Hi there,
My name is Caleb and I'm a Project Manger with KaBOOM!. When we facilitate a Design Day we typically ask for 15-20 kids and usually will facilitate the design day alone, though with some parents and other adults present to help as needed. For 50-100 kids, I would consider breaking the group up by age bracket, so as to draw out particular interests or safety issues for those different ages. Groups of 20-25 would be perfect, as they would allow for smaller break-out groups of 4-5 students for small group discussions, ice breakers, or sharing their designs. I would have one lead facilitator for each large group and one aide for each small group. Thus a group of 20-25 would use 4-5 adults. They don't all need to be teachers, though teachers could be the main facilitator. Consider involving those who will be building the trails/routes, funders (if this is being done through sponsorship), administrators, and especially parents. The idea in the Design Day is to bring all the stakeholders together, but to demonstrate that the project will be youth driven, or even youth led.
We set up the room to be fun and festive, to get the kids excited for the project, but we also really want their ideas. Before actually letting them draw and design, I lead up to that segment of their part by asking them questions to get them thinking about play, what they currently have, what they'd like to see, how they play, how to play safely, and they different types of activities they can do on a playground. You could do the same thing by asking them questions about how they feel currently walking to school, what they do along the way, who they meet up with and when, what times they walk those routes, where else they go, how they would get to school if they could go by any means--what would be the most fun way to travel to school, etc. No answer is too crazy. Say they want to go to school in a rocket (or for my Design Day, they want a rocket ship on the playground), then I try to get at, "What is it they like about a rocket ship?" Is it the motion? Is it the speed? Is it the height? For your Design Day, a rocket might mean you should consider a paved path for kids to run or speed along. Painting a runway on the ground or adding murals and freestanding cutouts along the way could give that feel of outer space or rockets.
Besides holding a Children's Meeting, where kids talk about playground safety, share stories, and draw their dream playgrounds, at KaBOOM! we also always have a Site Walk-Through portion and an Adult's Meeting. For your purposes, consider walking the current route that kids get to school and then have the kids actually led you where their preferred route would be. Again, ask them questions about where they meet up with friends and walk together, where they stop along the way, and where they gather at school before classes. Also consider the different ways kids are going to school--by foot, by bike, by skateboard, etc. Don't forget to ask them how long a route takes, or time it yourself, and consider weather or other factors that may change the route conditions throughout the year.
When we do site walk-through we are looking at the space as a whole, not just where the playground will be. We consider other hazards and have our communities do utility line checks to make sure we're not going to hit anything in the ground where we dig (as well as soil tests to make sure we're not working or playing in hazardous materials like arsenic or lead). By looking at the site as a playspace, not just a playground--or in this case not just a transportation route--we are able to come up with a vision statement, which you could have the children and adults generate separately before combining. This also allows us to start thinking about Play Enhancement Projects that can reflect the local community, culture, and needs. Often times these projects include ones that kids will be involved in making on Build Day. I can easily imagine a walking path that would include a bike line for instance, or soft jogging path. There could be spots to rest or gather along the way, with benches, picnic tables, and the like. Kids could do signs and post markers pointing the direction to homes or other spots pertinent to them and their interests. You could also do a themed route, such as a fitness course. Or a combination of many design elements.
During the Adult's Meeting we have a two-fold objective. First, we want to form the planning committee that is going to be the backbone of support for our Build Day. We use participatory approaches to construct all our playgrounds using a community-build, built-in-a-day model. The idea is to end up with a great playspace, but to also use the playground build as an achievable win and catalyst for the community to go on and organize other great projects. We have all our tasks divided up into committees and appoint chairs to head up that set of tasks. Then we hold weekly planning calls to share up dates, track progress, and overcome roadblocks. The second objective is to take the kids' drawings and ideas and turn that into an actual plan and design for our playspace.
I think you will find there are many relevant tools for you to use whether you are doing a full community-build project, or just leading a Design Day. Check out our Toolkit, as well as our Road Map for planning a project. Don't forget to consider accessibility for the disabled or handicapped. And definitely check out our Side Projects of plans of benches, shade structures and other great projects that could be incorporated along the way. Remember, the idea is that these "Play Enhancement Projects" support your vision and mission statement and reflect the community and the culture.
We hope to hear how the KaBOOM! model can work outside of building playgrounds. Please keep in touch and if you have any more questions about Design Day that I may have missed, please post again. Good luck and KaBOOM!.
Another idea, especially to get older kids involved, is to have a short meeting with them at the beginning. Perhaps while the younger kids are drawing how they get to school, you could meet with the older participants and have them lead discussions in small groups about how everyone in their group of 8-12 gets to school (directions, means, problems, who they go with). Let the older children facilitate this part (with the supervision of the teachers or adults) and that way they can feel more involved. Have the older children come up with two sentences about how their group gets to school and what problems or themes they discussed.
Also, besides focusing on what makes the children feel unsafe on the way to school, try to ask some questions during an ice breaker, a discussion or through drawing, about what makes them feel safe. Some of these ideas can be very helpful in coming up with a design that is safe but will also feel safe to younger children. Some questions you might be able to ask for this portion might be: when you feel scared, what do you do to feel 'un-scared'? When you are angry or upset, where do you go? what do you do there? who do you talk to first? These types of questions can be brought into the adult’s portion of your meeting too (if you decide to go with the KaBOOM! Design Day agenda) by having the adults use prompts to tell stories that bring them back to their childhood. Some prompts might include: A time I felt really scared in elementary school; The place I felt safest during childhood; A time I confided in my best friend/confident during childhood; My favorite memory from my walk/car ride to school; The thing that made me happiest that I saw on my way to school as a child..... The idea is to try to bring the adults back to a time in childhood where they may have been in a similar situation that the children are in now.
Hope that helps a little! Please let us know how it goes and what you decide on doing!