Does your DC school have playground equipment? Have you ever fundraised for some?

[momtoS]

My dd's school has NO playground equipment. Does anyone know where to get grants/funds to help build some?

[daisymama12]

Try www.kaboom.org - they are AMAZING!!!

You can pm me if you want more information.

[CarrieMF]

This is something the provincial gov't should be lobbied to get. Go to the school board & they should apply to the provincial gov't for it.

[emmaegbert]

okay, no advice about fundraising but I think this website is absolutely so inspiring:
http://www.freeplaynetwork.org.uk/pl...ion/index.html

Its a slide show. Many of the play space ideas that you'll see there don't seem that resource-intensive, making use of local materials and landscape. You have to use the small arrow at the bottom right-hand of the screen to navigate through (for some reason I had a hard time finding it at first). I think all the schools/playgrounds featured here are in Europe, maybe they have more flexible ideas about what a play space can look like?

[lightheart]

I haven't actually done it, but my husband and I have talked/dreamed to each other about ways to go about getting the local park more equipment.

Because he works in the construction industry, some of his ideas are asking the contractors to donate time and or materials for the making or installing of playground eqipment, or have one of the architects come up with plans.

Asking for donations from the big businesses is my thought, and having some sort of little sign engraved and riveted to the slide or the swings that say "donated by XYZ"

Not much in my ideas but... something.

[mamalisa]

Does your school have a PTA? Our school just installed a new piece of equipment that took us two years to raise the money for. $25,000!! We need another $25,000 to finish it so it's bake sales, pizza sales, book fairs and other little fundraisers. It's a long way to go, but the kids are soooo excited!:

[daisymama12]

To those of you that want to improve ANY playground, I really recommend checking out kaBOOM. They are a non-profit organization that believes every kid should have a great place to play, within walking distance of their home.

Our school applied for a grant, and got one. They really get the whole community involved, and we had a "build-day" which brought out SO many volunteers. We built the new playground in one amazing day. Not only do the kids love their playground, but I think it is meaningful for them that we all built it together.

They have workshops on how to apply for one of their grants