Our playground build was a huge success with more then 400 community members coming out to help. Our build took place on March 29th in honor of Cesar Chavez Day of Service and Learning. The project included a new playground, a Cesar Chavez mural and an edible garden.
My role in the event was to plan and implement youth activities. I hope to share with you a little of what we did to provide you with ideas and guidance for your own build.
Logistics:
One of the first things to consider in your planning is liability issues. Be sure you are clear on any age limits and types of activities children are allowed to participate in. Kaboom has set policies on this but remember to check with the agency who manages the park as well. They might have liability policies you need to be aware of.
Second, set limits that work well for you. For example, are you going to provide child care and activities for all ages? We had several toddlers and even babies show up which was a challenge. Another thing to consider is how many children you might have. It was hard for us to determine this ahead of time, but you may want to consider how the amount of children you might have will affect your activities.
Also consider where your youth activities will take place. You will need to designate a safe place away from the construction zone. Our site had tennis courts so we were able to utilize this space as our youth activity area. This was helpful in keeping the kids contained and made it easier for us to keep an eye on them.
I recommend using a sign-up sheet. This helped us ensure that kids were not coming and going on their own, but that if they left our supervision there was an adult who could account for their whereabouts. In the case where kids had arrived at the park on their own, for example some kids who had walked there, I had them sign themselves in and write down "walking".
Volunteer help was crucial in making our youth activities a success. With a college in the area, I was able to recruit volunteers from campus clubs that specialized in working with youth. A club called New Games came to lead games, and the Art Recreation club came to lead arts and crafts. I recruited students from the high school to volunteer as "CampKaboom" counselors for the day. These students helped lead activities and supervise younger kids. I also had additional adult helpers and parents who chipped in as well. Without them I don't know what I would have done. So, just keep in mind the more the merrier.
The activities:
Remember that youth will be present for the entire day and because they can't help with the actual construction of the park you will need a wide variety of activities to keep them engaged and happy. And, if your site is anything like ours that means you will be outside with them all day, come wind (which we had lots of), rain, or heat.
Your morning activities were set up into stations. Kids rotated through the stations with breaks in between for free play.
At the art station, kids made thank you cards for the volunteers building their new and exciting playground. They also worked on Chavez word search activities and other work and coloring sheets.
At the gardening station, kids learned about the life and values of Cesar Chavez while decorating pots and planting strawberries.
At the games station, students played parachute and tag games. We also had quit a few balls, bubbles, hula hoops, frizzbees and other sporting equipment to play with.
When lunch time rolled around we all took lunch together, again to help keep track of the kids. After lunch they were given free time to play and then new activities began.
One of the most successful and fun activities of the day was the 1x1 mural that the kids created. This mural made up of small 1 ft. by 1 ft. pieces was later hung on the fence along the new playground. Using paints kids were encouraged to paint pictures that represented their ideas of play, community, and service. It was so great to see how involved some students become, spending an hour of more painting.
Another important activity the kids completed was the ribbon for the ribbon cutting ceremony. Using construction paper the kids made a long paper chain. On each link they colored pictures and wrote the 10 core values of Cesar Chavez. Later during the ribbon cutting ceremony kids were invited up to help hold the ribbon as it was cut by our mayor.
All in all it was a fantastic day! The kids had fun and also came away knowing a little more about the life and core values of Cesar Chavez, whom our park was built to honor. I think that through out the day they came to recognize the importance of service in their community. Seeing more then 400 people come together to build them a new park certainly inspired me, so I know it inspired them. And finally they were able to contribute to the playground build by creating a mural. Now every time they visit the park and see their pictures hanging in the playground they can remember that amazing, action packed day when they and their community built a playground in one day.