Seabees were swarming around Lopez Elementary Thursday with one thing in mind -- get the job done.

Tony Chavez Plata with NMCB 133 says, "Seabees are known to build from the ground up, and that's what we're doing.  We did everything from the ground up, and it's awesome. We love it."

Lopez Elementary's Principal, Andrea Pitro replies, "I'm just amazed, I really am. When they told us, 'We're going to have close to 150 volunteers,' I didn't believe it. But it's amazing what they can do. I just can't imagine - started at 8:30 and it's going to be done before six hours.

The hospital can be a scary place for anyone, but especially for the youngest patients.

A new child-friendly play room planned for Staten Island University Hospital's Ocean Breeze campus and inspired by New York's Bravest will help kids find comfort, and the courage to get through their hospital stays.

WHEN Heather Buch moved back to the United States from Denmark in 2005, she expected that school time for her son, Torben, would involve more work and less play. But as he attended kindergarten and first grade in Highland Park, she was surprised that other than time after lunch, there was hardly any outdoor play time during the school day.

“There’s almost no recess and all the emphasis is on academics,” Ms. Buch said. “It’s nothing like it was in Denmark or in my own childhood. Children need free play.”

She joins a growing legion of parents and educators who fear that recess is disappearing from the school schedule and needs to be rescued.

When six neighborhood elementary schools in Oskaloosa, Iowa, combined into one, parents faced a significant challenge—to build a playground, at cost of $600,000, in time for the opening of the new school. Faced with a tight deadline, the Oskaloosa Elementary School PTO found creative ways to raise money and recruit volunteers, as well as strengthen school ties with the community.

Not everyone was happy about the new school. Its construction was funded by a 2 cent sales tax, which residents in the town of 11,000 approved in a contentious vote. And many families were fond of the neighborhood schools, even if they were old and overcrowded. “The community was really kind of divided before,” says PTO President Heidi Jannenga. “This was a way to start bringing people together.”

In what resembled an Amish barn-raising, it only took six hours for more than 400 volunteers to build a playground, paint an old convent and peeling walls plus lay down grassy sod at Ascension School in South Los Angeles on Dec. 2. But all agreed that the ramifications of this heroic community event for the urban school and parish will last for years, if not decades.

"It's a place where children will be able to be in a safe atmosphere --- a safe place to play," said principal Karen Kallay. "It's going to help out with physical education. We're going to be able to help the children grow not only academically and morally, but also physically. The playground will improve their motor as well as social skills. And in the grassy area with picnic tables and benches, children will be able to sit out there and read books."

By the hundreds every day, parents and children are flocking to Clemyjontri, the McLean playground with the odd name that has become one gi-normous hit since opening last month.

In its first 25 days of operation, the playground has drawn 12,000 visitors -- an average of 475 a day.

At two acres, this field of dreams is 10 times bigger than the typical Fairfax County playground and millions of dollars more expensive. Yet for those who have visited it, the crowds -- the 81-space parking lot is overwhelmed -- are a small price to pay for the delights of the spacious facility built on a $900,000 rubberized carpet as soft as a putting green.

Designed for disabled and able-bodied children, the park (pronounced Clem-mee-JOHN-tree) sprawls with brightly colored equipment. More than 20 pieces are innovations, including climbable rainbow arches, a wheelchair-accessible maze and a "helicopter" with ramps, allowing children with physical disabilities to fly into the imaginary skies with more able-bodied companions.

Childhood obesity, experts say, is the most blatantly visible health problem in Canada -- and the most neglected.

"Children need parental supervision and comprehensive school health programs have enormous potential to prevent childhood obesity," Dr. Paul Veugelers, an Alberta professor of public health, said yesterday at the Healthy Eating and Active Living Conference 2006.

From South Mississippi's Sun Herald:
The city of Ocean Springs has a new playground for children thanks to KaBOOM! Operation Playground, where more than 350 volunteers worked all day Saturday installing the equipment.

An extra 200 volunteers from AmeriCare, Junior ROTC students, Keesler personnel, neighborhood residents and hospital employees showed up and rolled their sleeves up to build the new playground, which is in Fort Bayou Estates.

From WLOX-TV:

WHAT:  The national nonprofit organization KaBOOM!, through its partnership with The Home Depot, is awarding nearly $1 million in scholarships and challenge grants in conjunction with their award-winning playground training University of Play (U Play!). U Play! is a three day training conference that promotes the importance of play and provides participants the knowledge and resources needed to build playspaces such as playgrounds, skateparks or sports fields in their communities.