A boy scout is one of the people working to build a foundation for tomorrow's youth, literally.

A group of volunteers is spending their weekend constructing a new playground in Northeast Austin.

The playground replaces an aging and unsafe one torn down a few weeks ago.

Fourteen-year old Hudson East contacted Your News to tell us about his involvement in giving kids a safe place to play.

Turn Off Your TV (And Computer) And Go Find A Playground!

TV Turnoff Week 2007 runs from April 23-29. Want an idea for something -- anything -- you and the kids can do to avoid having to face that darkened TV in the living room? Why not spend the week finding and rating playspaces in your area?

Download and print out this form, and take the kids out (or someone else' kids... or the dog). You can search here for local playspaces or just go visit all of those playgrounds you pass by every day on your way to somewhere else. Don't forget photos! You'll be adding to a free and open body of knowledge that anyone can then use to see where your community is lacking in fun (and safe) places to play. When you've filled out the form, come back in (your children should be nicely exhausted from climbing all over playground equipment) and Add a Playspace.

Come meet with organizers from KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! will be hosting free workshops on April 24th and 25th for all Gulf Coast organizations and individuals interested in planning and building a new playground in their community.  You will learn how to complete and submit an application to build a playground with KaBOOM!, find out more about upcoming playground build opportunities in your area, and also get more information about $5,000 challenge grants offered by KaBOOM! and The Home Depot exclusively for Gulf Coast community-build playgrounds.  Everyone who attends will also receive a FREE KaBOOM! Toolkit (valued at $79).

Find out more about dates and locations!

Joanne Cooley sends some pictures from a new community-built playspace at Brennan Woods Elementary School in High Ridge, Missouri. "I never knew being so tired could be so much fun," she said.

Apparently the gym teacher agreed since she just couldn't resist the first ride on the twisty slide.

SANFORD -- While one day may not be enough to build a city like Rome, a group of volunteers proved last week it was all they needed to build a state-of-the-art playground.

In a joint effort by the city, the Orlando Magic and KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization that specializes in constructing entire playgrounds in a single day, a 70-by-40-foot playground was built Thursday for the West Sanford Boys & Girls Club on South Persimmon Avenue. The Magic covered the cost of materials for the $50,000 playground.

Seeking to give children a place to frolic as well as to help revitalize a neighborhood hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, more than 500 Georgia Tech students erected a playground Saturday in the heart of Chalmette.

"We are hoping the playground will be a point of hope and give the neighborhood a point to rally around to try to come back," said Lisa Bradway, a 22-year-old mechanical engineering major at the Atlanta school.

Since Katrina struck in August 2005, hundreds of Georgia Institute of Technology students have been sacrificing their semester breaks to participate in relief efforts dubbed "Geaux to the Gulf" and organized by the university's Christian Campus Fellowship.

Children are invited to share their visions of their dream playground at a Playground Design Day event on Monday at the Long Lines Family Rec Center. The current dilapidated playground is shown at left.

From 9-11 a.m., children of all ages will have the opportunity to draw outdoor slides, tubes and climbing structures that express how they like to play.

The Junior League of Sioux City is hosting the event as a way to generate ideas from children about how to transform the existing playground next to the Chris Larsen Park Playground into an attractive, modern play space. Their drawings will be used to create the playground's final design.

Learn more about this project at the Chris Larsen Park Playground website.

Read the Sioux City Journal news story.

Candice Mendoza could hammer a nail to hang a picture. But that's about as far as her home improvement skills stretched - until she volunteered Saturday to help construct a playground in Mecca.

"I was a little nervous," the 21-year-old city of Riverside resident said. "I don't work with a lot of tools."

But that's the beauty of this community project, organizers say. Regardless of their skills, residents can come out, pitch in and build something in a day for the community.

Learn more about KaBOOM! and Cesar Chavez Day.

LAVALE - Playgrounds are more than monkey bars and swings to John Holt of LaVale. As chairman of the Parkside Elementary School playground committee, Holt has traveled to Chicago and New Orleans to attend playground conferences.

"The goal is to build a playground, but more than that, it is to build a community," said Holt.

Conference attendees learn how to involve community volunteers in playground projects, said Holt. The University of Play workshops are offered by Kaboom, a national nonprofit organization that provides need-based funding for playground projects, educates planners and provides playground resources. Home Depot is a co-sponsor of the conference.