KaBOOM Play Days

I had the pleasure of being invited to an event held earlier this week in New York City that Beth from Role Mommy organized. The event was to promote Kaboom Play Days and was sponsored by Kool-Aid.

I haven’t been to the city since I was a teenager and I went to see a show on Broadway so the day was an adventure for us. Me and the boys, along with my Mom, took a train into the city to Penn Station. We walked the few blocks to our destination – Studio 450. We were greeted by Bonny, which was pretty neat after corresponding by email with her for so many months. We arrived just in time for lunch from The Shake Shack, which the kids really enjoyed. There was salad, mac and cheese, chicken fingers mini hamburgers and cookies. Several different varieties of Kool-Aid were available, of course. (FYI. I drank the sugar-free and would never have known that it didn’t have sugar! It tastes just like regular Kool-Aid.) There was also a young man circulating through the room with the cutest mini ice cream cones. Yum!

We’d just finished eating lunch when we got to go upstairs to have a family picture taken by Jade Albert, a celebrity family photographer. While we were waiting for our turn I got to meet Beth, which was very cool after reading her site and reading her emails for a while now. She even invited me to chat with her for a few minutes on Blog Talk Radio, which was very exciting! By the time CJ decided to end my interview with Beth by running off it was time to have our picture taken. Jade and her assistant (whose name is escaping me) were quite patient. She took a lot of shots of me and the boys and a couple more of me and the boys with my mom.

Photo credit Jade Albert (www.jadealbert.com)

After having our photo session we went downstairs, where CJ got to play and I got to learn a little more about Kaboom.

Kaboom is a national non-profit organization that believes every child in America should have access to safe, unstructured play within walking distance. Kaboom would like to coordinate more than 1,000 Play Days during the week of September 19-27, 2009. These community based events will celebrate play and demonstrate its importance. If you’d like to learn more about Kaboom or plan an event in your community visit kaboom.org. You can also use the playspace finder by clicking on find a playspace and searching by location or zip code.

CJ had a blast playing with the Kool-Aid Man, as well as with the different musical instruments and toys. I had fun just watching him play. I enjoyed the trip into the city and getting to see other Moms and their kids, as well as meeting some other bloggers like Issa and Melissa. Plus I enjoyed spending the day with my Mom, something I don’t get to do as often as I’d like.

When it was time to go home CJ didn’t want to leave. Once we were on the train on our way home he laid down across the seat and fell asleep.

I completely agree with KaBOOM on the premise that all children should have unstructured play within walking distance. Seeing the joy on my son’s face only reinforced the point. The more people that support KaBOOM the more successful their program will be. I hope you’ll check out KaBOOM and learn more about what they’re trying to do. For those so inclined you can sign up to host a Play Day while you’re on the site.

KaBOOM!’s Online Toolkit is designed to walk you through the process of how to create a community-build playspace. From fundraising to volunteer recruitment, the Toolkit can help you take your project from start to finish with over a decade’s worth of KaBOOM! knowledge, advice, and best practices in building playspaces.

The Toolkit is designed to work hand-in-hand with the brand-new KaBOOM! Project Planner. The new planner gives you:
A free Web site that helps you —

Plan each step of your project
Communicate with your team
Recruit local volunteers
Raise money
Free advice from the professional playground builders at KaBOOM!
A community of people like you who are building playspaces around the country

See you on the playground!