Network Helps Kids Live, Feel Better
by K.C. Neel
Multichannel News
Aug. 25, 2008

Qubo, a 24-hour kids network aimed at 4- to 8-year-olds, has also created programs designed to encourage “play.” Public service announcements using Olympic athletes and various cartoon characters of the network's slate of programming promote exercise and healthy eating habits.

The company participated in the National Cable & Telecommunications' Cable Cares effort to build a playground in New Orleans earlier this year and found it so rewarding that it decided to extend its relationship with KaBOOM!, a national non-profit organization that has created the “Playful City USA” program, according to Qubo president Rick Rodriguez.

“We are now the official media sponsor of Playful City USA,” Rodriguez said. [More]

Learn more about Playful City USA.

By Adolfo Flores
Los Angeles Daily News
Aug. 23, 2008

ARLETA - When kids at the Child Care Resource Center's Arleta Head Start preschool were asked what they wanted in their new playground, one of them said a Nintendo game.

It was a testament, said CCRC spokeswoman Stacy Miller, to the fact that children today spend more time at home in front of TV and less actively playing.

In one local effort to help kids get more active, more than 300 volunteers arrived at the Arleta preschool Saturday to build a 3,300-square-foot playground. [More]

Learn how to build a playground in your community with our Toolkit!

Know someone whose cooking gets rave reviews? How about someone whose desserts are out of this world!? Invite them to host a course of your progressive dinner party. Recruit host and hostesses that live in a close proximity to one another to open up their home in support of your playspace build. The amount of courses you have is endless. Go to one house for soup, then mosey to the next for salad. Don’t forget about appetizers. Then there’s dinner and, most importantly, dessert! [Learn more]

Add your own fundraising 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.

Bathurst (Canada) Northern Light
Aug. 22, 2008

MONCTON - The children of Ackman Court could teach adults a thing or two about perseverance and social consciousness.

For the past several days at least two dozen of them have circled their playground in the Lewisville area waving placards and chanting "Save our park!"

"This was their idea," says parent Rachelle Williams. "I had 10 kids come asking for money to buy bristolboard and markers and this and that. I couldn't say no."

On Tuesday, contractors came to tear out the park, known as the Winnie Reiker Playground, but the kids put up such a fuss the workers agreed to give them a week to appeal the decision to remove the play area. [More]

Become a Playmaker and take action for play today!

By Harry Minium
The Virginian-Pilot
Aug. 22, 2008

They came by the hundreds from across Hampton Roads to deliver a message to the criminals who for too long have ruled the streets of Denby Park: This will again be a safe place for kids to play.

More than 400 volunteers spent less than six hours Thursday building a playground, the first in this troubled Wards Corner neighborhood.

The new play area, once a vacant lot next to an apartment complex, is now replete with slides, a tire swing, rock climbing areas and benches.

"Shots have been fired at the houses across the street," said Bud Blanchard, 85, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1949. "People were crouched down in the houses to avoid the shooting."

Blanchard said he pleaded with city officials to rid the neighborhood of drugs before building the playground. He said they told him that the playground, combined with increased policing, will help drive crime away. [More]

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.

Bruno Taylor, who just completed a masters degree in industrial design, has been hijacking public spaces to make them more playful, adding swings to London bus stops and creating a bouncing bench. He says:

“71% of adults used to play on the streets when they were young. 21% of children do so now. Are we designing children and play out of the public realm?

"This project is a study into different ways of bringing play back into public space. It focuses on ways of incorporating incidental play in the public realm by not so much as having separate play equipment that dictates the users but by using existing furniture and architectural elements that indicate playful behaviour for all.

"It asks us to question the current framework for public space and whether it is sufficient while also giving permission for young people to play in public.

"Play as you go...” Bruno Taylor."

Watch a video of his work.

Discuss play in your community in the Forums!