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Build a Playground
Our Dream Playground
Our new step-by-step project planner offers the money and know-how to make your playground dreams come true.
Tools and Resources
Get funding, learn the nuts and bolts of building a great place to play, and improve your local playground.
Become a Community Partner
Build a great place to play for your community with the help of your neighbors, friends, KaBOOM! and our Funding Partners.
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Take Action for Play
Save Play in Your Community
Get tips, ideas, and inspiration for making your community more playful.
Playful City USA
Our Playful City USA program recognizes cities and towns that embrace play as a priority.
KaBOOM! Community
Connect and share with other folks who are trying to bring play to their communities.
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The Map of Play
Playing Near You
Find, add, rate, and review playgrounds in your community.
Play Deserts
Where are playgrounds needed most and what happens when kids have nowhere to play?
More:
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About KaBOOM!
What We Do
KaBOOM! is a national nonprofit dedicated to saving play for America’s children.
Who We Are
We are peppy, purple-adorned people who passionately promote the power of play!
Partner With Us
Our partners help us to create new playgrounds and to spread the word about the importance of PLAY.

Access to Play
Accessibility
Animal Play
Built Environment
Early Childhood Education
Health
KaBOOM!
Nature Play
Play Deficit
Play Strategies
Playgrounds
Playwork
Recess
Access to Play
IKEA Play Report: International Summary of Research Results. Family Kids and Youth/ Research,
(2010).
http://www.fairplayforchildren.org/pdf/1280152791.pdf
The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bond:
Focus on Children in Poverty. Milteer, Regina M., Ginsburg, Kenneth R., et al.
Pediatrics, The American Academy of Pediatrics, Volume 129, Number 1, Pages e204-e213, (2012).
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/129/1/e204.full
Accessibility
Accessible play areas: a summary of accessibility guidelines for play areas
U.S. Access Board Summary and Accessibility Guidelines for Play Areas
(2005)
http://www.access-board.gov/play/guide/guide.pdf
Developing Accessible Play Space in the UK: A Social Model Approach
Dunn, Karen & Moore, Michele
Children, Youth and Environments 15(1), 2005
http://incfit.org/files/f9_Accessible_Play_Space.pdf
Animal Play
Juvenile survival and benefits of play behavior in brown bears, Ursus arctos.
Fagen, Robert & Fagen, Johanna
Evolutionary Ecology Research, 6: 89-102 (2004)
http://kaboom.org/docs/documents/pdf/Fagen-and-Fagen-2004.pdf
Play behavior and multi-year juvenile survival in free-ranging brown bears, Ursus arctos.
Fagen, Robert & Fagen, Johanna
Evolutionary Ecology Research, 11: 1-15 (2009)
http://kaboom.org/docs/documents/pdf/Fagen-and-Fagen-2009.pdf
Built Environment
Independent mobility, perceptions of the built environment and children’s participation in play, active travel
and structured exercise and sport: the PEACH project.
Page, Angie S., Cooper, Ashley R., Griew, Pippa, & Jago Russell.
Internatonal Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 7:17, (2010).
http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/7/1/17
The built environment and children’s health.
Cummings, Susan Kay & Jackson, Richard Joseph.
Pediatrics Clinics of North America. Pages 1241-1252. (2001).
http://bhn.arizona.edu/files/resources/builltenvironment.pdf
The Impact Of Parks And Open Spaces On Property Values (2007)
John L. Crompton
http://www.cprs.org/membersonly/Winter07_PropertyValues.htm
The built environment: Designing communities to promote physical activity in children
Committee on Environmental Health
Pediatrics, The American Academy of Pediatrics, Volume 123, Number 6, Pages 1591-1598, (2009)
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/123/6/1591
The role of built environments in physical activity, eating, and obesity in childhood
Sallis, James F., Glanz, Karen
The Future of Children, Volume 16, Number 1, Pages 89-108, (2006)
http://www.sph.emory.edu/EPRC/resources/pubs/glanz_the%20role%20of%20built%20e
nvironments.pdf
Early Childhood Education
Baltimore district tackles high suspension rates
Maxwell, L.A.
Education Week, (2007)
http://www.edweek.org/login.html?source=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/04/25/
Crisis in the kindergarten: Why children need play in school
Miller, Edward & Almon, Joan
Alliance for Childhood, (2009)
http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/files/file/kindergarten_report.pdf
From play to literacy: implications for the classroom
Wilford, Sara
Sarah Lawrence College, Child Development Institute, (2000)
http://www.slc.edu/media/cdi/pdf/Occasional%20Papers/CDI_Occasional_Paper_Wilford_2000.pdf
Open Pandora’s box: curiosity and imagination in the classroom
Engel, Susan
Sarah Lawrence College, Child Development Institute, (2006)
http://www.slc.edu/media/cdi/pdf/Occasional%20Papers/CDI_Occasional_Paper_2006_Engel.pdf
Resurrecting free play in young children: Looking beyond fitness and fatness to attention, affiliation, and
affect
Burdette, Hillary L. & Whitaker, Robert C.
Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, Volume 159, Number 1, Pages 46-50, (2005)
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/159/1/46
The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent child bonds
Ginsburg, Kenneth R.
Pediatrics, The American Academy of Pediatrics, Volume 119, Number 1, (2007)
http://www.aap.org/pressroom/playFINAL.pdf
Zero to six: Electronic media in the lives of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers
Rideout, Victor J., Vandewater, Elizabeth A., & Wartella, Ellen A.
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, (2003)
http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/Zero-to-Six-Electronic-Media-in-the-Lives-of-Infants-Toddlers-
and-Preschoolers-PDF.pdf
Health
Balance: 2007 end of year report
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(2007)
http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/eoybalance2007.pdf
Battling childhood obesity in the US: An interview with Robert Wood Johnson’s CEO
Miller, Matt & Taliento, Lynn
The McKinsey Quarterly, (2009)
http://triskeles.org/uploads/images/RWJohnson_Obesity.pdf
Building “generation play”: Addressing the crisis of inactivity among America’s children
Stanford University, School of Medicine
(2007)
http://www.playeveryday.org/Stanford%20Report.pdf
Calories in, calories out: Food and exercise in public elementary schools
Institute of education sciences
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006057.pdf
Couch kids: the nation’s future
British Heart Foundation
http://www.bhf.org.uk/plugins/PublicationsSearchResults/DownloadFile.aspx?docid=f05c0823-017b-436c-a638-859e332fffaf&version=-1&title=G243+Couch+Kids+-+the+nation's+future&resource=G243_1109
F as in fat: How obesity policies are failing in America 2008
Levi, Jeffrey, Vinter, Serena, St. Laurent, Rebecca, & Segal, Laura M.
The Trust for America’s Health & The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, (2008)
http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2008/Obesity2008Report.pdf
Get off the sofa and go and play: Family and socioeconomic influences on the physical activity of 10-11
year old children
Brockman, Rowan, Jago, Russell, Fox, Kenneth R., Thompson, Janice L., Cartwright, Kim, & Page,
Angie S.
BMC Public Health, 9:253, (2009)
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/253
Green neighborhoods, food retail and childhood overweight: Differences by population density
Lui, Gilbert C., Wilson, Jeffrey S., Qi, Rong, & Ying, Jun
The Science of Health Promotion, Volume 21, Number 4, (2007)
http://www.goforyourlife.vic.gov.au/hav/admin.nsf/Images/Green_Neighborhoods.pdf/$File
/Green_Neighborhoods.pdf
A holistic approach to health and safety
http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/resources/ECLKC_Bookstore/PDFs/AE4C214BC91D85099235F71E42B9A061.pdf
The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bonds
Ginsburg, Kenneth R.
Pediatrics, The American Academy of Pediatrics. Volume119, Number 1, (2007)
http://www.aap.org/pressroom/playFINAL.pdf
Local government actions to prevent childhood obesity.
The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, (2009)
http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2009/ChildhoodObesityPrevention
LocalGovernments/local%20govts%20obesity%20report%20brief%20FINAL%20for%20web.Ashx
Neighborhood safety and overweight status in children
Lumeng, Julie C., Appugliese, Danielle, Cabral, Howard J., Bradley, Robert H., & Zuckerman, Barry
Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, Volume 160, (2006)
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/160/1/25.pdf
Overview of the IOM’s Childhood Obesity Prevention Study. Sept. 2004. The Institute of Medicine. (2009)
http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2004/Preventing-Childhood-Obesity-Health-
in-the-Balance/factsheetoverviewfinalBitticks.ashx
Parks Playground and Active Living. Active Living Research, 2010.
http://www.activelivingresearch.org/files/Synthesis_Mowen_Feb2010.pdf
Park Use and Physical Activity in a Sample of Public Parks in the City of Los Angeles.
Cohen, Deborah, Amber Sehgal, Stephanie Williamson, Roland Sturm, Thomas L. McKenzie,
Rosa Lara, and Nicole Lurie, RAND Corporation, TR-357-HLTH, 2006, 103 pp.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR357/
Pediatrics: The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds (2006)
http://www.aap.org/pressroom/playfinal.pdf
Physical activity guidelines for Americans
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(2008)
http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/pdf/paguide.pdf
Research Quarterly for Exercise and sport (2010)
http://www.aahperd.org/rc/publications/rqes/upload/TOC_Abstracts-for-Web-_Mar-2010.pdf
State Indicator Report on Physical Activity 2010
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, 2010. http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/downloads
/PA_State_Indicator_Report_2010.pdf
The VERB campaign
Collins, Janet L. & Wechsler, Howell
The American Journal of Preventative Medicine, Volume 34, Issue 6, Pages S171-S172, (2008)
http://www.ajpm-online.net/article/S0749-3797(08)00262-6/fulltext
Year Four Arkansas Act 1220 of 2003 to Combat Childhood Obesity Evaluation (2008)
http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/3300.31871.uamsyearfoureval.pdf
KaBOOM!
Breaking New Ground: Using the Internet to Scale
Fulton, Katherine & Grant, Heather M., Monitor Institute, 2010.
http://kaboom.org/about_kaboom/reports_and_studies/breaking_new_ground_using_internet_scale
Pediatricians on the Importance of Play: Access To Quality Playspaces Fosters Healthy Childhood
Development
Harris Interactive Poll, Commissioned by KaBOOM! (2005)
http://kaboom.org/take_action/play_research/studies_and_research/harris_interactive_survey
Play Matters: A study of best practices to inform local policy and process in support of children’s play
KaBOOM (2009)
http://kaboom.org/take_action/playful_city_usa/program_details/best_practices_play
Playground Use in the U.S.
Gallup Study, Commissioned KaBOOM! and The Home Depot (2003)
http://kaboom.org/take_action/play_research/studies_and_research/2003_gallup_study_results
Nature Play
Call to activity: getting kids moving in the great outdoors
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(2008)
http://www.fitness.gov/publications/council/calltoactivity_sept08.pdf.pdf
Creating and retrofitting play environments: Best practices guidelines
PlayCore, Inc. & NC State University, College of Design, Natural Learning Initiative (2009)
http://www.naturegrounds.org/guidelines.html
Girls who play in dirt, mud grow up healthier, says researcher (2011)
http://www.king5.com/health/Girls-who-play-in-dirt-mud-grow-up-healthier-says-researcher-123280248.html
Great outdoors America
The Outdoor Resources Review Group, Resources for the Future
(2009)
http://www.orrgroup.org/documents/July2009_Great-Outdoors-America-report.pdf
Kids dig dirt! Green paper
The Association of Children’s Museums
(2008)
http://www.naturalearning.org/docs/ACM_KidsDigDirt_GreenPaper.pdf
Safety, growth, and equity: Parks and open space
Raya, Richard & Rubin, Victor
PolicyLink, (2006)
http://www.policylink.org/atf/cf/%7B97C6D565-BB43-406D-A6D5-
ECA3BBF35AF0%7D/SafetyGrowthEquity-ParksOpenSpace_final.pdf
Play Deficit
Building "Generation Play": Addressing the Crisis of Inactivity Among America's Children
Stanford University
http://www.outdoorfoundation.org/pdf/StanfordReport.pdf
Changes in children’s time with parents, U.S. 1981-1997
Sandberg, John F. & Hofferth, Sandra L.
University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, Population Studies Center, Report No. 01-475,
(2001)
http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/pdf/rr01-475.pdf
Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year Olds.
Rideout, Victoria J., Foehr, Ulla G., & Roberts, Donald F. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010.
http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/8010.pdf
I wish the kids didn’t watch so much TV: out of school time in three low income communities
Miller, B., O’Connor, S. Sirignano, S.W., & Joshi, P.
Wellesley College, Center for Research on Women, (1997)
http://www.wcwonline.org/pdf/previews/preview_s1a.pdf
State Indicator Report on Physical Activity (2010)
Center for Disease control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/downloads/PA_State_Indicator_Report_2010.pdf
Play Strategies
Changes in Children's Time with Parents, U.S. 1981-1997 (2001)
John F. Sandberg, and Sandra L. Hofferth
http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/pdf/rr01-475.pdf
The economics of early childhood policy: What the dismal science has to say about investing in children.
M. Rebecca Kilburn, Lynn A. Karoly
http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/pdf/EconomicsEarlyChildhood.pdf
New Report Shows School District Wellness Policies Fail to Provide Strong Guidelines (2010)
Chriqui JF, Schneider L, Chaloupka FJ, Gourdet C, Bruursema A, Ide K and Pugach O
http://www.rwjf.org/childhoodobesity/product.jsp?id=66968
H.R. 2045/S. 866, The No Child Left Inside Act of 2009. The Library of Congress.
http://thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR02054:@@@T|/bss/111search.html|
The Outdoor Classroom: “No Child Left Inside”
Eric Nelson
https://secure.ccie.com/library/5017140.pdf
H.R. 2045/S.651, the PLAY Every Day Act. The Library of Congress.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-2045
Planning for play: Guidance on the development and implementation of a local play strategy
The Big Lottery Fund & The Children’s Play Council
(2006)
http://www2.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_cp_planning_for_play.pdf
Play for a change
Lester, Stuart & Russell, Wendy
University of Gloucestershire, (2008)
http://www.playengland.org.uk/resources/play-for-a-change-chapter-1.pdf
Play Matters: A study of best practices to inform local policy and process in support of children’s play
KaBOOM (2009)
http://kaboom.org/help_save_play/playful_city_usa/best_practices_play
The role of pretend play in children’s cognitive development (2002)
http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/bergen.html
Playgrounds
An Annotated Bibliography of Nature Play
Green Hearts
http://www.greenheartsinc.org/uploads/Green_Hearts_annotated_bibliography.pdf
Availability of physical activity-related facilities and neighborhood demographic and socioeconomic
characteristics: A national study
Powell, Lisa M., Slater, Sandy, Chaloupka, Frank J., & Harper, Deborah
The American Journal of Public Health,Volume 96, Number 9, (2006)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1551946/pdf/0961676.pdf
Containing children: some lessons on planning for play from New York City
Hart, Roger
Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 14, No. 2, 135-148 (2002)
http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/2/135
Designing for active living among children (2007)
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
http://www.activelivingresearch.org/files/Built_Design.pdf
KaBOOM! and the Home Depot commission first Gallup survey on playground use in the United States
KaBOOM! (2003)
http://kaboom.org/help_save_play/playmaker_network/research_about_play/studies_and_statistics
/2003_gallup_study_result
Kids ‘n safe play: regulations, litigation, and playground safety.
Widman, A. (2008)
http://www.centerjd.org/archives/studies/PlaygroundSafetyWhitePaperF.pdf
Park safety and physical activity
The Trust for Public Land.
https://www.activelivingresearch.org/files/2011_Partnerships_Isacoff.pdf
Playground Use in the U.S.
Gallup Study, Commissioned KaBOOM! and The Home Depot (2003)
http://kaboom.org/help_save_play/playmaker_network/research_about_play/studies_and_statistics
/2003_gallup_study_result
Playing it safe: The sixth nationwide safety survey of public playgrounds
Weintraub, Rachel & Cassady, Alison
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund & The Consumer Federation of America,
(2002)
http://www.consumerfed.org/elements/www.consumerfed.org/file/health/PlayingItSafeJune2002.pdf
Playwork
The benefits of play and playwork
Manwaring, Beth & Taylor, Chris
The Community and Youth Workers’ Union & SkillsActive, (2006)
http://play.rg-cs.co.uk/assets/Documents/CYWUResearchComplete.pdf
The impact of out of school care: A qualitative study examining the views of children, families and
playworkers
Barker, John, Smith, Fiona, Morrow, Virginia, Weller, Susie, Hey, Valerie, & Harwin, Judith
Department for Education and Skills, Research Report RR446, (2003)
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR446.pdf
Lessons learnt from disaster: Play work and creative arts
Joe L. Frost
http://acei.org/wp-content/uploads/disasters.pdf
Recess
Assessing recess: Growing concerns about shrinking play time in schools
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(2008)
http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/s4krecesssurvey2008.pdf
Recess- It’s indispensable (2009)
Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200909/On%20Our%20Minds%20909.pdf
Recess rules: why the undervalued playtime may be America’s best investment for healthy kids and
healthy schools
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(2007)
http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/sports4kidsrecessreport.pdf
School recess and group classroom behavior
Barros, Romina M., Silver, Ellen J., & Stein, Ruth E.K.
Pediatrics, The American Academy of Pediatrics, Volume 123, Number 2, Pages 431- 436, (2009)
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/123/2/431
The State of Play: Gallup Survey of Principals on School Recess
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2010.
http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/stateofplayrecessreportgallup.pdf
Time out: is recess in danger?
Barth, Patte
The Center for Public Education, (2008)
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Organizing-a-school/Time-out-Is-recess-in-danger







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