Keep up on the latest play-related news! Here you'll find information about KaBOOM! playspace builds, other community builds, tips and ideas, and general news about play.
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Articles from
January 2006
| Tuesday, January 31, 2006 |
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February Workshop Planned
By Trishb1 @ 12:00 AM :: 932 Views ::
1 Comments ::  :: Training News, Features From KaBOOM!
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KaBOOM! to Bring Workshop Entirely on Play to Los Angeles!  On February 28, 2006 KaBOOM! will bring our Workshop Entirely on Play (WE Play!) to Los Angeles, CA. WE Play! is an informative and fun-filled training that packages a decade of KaBOOM! community-build leadership experience into one day. Workshop topics will range from playground design to effective FUNdraising strategies, and one of the most valuable benefits of WE Play! is the opportunity for participants to learn from and network with other project leaders embarking on the journey to great places to play and stronger communities. Read More
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| Tuesday, January 31, 2006 |
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Gerber Village Girl Spearheads Petition . . .
By Trishb1 @ 12:00 AM :: 732 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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January 12: Fort Belvoir Eagle
When the Miskas moved in to their Gerber Village home more than a year ago, one of the incentives that swayed them was that they were told a new playground would be built.
But after a year, and no new playground, 10-year-old Sage took it upon herself to spearhead a petition requesting a new playground to replace the dilapidated one that she said became unsafe for the children to play on. Read More in the Belvior Eagle.
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| Tuesday, January 31, 2006 |
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Crestview Students Help Keep Peace . . .
By Trishb1 @ 12:00 AM :: 639 Views ::
1 Comments ::  :: General News About Play
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Jan 12, 2006: Des Moines Register
When trouble brews on the Crestview Elementary School playground, student conflict managers are on hand to assist their peers with problem-solving techniques.
A group of 39 fourth- through sixth-grade students take turns helping lower-elementary students during afternoon recess. Sixth-grader Joe Bott, 11, of Clive has been a manager for three years at the school, 8355 Franklin Ave. in Clive. He said many of the conflicts he sees between students are verbal. Read More |
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| Monday, January 30, 2006 |
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Grant Funds May Give Students Happier Landings
By KaBOOM News @ 8:52 AM :: 598 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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The Times Leader Online
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
County school administrators hope to reduce the number of scrapes, bumps and bruises that occur on school playgrounds by giving children a softer landing when they fall.
The county school board recently authorized Patsy Oliver, the district’s director of federal programs, to continue with a grant application to seek funds to replace the wood chips that currently cover the primary and elementary school playgrounds with rubber mulch made from recycled waste tires.
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| Monday, January 30, 2006 |
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City Leaders Looking to Remodel DC Recreation Center
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 593 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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Sunday January 29, 2006 8:22pm
Washington (AP) - Community leaders in Ward Three are trying to rid of something they feel the North Michigan Park Recreation Center shouldn't have had in the first place.
The Washington Post says the center has so many bathrooms that two of them are being used for storage. Six of the bathrooms have 38 stalls. One activist says the city spent more than $400,000 on the extra bathrooms, but left the center without enough meeting space and without money for a playground.
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| Monday, January 30, 2006 |
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Laura Bush Visits KaBOOM! Build
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 647 Views ::
0 Comments :: Features From KaBOOM!
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 First Lady Laura Bush, KaBOOM! and The Home Depot Build New Playground to Begin Restoring Childhoods in Kiln, MississippiFirst Lady Laura Bush and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings joined KaBOOM! and more than 250 volunteers to dedicate a new community-built playground at Hancock North Central Elementary School in Kiln, Miss. Read More...
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| Friday, January 27, 2006 |
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First Lady Laura Bush Visits KaBOOM Playground Build
By KaBOOM News @ 7:32 AM :: 636 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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Hancock North Central Elementary School
Kiln, Mississippi
3:09 P.M. CST
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The following are remarks by First Lady Laura Bush after visiting a KaBOOM Playground Build:
MRS. BUSH: Well, Darell is the real example for us. He's the one who heard a story, the way I understand it, Darell, about two little kids who hurt themselves badly because they just had an old car to play in. And so he got this idea to build playgrounds all over the country. And isn't it a wonderful idea? (Applause.)
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| Friday, January 27, 2006 |
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Early to the Gym
By KaBOOM News @ 5:40 AM :: 567 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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From the Philadephia Inquirer
By Lini S. Kadaba
Inquirer Staff Writer
Gripping handlebars, Nick Piro positions his legs against a metal plate and pushes - back and forth, back and forth.
A dozen reps later, he dashes from the seated leg press to the shoulder press, the next stop on his circuit of resistance-training machines. His goal is "to get a workout, to get strong," he says, without breaking stride.
Nick, of Woolwich Township, isn't a flabby cubicle drone hitting the gym to make good on a New Year's resolution.
At 6 years old, the trim first-grader and his two brothers, age 8 and 11, are regulars at the Swedesboro, Gloucester County, Fitwize 4 Kids - a growing breed of health clubs that cater exclusively to the pint-size set.
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| Friday, January 27, 2006 |
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Laura Bush Visits KaBOOM! Build
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 890 Views ::
2 Comments :: :: Features From KaBOOM!
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First Lady Laura Bush, KaBOOM! and The Home Depot Build New Playground to Begin Restoring Childhoods in Kiln, Mississippi
 First Lady Laura Bush and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings joined KaBOOM! and more than 250 volunteers today to dedicate a new community-built playground at Hancock North Central Elementary School in Kiln, Miss. Read More...
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| Friday, January 27, 2006 |
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Favre and First Lady
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 662 Views ::
0 Comments :: KaBOOM! in the News
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Biloxi Sun Herald, USA - Jan 27, 2006
HANCOCK COUNTY - Safe places to play are vital to South Mississippi's recovery from Hurricane Katrina, first lady Laura Bush told a crowd Thursday at an elementary school here.
Bush and U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings visited Hancock North Central Elementary to help cut the ribbon on a new playground built by KaBOOM!, a 10-year-old nonprofit organization that has donated nearly 1,000 playgrounds in the U.S.
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| Thursday, January 26, 2006 |
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| Wednesday, January 25, 2006 |
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Volunteers of Year Honored at Chamber Banquet
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 674 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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By Richard Mcvay
01-22-2006
TALLADEGA -- The Greater Talladega Area Chamber of Commerce recognized the efforts of two area volunteers Friday night at its annual banquet at Gallerena Skate Center.
Susan Gaskin and Linwood French tied for the chamber’s 2005 Volunteer of the Year award.
Gaskin was awarded for her work organizing a volunteer effort to build a playground at Hal Henderson Elementary School. More than 250 volunteers helped construct the playground in one day.
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| Tuesday, January 24, 2006 |
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| Monday, January 23, 2006 |
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Moms Pursue Playground Project
By KaBOOM News @ 8:01 PM :: 613 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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By BECKY SHAY
Of The Gazette Staff
LAUREL - A group of moms saw a need for new playground in Laurel and responded by organizing a way to get that equipment.
The group, Project HELP, which stands for Help Equip Laurel Parks, has a design for the play area - brainstormed last fall by Laurel kids and honed by a national consultant. And the group is working to raise the money to make the playground a reality.
The equipment, with a castle theme, will be placed in Kiwanis Park when the playground is built by volunteers during a construction blitz this spring.
Like the moms, Billings businessman Joe Hartman saw a need, this time in the playground building process and volunteered his time and talent to help.
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| Monday, January 23, 2006 |
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County Criticized Over City Parks
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 571 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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By BRIAN MEYER
News Staff Reporter
1/21/2006
Nearly two years after Buffalo made a deal with Erie County to manage all city parks, playgrounds and recreation centers, some city officials are accusing the county of reneging on promises and are threatening to withhold payments - or launch a lawsuit.
One Common Council member even voiced suspicion that the county might be purposely breaching its contract to get the city to take back its parks.
It's starting to become a pattern," said Brian C. Davis of the Ellicott District. "I'm starting to believe it's intentional."
County Parks Commissioner Angelo J. Sedita said nothing could be further from the truth.
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| Monday, January 23, 2006 |
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One Woman's Fight to Save Her Village
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 597 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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Powerful developer claims to be owner of Thai beachfront
By Kim Barker
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published January 22, 2006
LAEM POM, Thailand -- The woman struggles to the front of the room on her knees, always keeping lower than the government officials seated before her.
Ratree Kongwatmai's demeanor is deferential, but she is also at war. Since the tsunami just over a year ago, she has led the fight for her village, battling a powerful company that claims it owns the valuable beachfront property on which Laem Pom sits.
"We really want to keep our land safe for the next generation, since we have all risked our lives tremendously," she tells the country's interior minister. "Unless you wish to see us risk our lives any further."
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| Monday, January 23, 2006 |
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Heading Toward Our Public Launch
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 594 Views ::
0 Comments :: Features From KaBOOM!
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Coming Soon to a Portal Near You!
 In the first edition of his weekly blog, Dennis Reynolds, KaBOOM! Vice President of Online and Community Programs, lets everyone know that their participation in KaBOOM!'s new Web portal has been very much appreciated and extraordinarily valuable.
See what else he has to say, and find out what other exciting features are coming within the next month.
Read Dennis' Monday Message.
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| Wednesday, January 18, 2006 |
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Give the Gift of Play
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 623 Views ::
0 Comments :: Features From KaBOOM!
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Your Gift Today Can Become Tomorrow's Playspace!
 Your donation will help KaBOOM! continue our ten-year legacy of inspiring community leadership to create great places for children to play across North America. To make a secure donation online, click here. What's the most generous donation -- monetary or otherwise -- that your project has ever received? Tell us about it. |
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| Monday, January 16, 2006 |
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What Kids Say About Play
By KaBOOM News @ 8:14 AM :: 666 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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From: The News & Star
What kids themselves have to say about play is vital to Cumbria Sure Start and their partners working to provide the best provision for children and young people.
Children’s comments were recorded in a consultation done in partnership with Carlisle City Council in the summer of 2004.
Making Time for Play asked young people to put their thoughts on the subject on record. The results are a vivid insight into the world of children.
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| Monday, January 16, 2006 |
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Access to Safe Parks Helps Increase Physical Activity
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 524 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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Conclusions and Policy Recommendations
Despite the well-documented benefits of regular physical activity, nearly one million California teens do not get recommended levels of physical activity, including 240,000 who get no activity at all. Teens with no access to a safe park get less activity, as well as those who live in urban areas, those who live in apartment buildings, teens from low-income families, and those living in neighborhoods perceived as unsafe. Not only is access to a safe park important in encouraging adolescents to get more physical activity, it is critical for teens living in urban areas and for adolescents who live in apartment buildings, low-income families or unsafe neighborhoods.
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| Friday, January 13, 2006 |
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Unsafe Neighborhoods Linked to Children's Weight
By KaBOOM News @ 10:11 AM :: 558 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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Unsafe Neighborhoods Linked to Children's Weight
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children who live in dangerous neighborhoods are more likely to be overweight than those who live in safer environments, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that 7-year-olds whose parents felt their neighborhood was unsafe were up to four times more likely than other children to be overweight. The study did not investigate the reasons for the link, but the researchers suspect that fearful parents may often keep their children from playing outdoors, which limits their amount of physical activity.
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| Friday, January 13, 2006 |
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Call for More Play in School
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 604 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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Call for More Play in School
The group wants minimum standards for playgrounds.
A group of education organisations is to lobby the government to try to improve school play time.
The group - three charities and a union - says academies and children's centres are being built and schools rebuilt with little thought to their grounds.
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| Wednesday, January 11, 2006 |
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A Champion for Children's Right to Play
By KaBOOM News @ 6:29 AM :: 591 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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MORE play centres and better facilities could be on the way in Stevenage.
Children's right to play is being championed as part of a new scheme in the town.
The move, now approved by Stevenage Council's executive, follows a MORI survey showing that more than half of residents feel facilities for young people need improvement.
The town's new play policy aims to promote children's rights to play and the benefits of play, and to ensure play spaces suit youngsters' needs.
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| Wednesday, January 11, 2006 |
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| Monday, January 09, 2006 |
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Safe Neighborhoods Keep Kids Leaner
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 602 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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HealthDay News
January 3, 2006
By Amanda Gardner
The safety of a neighborhood appears to impact childhood obesity.
University of Michigan researchers using a national study found that kids who live in neighborhoods considered unsafe by their parents were more likely to be overweight than kids who live in what their parents considered to be safe neighborhoods.
This is probably because parents in unsafe areas are keeping their children inside, the researchers said. While that may decrease the chance of a child encountering a stray bullet or witnessing a drug deal, it increases sedentary behavior, which contributes to weight gain.
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| Friday, January 06, 2006 |
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2006 Challenge Grant Application
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 262 Views ::
0 Comments :: Features From KaBOOM!
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 Don't Miss This Opportunity to Change a Child's Life!Download the 2006 The Home Depot - KaBOOM! Community-Built Playspace Challenge Grant application. Deadline: January 15th! Get it here.Any questions? Click here to post your questions in the Challenge Grant Forum and have them answered by the Grants Manager from January 9 - 13. |
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| Friday, January 06, 2006 |
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Site Updates Happening Regularly - New News Categories!
By KaBOOM News @ 12:00 AM :: 654 Views ::
0 Comments :: Features From KaBOOM!
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Site Updates Happening Regularly
 Time to Update "My Subscriptions"!
Since we launched the beta site at U Play! in September, the KaBOOM! Online Portal has been evolving and improving to bring you more and better functionality. One of the key features of the Portal includes email alerts, which aggregate the news stories, announcements, and highlights from the KaBOOM! online forum discussions that are published throughout each week. Read more. |
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| Thursday, January 05, 2006 |
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| Wednesday, January 04, 2006 |
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Playing for Keeps
By KaBOOM News @ 1:43 PM :: 613 Views ::
0 Comments :: General News About Play
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The Importance of Play to Little Children
Dr. Bettye M. Caldwell, Ph.D.
Professor of Pediatrics in Child Development and Education
Children the world over, from those living with the most sophisticated families in big cities to those living in remote villages in developing countries, spend much time 'just playing.' Of course, only grown-ups would put the word 'just' in the previous sentence, implying that somehow play is an indulgence only the very young are entitled to and that nothing much is happening when children play.
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| Tuesday, January 03, 2006 |
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