground for the older kids on the other side of the school," she said.

Here's what the new playground looks like:

Congratulations to Carla on a successful project! And congratulations on winning the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes!

This week, you can win a Flip video camcorder through the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes! Learn more.

My first full playground build is officially in the books! Everything went extremely well and I can’t tell you how great it was to be a part of such a wonderful and fulfilling project. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful sunny build day (well, maybe a bit cooler)!

The build team that I was assigned to started out the day by assembling various playground parts. It wasn’t too difficult and had me thinking that the build was going to be a piece of cake! Boy was I wrong! Once it came time to distribute the “mountain of mulch” all over the playground, I realized how crazy I was to think the build would be easy! Still, I had tons of fun and am looking forward to my build in Washington, D.C. next week with KaBOOM! and KOOL-AID!

I want to take a moment to thank the 204 volunteers (including about 20 of my own family members) who sacrificed their Saturday to help us not only build the playground, but ultimately make a difference in the lives of the children and families in the Barksdale Annex community in Bossier City. It was so nice to have my mom, dad, aunts, uncles and other relatives to support me and help with the build. They really worked hard and got sweaty along with the rest of us!

I’ve gotten a lot of credit and publicity for the build, but there’s no way it would have been possible without the help of those volunteers, my family, KaBOOM!, Community Renewal International and Bellaire Baptist Church. I can’t wait to see pictures of the kids enjoying their brand new playground!

Antawn

Photos from Antawn's playground build Sept. 6, 2008

Learn more about Antawn Jamison, All-Star Playmaker!

By Jared Liu

Kudos to every local organizer who has built a playspace! Our kids need safe and healthy places to play, and the Alliance for Community Trees supports KaBOOM! in that effort.

Now we want to challenge you to think about safer and healthier places for kids. We’re talking about greening playspaces. I know that trees and landscaping are often considered “extras,” and are first on the budget chopping block, but here are some reasons to reconsider trees as critical to your playspace:

Incidences of childhood asthma are lower in neighborhoods where there are more trees.

A 2004 study of 6 million children published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that children in poor neighborhoods where there are significantly fewer trees have five times less lung function and higher school absences...

This week's prize in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes is one of the hippest tech toys of the moment - but it's also really easy to use!

The Flip Video camera fits in your pocket and can record up to 60 minutes of video, then plug directly into your computer to download. No need to mess with memory cards, DVDs, or tapes - the built-in hard drive holds the video and then transfers it right to your computer.

Built-in software lets you easily e-mail videos, upload to YouTube, and capture still photos from your video.

To enter, add at least one playspace with a photo into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder before 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Sept. 15. Each playspace you enter with a photo counts as an entry!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

Start entering playspaces in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder!

Jessica Hamer of Auburn Hills, Mich. is the latest winner in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes! She's now the proud owner of a Garmin nüvi GPS, thanks to her efforts entering playspaces into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder.

"I am so excited!" she said. "I have friends who go geocaching. I didn't have a GPS to go geocaching with them, and now I do!"

Jessica attended WE Play! in Cleveland, has helped out on a previous playground build, and is now working on a playground project of her own. "I learned about KaBOOM! because we have an area in our subdivision that needs to be revitalized," she said. "We removed old equipment and are having a meeting on the 11th to get board members and neighbors excited."

You, too, can be a winner! Every week we're drawing one lucky winner among those who enter playspaces into the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder. This week's prize is an Audiovox Audio Homebase Message Center and 7" Digital Picture Frame. Enter some playspaces with photos before 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Monday to be eligible to win!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

By Karin Swenson

As some of you know, I’m a mom of a child with Autism. I’ve written before about the value of playgrounds in my son’s life. Now I want to tell you about the importance of sharing those playgrounds with all kinds of kids, mine included.

Playgrounds are the last great bastions of egalitarianism.  At least that’s what I’d like to think. My hope is that all parents realize that kids, of all abilities and disabilities, are at some point going to share the same playspace as their child, and because people are so vastly different, that we as adults need take the time to see the dynamic that is happening right in front of us. If you see a child who is struggling, don’t just walk away, give that child an emotional boost by saying, “You can do it.” Or better yet, tell your child to encourage the child with the disability. Children are greatly encouraged by peers.

Just last week my son was at a playground and using the equipment and he was struggling mightily to reach the top as the other boys were doing. He was loudly asked to step down by the boy’s parents who wanted their children to have unfettered access...

It looks like Hurricane Gustav did just enough damage to postpone our Shreveport playground build until Saturday instead of Thursday. I’ve kept a close eye on the news surrounding Gustav. I’ve also kept everyone in its path in my prayers. Though it wasn’t nearly as bad as Hurricane Katrina, it still did quite a bit of damage. Katrina definitely served as a wake-up call and had folks much better prepared this time around. Hopefully people will continue to take the threat of any tropical storm or hurricane very seriously and prepare accordingly (especially in the Gulf area).

Unless something comes up to delay us further, I’m flying to Louisiana on Friday to prepare for the build in Bossier City on Saturday. The one benefit of us moving the build from Thursday until Saturday is that more of my family members in the area should be able to help us build. Some weren’t going to be able to volunteer because of their work schedules. I’m so thankful to be able to support this project and am very appreciative for everyone involved who’s sacrificing their time and efforts to make it a success. Three days from now, we’re going to accomplish something special for a very special neighborhood, and I can hardly wait!

-Antawn

Learn more about Antawn Jamison, All-Star Playmaker!

By Mara Kaplan

Mara just finished a playground build for her daughter’s school, Community Day in Pittsburgh, Penn. Below, she shares her best volunteer recruitment strategies for the project. “We had 180 people show up on Build Day, over 220 people volunteer on the project, and 41 percent of our school families participated,” says Mara.

1. Recruit a grade captain for every grade or every homeroom, depending on your school. The build chair can then communicate with the grade captains, who can do more personal outreach to the parents in their child’s class. Also, if you’re working with a private school, enlist someone as a liaison to the board of directors, and don’t forget the faculty! If you can get a teacher to ask their peers to volunteer, it will make it easier to get them excited about the project.

This week's prize in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes, the Audiovox - Audio Homebase 7" Digital Photo Frame with Message Center, has lots of great features!

First, you've got a digital photo frame, which stores and displays over a hundred digital photos!

Next, you've got an audio message center. Want to leave a message for your kids when they get home from school? Record it here!

Then, you've got the whiteboard - write reminders, notes, messages, and more. It's also magnetic, so you can use it to show off your kids' latest artwork!

It also has an interactive, digital calendar built into the photo frame.

Stand it on the counter or mount it on your fridge - this handy device will help keep you and your family organized either way.

How do you enter to win this marvel of modern technology? Simply add at least one playspace with a photo to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder before Sept. 9. Every playspace added counts as an entry, so the more you add, the better your chances of winning!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

Start entering playspaces in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder!

Swing a hammer

Swing a hammer, turn an Allen key – do those things a lot, with a bunch of other volunteers, and you’ve got yourself a new or refurbished playground!

Of course, it takes a little more than that. But KaBOOM! has got you covered. Check out our online resources that walk you through the process of building a playground – from forming a committee all the way through to maintaining it after it’s built.

Learn how.

See more actions.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

In the summer of 2007, KaBOOM! tasked Northwestern University's ABCD Institute to undertake a one-year study to measure the impact our KaBOOM!-led builds have on communities.

The results are in, and findings indicate that when implemented appropriately, the KaBOOM! Community-Build process creates a lasting impact on the communities it partners with, both in terms of building capacity, enhancing community pride and cultivating KaBOOM!-leadership, as well as enhancing the play experience of neighborhood children.

Some of the findings include:

• Ninety-four percent of KABOOM!-led respondents, and 90 percent of Do-It-Yourself respondents believe that their playground project helped strengthen relationships among neighborhood residents and among community partners.
  
• Over half of all KABOOM!-led and Do-It-Yourself groups reported that their project expanded their capacity to address other community issues. Nearly 100 percent of all groups believe that their KaBOOM! playground positively impacted the quality and quantity of children’s play.

Download the executive summary (PDF, approx. 32Kb)

Download the presentation (PDF, approx. 700Kb)

Sherri Penton of Gardendale, Ala., the first winner in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes, is now the proud owner of a Canon PowerShot 8 megapixel Digital Camera!

"I don't usually win anything, so I'm kind of in shock!" she said.

The mother of three boys, Sunday school leader of K-1st grade at her church, and a pediatric R.N. for 12 years, Sherri is currently working on a playground project for North Birmingham Elementary School. "The school is turning 100 this year, and I'm guessing the equipment is at least 30 years old," she said. "These kids need a new playground!"

Sherri won the digital camera by adding playspaces to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder last week. This week, you can win a Garmin nüvi GPS by doing the same thing! If you're heading outside this Labor Day weekend, snap some photos of nearby playgrounds and add them to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder before 11:59 p.m. Monday to enter this week's sweepstakes.

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

For once, being arrested, escorted to and locked up in jail is fun and beneficial to your community!  Popular “jail and bail” fundraisers involve arresting citizens and playspace supporters on trumped up charges, escorting them to a public space (jail) and having them make calls to friends and families for “bail.”  All bail money supports your project!

The event usually begins with someone calling “criminals,” informing them of their “arrest.”  Off-duty police officers or volunteers “arrest” the unsuspecting participant, serving them with a warrant. He or she is then whisked off to “jail."  An alternative is to have people make a donation, thereby earning the right to choose someone who will go to jail.  That person then has to either raise enough contributions to match their friend’s donation, or match bail set by a judge.
 
When the participants arrive at the “jail," their bail is set by a volunteer judge. With telephones and telephone books, the jailbirds make pledge calls to friends, relatives and co-workers to earn their bail. Most incarcerations last for one to two hours. [Learn more]

Add your own fundraising ideas to the wiki!

Ready or not (but mostly ready!), my first full playground Build Day will be here in just a few days. I’m starting to get the itch to get out there and get my hands dirty! I think that once I’m sweaty and dirty, the seriousness of what I’ve set out to do will really sink in.

Don’t get me wrong, this project is based on play and making sure that kids have fun and a chance to be themselves. But as happy and excited as I am about my two upcoming builds helping kids in D.C. and Louisiana, I’m saddened by the fact that so many children are getting into trouble each day due to the lack of a safe place to play.

This is what has inspired me to work with KaBOOM! and why I will continue to help build playgrounds and promote play! People must realize that these aren’t just playgrounds we’re building – they’re tools to help kids make friends, spur their creativity and shape their personality!

I’ve been staying in close communication with my KaBOOM! project managers (thanks to Adam and Caleb!) to make sure everything is going as planned. So far everything is falling into place. We have a few rough edges to smooth out, such as finding a vendor to provide breakfast for all the volunteers on Build Day in Bossier City, but I’m confident that we’ll have that settled soon. Worst case - I'll just have my mom and dad put on their aprons and take care of it! I'll keep you posted!

-Antawn

Learn more about Antawn Jamison, All-Star Playmaker!

Put your seatbelts on, folks, and get ready to ride the webinar train! Destination: KNOWLEDGE.

All you need to participate in these webinars are a phone and a computer connected to the Internet. These trainings are offered free of charge.

FUNdraising 101
Fri., Sept. 5, 2008 (3:00-4:00 p.m. EST)

Play and Children’s Health: The Value of Playgrounds
Mon., Sept. 15, 2008 (3:30-4:30 p.m. EST)
Guest speaker: J.C. Boushh, founder of Design for Play
[Read an article J.C. wrote for KaBOOM!]

Almost There! Getting Ready for Your Build Day!
Tue., Sept. 16, 2008 (2:30- 3:30 p.m. EST)

An Introduction to the Community Build Road Map
Thu., Sept. 25, 2008 (2:00-3:00 p.m. EST)

Becoming a KaBOOM! Community Partner
Thu., Oct. 23, 2008 (2:00-3:00 p.m. EST)

To register, visit our webinars page.

Turn Build Day into a team-building and social opportunity for new associates, summer interns and/or paralegal staff.

Liability is a big concern for many skatepark organizers. Seek the pro-bono counsel of a lawyer (bonus points if he/she is a skater!) who can help you navigate the in's and out's of park liability. [More]

Add your own ideas to the wiki!

The KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes continues...this week with a fabulous GPS navigation system as the prize!

You can enter to win this Garmin nüvi 205 (in metallic red, no less!) simply by adding at least one playspace with a photo to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder by 11:59 p.m. Monday, Sept. 1. Every playspace you enter counts as an entry into the sweepstakes!

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

Read the official rules.

Call a friend

Many hands make light work, and getting your friends involved in your play project will make the project more fun!

Call a friend and see if they want to help you clean up a playground, start a playground watch, or even build a playground. Call several friends and see if you can form a play committee to help improve existing playgrounds, build a new playground, or work with your local government to make play a priority in your community.

Learn how.

See more actions.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

Don't forget to take photos of playspaces this weekend to enter the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes! Only entries added before 11:59 p.m. on Monday will be eligible to win this week's prize - a Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (translation: a nice digital camera!).

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

Read the official rules.

Well there’s only two weeks left before my first playground build in Bossier City on September 4th. I just realized that the first game of the NFL season will be that night (the Washington Redskins travel to New York to face the defending Super Bowl Champion Giants)! Watching the game that night will be a nice way to unwind after building all day in that Louisiana heat! Football is my second favorite sport besides basketball and I’m excited that the season is about to start.

It will be time for my season to start soon as well. I can’t believe how fast the summer has gone by - I think building playgrounds makes it go by even faster! We will begin training camp on September 25th. Since I’m doing my second playground build in Washington DC on the 20th, I’ll only have a few days to relax before camp starts, but it’s definitely worth it. This year, we’re traveling to Richmond, Va. for camp again, but will head to Europe on October 10th to play a few preseason games there and won’t return until the 17th. While I’m over there, I might even get a chance to see what European playgrounds look like! After that, it will be time for the grind of the regular season to start!

-Antawn

Learn more about Antawn Jamison, All-Star Playmaker!

If you know someone with a knack for growing a mustache, you may just have the makings for a playground fundraiser!

You start this fundraiser by making everyone shave (if necessary) and then bringing them in once a week to measure their mustache length. Set up a website with photos for people to comment and make donations under individual participants. When all is said and done, host an event where awards are given for the longest mustache, celebrity lookalike mustaches, and pair that with a silent auction or other fundraiser. Learn more.

Add your ideas to the wiki!

To help empower the communities we serve, KaBOOM! is partnering with ServiceNation, a one-year campaign by national service organizations, citizens and leaders from every sector of American life to convince the next President and Congress to expand dramatically citizen service opportunities and the role of voluntary national service in our democracy. The goal of ServiceNation is to create a system of voluntary national service that provides opportunities for every American to give back in a meaningful way.

To help kick off this campaign, ServiceNation is encouraging everyone to participate in a Day Of Action on September 27.

KaBOOM! knows how much communities and individuals benefit from taking action for a cause. So in addition to building playgrounds, KaBOOM! empowers folks to support the cause of play in hundreds of different ways. [More]

Zen meditation activities have become very popular, especially with seniors. Bring a Zen Master in to teach relaxation techniques to planning team members. Once the playground is built, transform your playspace into an inter-generational community space by asking a local Zen Master to hold free T'ai Chi or meditation classes at the site. [Learn more]

Add your own ideas to the wiki!

Barter for bucks! This fundraiser works to provide folks with services they need in order to give children the playspace they need. Community members inform you of a service that can provide or need. Donors buy a service they need which is provided by a volunteer. Payment for the service is made to your playspace fund. For example, a community member donates their time to babysit on a Friday night. Another community member who needs a babysitter signs up for the service and pays for it by making a donation to the playspace. The amount of the donation depends on the service. [Learn more]

Add your own fundraising ideas to the wiki.

Every week between Aug. 19 and Dec. 29, we're offering great prizes for people who enter playspaces in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder!

Every time you enter a playspace in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder that includes a photo, you’ll be entered to win in that week's sweepstakes!

The first prize in the sweepstakes is a Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (translation: a nice digital camera!).

Learn more about the sweepstakes.

Read the official rules.

Share a video

KaBOOM! has lots of cool videos that you can share with your friends to tell them about play. They’re conveniently hosted on YouTube so you can easily embed them in your blog or forward their links to friends. Check out our YouTube channel to see some fun videos on play. We highly recommend these: our newest public service announcements.

You are Here: The KaBOOM! Playspace Finder
Collaboration. Curiosity. Confidence. Victory.
Active Kids are Healthy Kids

See more actions.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

Well, I’m back from Brazil and trying to get back in the swing of things. It was my first time visiting there and it was incredible! The culture and overall way of life there is so different than here in the U.S. I had a great time, but am glad to be home. There’s no place like home!

Other than working out and getting into game shape, I’m focusing on my two upcoming playground builds. My Shreveport build is approaching rather quickly and I’m working to finalize which family members I’m recruiting to help out! I just found out that the Washington Wizards are sending some people from their community relations department to volunteer and help build! I really appreciate their support, as well as the NBA’s.

The Wizards are working on sending out volunteers to help with the KOOL-AID build in Washington D.C. on Sept. 20. I know that they’re trying to get some of the dance team members to show up too and I’m working on recruiting some of my teammates to come out and get dirty as well.

Talk to you soon!

Antawn

Learn more about Antawn Jamison, All-Star Playmaker!

"Justine and I had a wonderful time visiting Cleveland and building a magnificent playground in Old Cedar Estates in Cleveland, Ohio," he says. "We were overjoyed by the way we were greeted by the community."

Read the whole blog entry.

By Mark C. White

Can the KaBOOM! community-build model be used around the globe to bring play opportunities to all children? A small group of Playmakers and I put the theory to the test in Poland.

Through the gracious generosity of KOMPAN, BigToys and extensive fundraising, we were able to not only complete one playground project, but two: one at a rural Polish orphanage (Dom Dziecka) and another at an elementary school in the city of Poznan. Dr. Melinda Bossenmeyer of Peaceful Playgrounds donated a complete set of recess hard surface play area stencils and a paint-striping machine, and I bought all the tools to bring with us with a $500 Home Depot gift card awarded to me last fall by KaBOOM!.

Cathie Schanz, programs and organizational development manager for the City of Tampa Parks and Recreation, is the big winner in the KOOL-AID and KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes!

Cathie has been a Playmaker for over a year and co-chaired a playground build in Tampa. She learned about the contest on the KaBOOM! website while looking up information for an upcoming Play Day she was planning and took up the contest challenge by entering a whopping 72 playspaces with photos!

As the lucky winner, she gets to attend a playground ribbon-cutting with Reverend Run in Atlanta, thanks to KOOL-AID and KaBOOM!.

"I will be bringing my family and maybe a lucky co-worker!" Cathie said. "I am so excited. Atlanta is a great city to visit and I am looking forward to participating in another KaBOOM build!"

Bounce a ball

When was the last time you played a game of catch, H-O-R-S-E, or four square? Grab a ball and head outside with your kids or your friends to play!

Simply enjoying time outdoors with your kids or your friends can improve your health and happiness, and remind you why play is important…and worth the time investment!

Learn how.

See more actions.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

A recent KaBOOM! build at the Marsha Barbour Community Center in Pass Christian, Miss. featured a unique side project - a brightly-colored, kid-sized maze!

The kids and adults came up with the idea during their Design Day, and Justin Fitzgerald, KaBOOM! Project Manager, took on the task of creating the plans and figuring out the logistics to create it.

The maze, which measures 25 feet by 30 feet, was made of 4x4 pieces of lumber and 4-foot tall sheets of plywood. On the outside of the maze, kids painted beach-themed murals, and on the inside of the maze, they painted bright, solid colors.

On Prep Day, volunteers dug holes for the 4x4 posts, primed the plywood sheets and sketched the kid-designed murals onto them. On Build Day, they assembled the maze and as soon as each plywood sheet was attached, the kids began to paint it.

"People loved it," said Justin. "It turned out well."

Check out more photos of the maze, and other side project ideas - we hope to post the maze plans soon!

A high school or university coach can encourage team members to volunteer on Build Day as part of a team-building or publicity events. A coach also has access to a number of things that might come in handy on Build Day: whistles, first-aid kit, orange cones, megaphones, etc. [Learn more]

Add your own ideas to the wiki!

By Rachel Warner Blosser

Our best fundraiser to date has been a murder mystery dinner called “Montana Marie Gets Gunned Down at 3!”

Many participants wore their best western apparel for the event. The performers greeted the guests in character at the “chili bar.” Following their western buffet dinner of pulled pork, barbecue ribs and chicken, the show began. With props, sound effects and tremendous ad-libbing, the performers presented the show while interacting with the dinner guests. The guests kept track of various clues throughout the show, and prior to intermission, the audience was given the opportunity to question the cast and determine the murderer and motive. After intermission, the murderer was revealed, and prizes were given to the super sleuth who figured out “whodunit” as well as the best-dressed cowboy and cowgirl.

It has truly been a summer to remember!  I've vacationed in France with family, re-signed with the Washington Wizards, held my 3rd annual basketball camp in Charlotte, N.C., and just traveled back to Bossier City, La., to go through the design process for a playground I'm building there with KaBOOM!. I grew up in Shreveport (right next to Bossier City) and it will always have a special place in my heart, but I must warn anyone going there for a visit to be ready for some extreme summer heat! I'd almost forgotten how hot it was there until I stepped off the plane! I just hope we're blessed with some (relatively) cool weather on Build Day!

This was my first Design Day experience and it was so exciting to spend time with the kids who'll actually be using the playground. Those kids really had some great personalities! After seeing their playground drawings, I'm convinced that some of them could be future artists if they wanted to - very impressive! I'm participating in another playground build in Washington with KaBOOM! and KOOL-AID and was looking forward to seeing what kind of drawings the kids from that community could create but was unable to make the trip due to a prior engagement. I had to travel to Brazil (which is where I am right now) to do a project with adidas, who has also worked with KaBOOM! and NBA Cares to build a playground in New Orleans! In fact, it was on this project that I first met our new friends at KaBOOM!. I can't wait to get back for both of my playground builds in September!

-Antawn

Learn more about Antawn Jamison, All-Star Playmaker!

With Scrabulous currently disabled on Facebook, people are looking for ways to show off their vocabularies and word-game skills...and this fundraising event will let them do just that! 

Register individuals and assign them to a team, or register whole teams of four, six or eight. Seated at different tables (each with a Scrabble board and all the letters available), each team starts with the same opening word, and has 20 minutes to fill the board with high-scoring words. [Learn more]

Add your own fundraising ideas to the wiki!

The human brain is wired with an inborn teacher. Soon after children learn to walk, the developing brain urges toddlers and preschoolers to climb. Climbing develops the brain in a variety of ways. When children climb, both sides of their brain work together to tell the right hand and the left foot to move together and the left hand and the right foot to move together. Climbing builds pathways in the brain that teach the muscles and brain to work together and especially how to use both sides of the body at the same time. When children climb, their eyes and brain work together to learn where to grab and hold, where to place knees and feet, important skills for developing spatial awareness skills (Readdick & Park, 1998).

Playgrounds are among the most important environments for children outside the home that allows children the opportunities to experience climbing. Play environments provide valuable opportunities for experiencing the joy of movement and developing fitness and motor skills (Gabbard, 2008).

Stand up

Head over to a city council meeting the next time they offer an open forum for people to ask questions or make comments, then stand up to talk about why play is important, and how the state of play in your community could be improved.

Be sure to do a little research first. Check out a few studies and learn about why play is a necessary part of kids' development.

Learn how.

See more actions.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

San Francisco, CA - McKinley Elementary (WaMu), 7/19/08

Pass Christian, MS - Marsha Barbour Community Center (Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund and Fannie Mae), 7/19/08

Plantation, FL - Fig Tree Park (Chrysler), 6/19/08

Sterling Heights, MI - Delia Park (Chrysler), 7/19/08

Los Angeles, CA - Salesian Boys and Girls Club Design Day (KOOL-AID), 7/24/08

View all photo galleries.

Help us find every playspace in America, good and bad... and win a trip to a playground ribbon-cutting with Reverend Run!

KaBOOM! and KOOL-AID are teaming up to make great play possible through the KOOL-AID and KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes!

Every new playground (with an uploaded picture) you add to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder between Aug. 4 and Aug. 9 will enter you to win a trip for four to a playground ribbon-cutting with Reverend Run in Atlanta!

Learn about the sweepstakes!

This hilarious, interactive game can result in huge donations for your playspace project. Community members such as students, parents, etc., pay to have a big pink flamingo in their neighbor’s or schoolmate’s front yard. In order to have the flamingo removed, the person that received the flamingo has to pay $5 to have it removed and placed in another yard. You’ll need more than one flamingo to start this game, or you can use your school’s mascot or anything else that has meaning to your community. Folks will love going out in the morning to see who got “flamingoed” the night before. [Learn more]

Add your own fundraising ideas to the wiki

This just in...the New York WE Play! feature an exciting roundtable discussion on “The State of Play in New York City” featuring:

• Margery Franklin (Former Director, Child Development Institute, Professor Emerita, Sarah Lawrence College)
• Ed Miller (Founding Partner, Director, U.S. Alliance for Childhood, NYC Play Coalition)
• Nancy Barthold (Assistant Commissioner, NYC Parks & Recreation)
• Karen Lee (Deputy Director, Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, NYC Health Department)
• Mary Alice Lee (Director, NYC Playground Program, Trust for Public Land)

The session will include brief presentations by each panel member, followed by an audience-driven question and answer session.

Get started on the path toward building a great playground today! Learn more and register here.

A Play Day is one day when the community gets together to celebrate and recognize the importance of play — unstructured, self-motivated play — for kids of all ages. Organizing a Play Day is a good way to draw attention to the importance of play in the lives of all children in your community as well as create momentum for long-term commitments to building and caring for playspaces. A Play Day can be a simple (and, of course, fun) affair that lasts a few hours, or it can be a full day of activities, games, prizes, free play, and community building! A Play Day can be big or small, including a neighborhood or a whole city. It’s time to celebrate and have fun. And, don’t forget, this is your opportunity to network!

Get lots of resources and tips on our new Play Day planning resources page!

Real estate agents are connected to LOTS of people. Get them involved in volunteer recruitment: maybe they can distribute information and sign volunteers up at their next open house. [Learn more]

Add your own ideas to the wiki!

Get local celebrities to dance for your playground! One playground committee had a disco theme and paired their event with a silent auction, raising $15,000! Encourage collaborative dances from various city officials. Choreography isn’t necessary – a lot of people know (but may not admit they know) how to do the Electric Slide, the Hustle, and the Macarena! [Learn more]

Add your own fundraising ideas to the wiki!

By Karin E. Swenson

The role of playgrounds in my son Phillip’s life cannot be overstated. Phillip has autism. Autism is a spectrum disorder that affects children by impairing their ability to communicate and their ability to interact socially. To date there is no known cause of autism (although many debate this fact) and no known cure. However, intervening as early as possible in the child’s life with appropriate therapies can help.

Throw a party

The best way to convince people of the importance of play is to get them in on the act. Have a play day for everybody – kids, parents, and other members of the community!

It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. You don’t even have to invite the whole town. Just find a day to celebrate play, pick some games and activities, see if you can get some donated snacks, and be sure to tell everyone who comes about why play matters.

Learn how.

See more actions.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

We've got WE Play! Yes we do!
We've got WE Play! How 'bout you?

KaBOOM! is holding four - count 'em - FOUR playground training events in August all around the country.

Denver, Colo. - Aug. 6
Cleveland, Ohio - Aug. 7*
New York City, N.Y. - Aug. 13
Atlanta, Ga. - Aug. 21*

They're free to attend, thanks to the generous support of KOOL-AID and The Home Depot. But you need to register in advance. [Learn more and register]

* At each of the Cleveland, and Atlanta WE Play! trainings, five attendees will receive $7,500 grants (sponsored by KOOL-AID) toward building a playground in their community!

Children LOVE trucks—their flashing lights, big wheels, loud noises! Bring the excitement of real trucks to children in your community. Families will appreciate the opportunity to let kids see and touch for themselves! [Learn more]

Add your own fundraising ideas to the wiki.

An artist can supervise/design artistic play environment projects, like murals and mosaics, or help design publicity materials. Artists might have studio space available that can be used for meetings and creative fundraisers. [Learn more]

Add your own ideas to the wiki!

Write a letter

Are your kids restless because recess time keeps getting shorter and shorter, or because your school board doesn’t budget for playground repairs? Say something!

Write a letter to the editor. Explain why play is important to kids’ social, cognitive, and physical development. For some kids, recess is the only time they get to engage in unstructured play each day. Demand the return of recess and great places for your kids to play at school!

Learn how.

See more actions.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

Peace, love, and happiness in the Forums
"While it took several long hard days, specifically 3 - 9 hour days, our playground is complete!" says rblosser. Read her success story!

Rock, rock, rock...KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Rockstars!
They rock! KaBOOM! community member gbluettmills added 14 new playspaces and tbirenbaum added 10 new playspaces. Think you can top 'em? We'd like to see you try! (Really, we would.) Grab your camera and head out to your local playspaces to snap some pictures today!

Witty captioners needed!
Come up with a funny caption for this photo! Best caption gets something cool from KaBOOM!.

PCMommy questions
Forum poster pcmommy needs recommendations for inexpensive but safe school playgrounds. Help her out!

It's summertime and the playgrounds are hot!
Trees. Shade. Fast growing. Learn more!

Play Day video added
2007 Playful City USA community Ankeny, Iowa had its annual Play Day and we've got the video to prove it! Check it out.

Ask your local grocery store to support your project by allowing you and other volunteers to bag groceries for an afternoon and collect tips for your playspace. Give each bagger a tip jar and display signs to tell customers what you are doing by the check-out aisles and the front of the store. This is a great way to heighten your community’s awareness about your project. [Learn more]

Add your own fundraising ideas to the KaBOOM! Fundraising Ideas wiki.

"The Candlelight Oaks Civic Club welcomed us with open arms as Justine and I painted and helped construct their beautiful new playground. We were overwhelmed by the love we saw in the community, and how nothing was going to stop them from completing their playground, not even the threat of rain, thunder and lightning.  Seeing the kids' faces and knowing how much this new playground was going to impact the entire neighborhood gave us enough smiles to last a lifetime..." [More]

Also check out this great video on the build.

Ever wondered what a build day is like? Look no further than these photo galleries!

Minneapolis, MN - Seed Academy & Harvest Preparatory School (The Toro Company), 6/4/08
Birmingham, AL - Fountain Heights Community Development Corp. (Opus Corporation), 6/7/08
Arlington, VA - Harvey Hall Apartments/AHC, Inc. (Corporate Executive Board), 6/7/08
Dorchester, MA - City of Boston Parks & Recreation Department (Stop and Shop), 6/25/08

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
New York Times
July 14, 2008

It began as a six-foot-long robot named Simon. Then over the course of a few minutes, Kamai Pugh, 7, took Simon apart and transformed the array of blue blocks and foam noodles into a child’s vision of a miniature park with swing sets, a weighing scale, a balance beam, a swimming pool and finally, a lime-green airplane.

At the Imagination Playground in a Box, no fantasy seems too far-fetched. The colorful gear, which arrived at the Brownsville Recreation Center in Brooklyn last week and will remain there through Labor Day, is designed to unleash creativity by allowing children to invent their own activities. [More]

Learn more about Imagination Playground

Take a walk

Slip on your sandals or lace up your sneakers and take a walk. Is there a playground within walking distance of your home? Get out and see what’s out there.

If you’re not sure where to find the nearest playground, you’re in luck – the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder is here to help.

Learn how.

Get recognized!
If you took action, tell us about it so we can recognize you as the star you are!
Post in the Forums or email KaBOOM! to let us know about the great stuff you're doing.

We've got lots of great new photos now available!

Brownsville, NY - Imagination Playground in a BOX Opening, 7/9/08
Houston, TX - Candlelight Oaks Civic Club (KOOL-AID), 7/9/08
Biloxi, MS - City of Biloxi (Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund), 6/28/08
Jacksonville, FL - Housing Partnership of Northeast Florida (WaMu), 6/28/08
San Antonio, TX - El Carmen Society for Community Advancement (USDA- 4H), 5/06/08

See all photo galleries.

Okay... who broke the Internet?
Beginning next week on Wednesday, KaBOOM! HQ will be temporarily shutting down the Forums for what is commonly referred to in the Web world as "maintenance and optimization." The major change you will see is a streamlined number of categories for conversations. We will be taking paring our list of 19 categories down to seven.

We think this will improve your experience on the site and allow to find the information and inspiration you need for your playful projects.

If you have any other suggestions for other features you would like to on the Forums, feel free to post them in the "Website Support" thread (or you can email Jason at jcooper[at]kaboom.org).

Did you finish a project this month?
There were nearly 50 projects scheduled to finish in the month of June. Was your playground one of them?

Let the world know how it all turned out! Visit kaboom.org/projects, login, and on the right side of the page, you will see a link to your playspace projects. Under 'Actions' click 'Edit Project' and you will a screen similar to this:



Change the build date, the actual cost, the project's status (hopefully to "complete"), and when you're done, click 'Save'. It's an easy way to share your amazing news with the KaBOOM! community!

"A moment like this..."
Recently, Jason Cooper, your Online Community "best friend 4ever," shared a fun story about introducing KaBOOM! to a crowd full of techies at a conference. Jason, glory hound that he is, posted that moment on the Forums.

Have you had a moment like this, when people's ears perked up at the mention of your project? Share it in the Forums!

Enjoy these delicious and refreshing "Forums Classic" threads!
Alternative grass/playing surfaces
Purchasing Equipment - Discounts from Vendors?
I'm a new Playmaker - anyone else?

CNN and KaBOOM! are teaming up to build a playground in New Orleans this Saturday. Here's how you can be a part of the action!

• See photos from the Design Day
• See photos from the Build Day (coming June 30)
• Discuss this playground build in the Forums
• Watch CNN.com/health for their coverage of the day.

June 28 & 29, 11 am – 5 pm

Imaginative Foam Blocks of a Variety of Shapes and Sizes, Fabric, Tarps and Cardboard Nurture Fun, Imaginative Play

Queens, N.Y. – June 17, 2008 - Children of all ages are invited to play with hundreds of foam building blocks from Imagination Playground, which nurtures creative play and is being planned for downtown New York City, when the Hall in the Anthony Viscusi Gallery at the New York Hall of Science is transformed into a giant playground for kids of all ages on June 28 and 29th between 11am and 5pm.  This event will feature over 265 blue foam blocks of different weights and sizes, which children will be able to build structures and sculptures, tear them down, and then start all over again.  They will also be able to integrate loose parts and found objects, including fabrics, tarps and reused cardboard, into the fun. 
 
The foam blocks, designed by the Rockwell Group, are part of the architecture and design firm’s Imagination Playground which is being built in Burling Slip near South Street Seaport, as well as in an abbreviated form in Brownsville, Brooklyn.  There are others being planned for the remaining boroughs of New York, and throughout the country. Rockwell Group first developed the design and concept for Imagination Playground, which breaks ground this summer, to nurture creative play through a combination of loose parts, water and sand, creating an infinite number of creative play ideas and ensuring that no two visits to the play ground are ever the same. This type of design architecture allows for transformative, socio-cooperative and imaginative constructive play, which can evolve as children mature.

Check out photos from the build!

More than 500 volunteers converged on Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park in Bay St. Louis on Saturday to help KaBOOM! and our partners complete the 100th Operation Playground project in the Gulf Coast. In December 2005, KaBOOM! committed to build 100 playgrounds in the region after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast, starting with the first in Bay St. Louis. It was only fitting that the 100th playground was built in the town where it all began. 

The 100th build was a true community celebration. Not even a midday shower could dampen the enthusiasm of the volunteers from the local community, Fannie Mae, AmeriCorps*NCCC, Gulf Coast Recovery Corps, Keesler Air Force base, and others, many of whom had participated in several previous Operation Playground projects. In just under six hours, the volunteers completed two playground structures, refurbished two basketball courts, and built an extensive new ‘front porch’ entrance to the park. They also painted several murals commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, the community and Operation Playground. As a finishing touch, local children created a ‘Heroes Walk’ around the park honoring the men and women of the Civil Rights movement. 

The project was made possible by a partnership between KaBOOM!, the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Fannie Mae, Foundation for the Mid South, the City of Bay St. Louis, Hancock Housing Resource Center and Powerhouse of Deliverance Church. At 2:30, representatives from each of the organizations, along with the volunteers and past Operation Playground Community Partners, gathered to cut a very special ribbon made up of 100 painted panels representing each of the 100 Operation Playground projects.    

Because of Operation Playground, more than 22,000 volunteers have donated their time to build playgrounds for nearly 50,000 children from Houston to Mobile.  In all, through Operation Playground, $8.2 million has been invested to build great new places to play in the Gulf Coast by Jim and Donna Barksdale, The Home Depot, Playworld Systems, Fannie Mae, Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, NBA Cares, DJR Foundation, AmeriCares, ESPN, ING Direct and other outstanding partners. 

KaBOOM! will continue to build in the region and already has several projects scheduled through December. The 101st and 102nd Operation Playground projects will take place in New Orleans and Biloxi on Saturday, June 28. Volunteer for one of these projects.

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Make your playspace dreams come true with the help of our webinars! From ideas for promoting play in your community to fundraising to working with the media, we've got you covered.

We've just announced some great new (free!) webinars. All you need is a phone and an Internet connection to participate!

Webinar topics for this summer include:

• Revitalizing Playspaces, Becoming Part of the Urban Parks Movement
• FUNdraising 101
• Becoming a KaBOOM! Community Partner
• Making the Ask: Getting Business Sponsorships
• EXTRA! EXTRA! Read All About It! Working with the Media during Your Playground Project
• Grant Writing 101

Register today!

American Institute for Public Service
100 West 10th Street, Suite 215
Wilmington, DE 19801-1665

Darell Hammond to Receive 2008 National Jefferson Award

WASHINGTON D.C., - Darell Hammond will receive the Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 7 p.m. in East Hall, Union Station.  Selected by the Jefferson Awards’ prestigious board of selectors, Darell was chosen for a 2008 Jefferson Award for his advocacy on issues concerning children and community redevelopment.

Check out the KOOL-AID photo gallery to see great photos from four playspace builds in the Los Angeles area last week!

LA Teen Challenge
Boys & Girls Club of Carson
HCA/Longhorn Pavillion
Los Cerritos YMCA

Learn more about the partnership

Hip-hop pioneer Joseph Simmons (a.k.a. Reverend Run), the new brand ambassador for the KOOL-AID KaBOOM! initiative, joined his family on a community build in Los Angeles Wednesday.

"I'm personally committed to bringing families together -- at the dinner table, in communities and on playgrounds," said Reverend Run. "I'm hopeful that by working together, KOOL-AID, KaBOOM!, and I can make a real difference in kids' lives by allowing them to have fun and create the memories that will serve them well for many years to come."

See photos of Reverend Run at the build.

Interviews with Reverend Run about the build, KOOL-AID, and KaBOOM! can be found at the links below.

Fox 5 Vegas

My Fox Atlanta

Last Saturday, in 95˚ heat, KaBOOM! had its 99th build in the Gulf Coast -- and a Build Day wedding! -- at Life Academy, a preschool program of the Resurrection of Life Church in Picayune, Miss.

Volunteers kept busy assembling the play structure, rock blocks, slither slide, adventure bridge, and Freddy Firetruck, plus shade structures, butcher block benches and picnic tables...until 10 a.m., when everyone was told to put down their tools because it was time to go to the wedding being held on the build site!

The ceremony took place about 50 yards from the playground. The bride and groom, Chris Utter and Roxie Zortman, were joined by friends, family, and all 130 build volunteers, the vast majority of whom were members of the church. When the attendees realized there wasn’t music, they all hummed ‘Here Comes the Bride’ as the bride walked down the makeshift aisle. 

Despite the unusual circumstances, Brother Allen performed a very moving and deeply spiritual ceremony. The bride and groom both shed tears of joy before finally sharing their first kiss as husband and wife. Immediately after the wedding, it was time to get back to work. The groom quickly changed and hit the mulch pile, while his bride regretfully left to spend time with family in for the weekend.

It was quite a day! And this coming Saturday, we'll be celebrating the 100th KaBOOM! Operation Playground build in the Gulf Coast. Learn more.

On Saturday, the 99th Operation Playground build in Picayune, Miss. will feature something unique amid the flurry of equipment-assembly and mulch-hauling: a wedding!

Chris Utter will wed Roxie Zortman on Build Day. “They said they’d stop the build at 10 a.m. for five minutes” for the wedding, said Chris with a laugh. “We’re helping build after that.”

The build and the wedding are taking place behind a church: Resurrection Life Ministries, where Chris serves as maintenance director in addition to his work as a carpenter and renovator. His fiancée is an interior designer. The two, both 58, have been together since a mission trip to La Hoia, Mexico where they renovated a church together two years ago. Both are members of Resurrection Life Ministries.

They’ve received a variety of reactions from others when they tell them their plans. “People say, ‘Are you serious?’ or ‘That’s way cool!’” said Chris. “We’ve had a myriad of different reactions.”

Chris and Roxie will be having their reception Friday night before the build. “We’re having our reception, and then we’re getting married afterwards,” said Chris with a chuckle.

And yes, he’s excited for the build, too. “It’s a blessing to be able to work and build this playground for the children,” he said.

Photos of the couple – and the wedding -- will be posted on kaboom.org following the build!

Fairytale Brownies, a proud partner of KaBOOM! since 2001 and the maker of some of the world's tastiest brownies, has generously donated brownies and funds to help make play a reality for kids nationwide.

Now it's time to give something back! Vote for Fairytale Brownies in the Bliss Spa 'You Be The Fudge' contest at www.youbethefudge.com. Three Arizona bakeries are competing to win the status of "official brownie" in Bliss Scottsdale's legendary brownie buffet. Vote as many times as you want.

HURRY! Place your vote by June 30th, 2008.

The KaBOOM! Online Toolkit, already chock-full of great and helpful information for your playground build, just got even better!

Our staff have spent the past month combing through its contents, updating existing content and adding new best practices, tools, and ideas.

Here are some examples of the new content that was added:

• Contact information for where to find a Certified Playground Safety Inspector
• Tips for getting volunteers through the lunch line quickly on Build Day
• Detailed information on soil testing and utility checks
• Detailed information on making your Build Day as "green" as possible

And there's lots more where that came from! Be sure to check out the KaBOOM! Online Toolkit today!

Or, as my aunt calls them, MyFace and Spacebook
Join us on popular online hangouts like MySpace and Facebook! You can even follow us on your mobile phone with Twitter! Learn more on the Online Community page.

Is there anyplace on the web where KaBOOM! isn't? Let us know if there's someplace you'd like us to be by commenting on this article or posting in the Community Forum.

Help someone help you!
Need volunteers? Check out the Volunteer Forums. Skgoode is looking for a project to help with in Washington D.C.

We're following the Forums, the Forums, the Forums...
Did you know you could subscribe to any Forum thread by email? Just scroll down to the end of the page and you will see a checkbox that says: "Email me when X forum has a new thread." Check it and you will receive an update in your email inbox whenever there is a new post.

The hardest part was fitting all those great ideas into boxes
We've moved the Fundraising ideas wiki! The new wiki has even more great ideas and makes it even easier for you to add your own ideas! If you've got a great story to tell about a fundraiser, add it to the fundraising wiki!

So...what do you think?
Let us know! You can now post comments on this or any other news article, even if you're not logged in! Click the "Comments" link below the title and then click the "here" button at the bottom of the page to post a comment.

There's nothing quite like a Workshop Entirely on Play (WE Play!).

Now you can experience the fun by checking out photos from the first three events:

Washington, D.C. | Charlotte, N.C. | Chicago, Ill.

But more WE Play! events are coming to a city near you! Check the list below and sign up today! 

Not all of the training hotel locations have been identified. You can still register for a training and we will update you as soon as we have the event address.

* = At each of the Los Angeles, Houston, Cleveland, and Atlanta WE Play! trainings, five attendees will receive $7,500 grants toward building a playground in their community! [More]

As we say at KaBOOM!, "it starts with a playground." Here are some of the amazing things that can happen after the cement dries.

Julio Salcedo, site director for Lytle Creek Park, in San Bernadino, Calif. shared with KaBOOM! the amazing ripple effects brought about by their playground build on March 29 as part of the Cesar Chavez Day of Service.

• The plots in the community garden created on Build Day have all been adopted by families, who have planted a variety of vegetables and fruit trees.
  
  
• The teenagers involved in the build have formed a community service club, and they take care of the plants around the center and are working on creating a walking path in the area.
  
  
• Attendance at the community center near the playground is off the charts! They used to feed lunch to 25 kids a day, and now they have to order 70 lunches each day for the kids. They used to serve 40 to 50 people visit on an average day, and now the numbers are closer to 120.
  
  
• Even more amazingly, the very first Lytle Creek Community Association meeting is scheduled to take place on May 21, and will include reps from the sheriff's department, code enforcement, health and human services, and animal services.

See photos from the Lytle Creek Park Build.
Learn more about the Cesar Chavez Day of Service.