KaBOOM! and Imagination Playground What makes a great place to play? Truly great places to play engage the mind, activate the body, and excite the imagination. KaBOOM! has partnered with architect David Rockwell to help create great new playgrounds across America. By helping to distribute Rockwell's innovative Imagination Playground to communities across the country, KaBOOM! is taking a giant leap toward achieving our vision of a great place to play within walking distance of every child. The Concept
Imagination Playground is based around the concept of "free play," a simple but powerful idea that children should initiate and direct their own play, and should be able to manipulate their own environment. With this in mind, David Rockwell and his team developed the first Imagination Playground in collaboration with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. In this playground, natural materials and everyday objects combine with building blocks of various shapes and sizes to encourage many types of creative and physical play. Core Elements
 Manipulable Environment
Imagination Playground is a sculptural environment designed for many types of activities with elements thatchildren can manipulate. Raw materials of creativity and sensory exploration – such as sand and water – become the anchor for the playground, replacing traditional fixed play equipment. Loose Parts
Imagination Playground provides children with Loose Parts, a large array of movable objects, so that each visit is a new experience. Using play props – such as building blocks of various shapes and sizes, buckets, fabric, scoops and found objects – kids can build something, tear it down and start all over again. Carts and wagons allow kids to load, unload and move stuff – precisely the type of "work" children universally love to do. Play Associates
At Imagination Playground, trained Play Associates let activity evolve by maintaining a safe and secure environment and by renewing and varying the supply of Loose Parts. Their job is to ensure a diverse, creative play space. Imagination Playground in a BOX
 KaBOOM! has joined forces with Rockwell Group to bring the signature aspects of Imagination Playground to communities across the country with Imagination Playground in a BOX. These smaller, mobile versions of the Imagination Playground design allow communities to enhance the way their children play, while tailoring the playspace to their needs. Imagination Playground in a BOX comes with two colorful containers on wheels. The BOXes open to reveal a variety of Loose Parts, as well as sand and water features – all of which is intended to increase interaction and engagement. Imagination Playground in a BOX can be used on its own or as an addition to an existing playspace.  Imagination Playground in a BOX – Pilot Testing
The first prototype of Imagination Playground in a BOX ran as a three-month pilot in Brownsville, Brooklyn during the summer of 2008 with support from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Throughout the testing, Play Associates were on hand to oversee the introduction of the parts at the start of the day, to put them away at dusk, as well as to maintain them throughout the day. Research was conducted by the Children's Environments Research Group from the City University of New York.
KaBOOM! is currently conducting pilot testing at four sites in Washington, D.C., Miami and New Orleans. In addition to monitoring how Imagination Playground in a BOX affects a child's relationship with his environment, observations will also determine physical activity levels, play engagement patterns, and diversity of play types amongst the children.
Imagination Playground – Burling Slip, New York, NY
 Designed by Rockwell Group, in collaboration with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, the first site-specific Imagination Playground will be constructed at Burling Slip, near South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan. The first destination playground of its kind, Imagination Playground at Burling Slip will feature a sculpted landscape, surrounding large sand and water features, as well as large numbers of Loose Parts for children to manipulate into limitless combinations of their own design. By using these ingredients, children can turn their playground into a space constantly built and re-built by their imagination. Imagination Playground will be staffed by trained Play Associates, who will maintain a diverse, creative playspace while ensuring the safety of the children. Imagination Playground – Going Forward
If you're interested in obtaining an Imagination Playground for your community once testing is complete, please contact us at imaginationplayground@kaboom.org with your name, organization, contact information and any questions you may have. We will put you on our mailing list so that you can receive regular updates about this innovative concept in play. By marrying Imagination Playground with a network of KaBOOM! communities, opportunities for children to engage in unstructured, self-directed "free play" will spring up across the nation. 
As part of a continuing commitment to bring play to children everywhere, Rockwell Group and KaBOOM! have partnered to bring Imagination Playground to communities everywhere across the country.
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