Researchers and educators alike have long recognized the power of play for early childhood development. Article 31 in the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child even acknowledges a child’s right “to engage in play.” Play is fundamental to proper physical, social, emotional, and cognitive growth in children. The fact that so many of us, as adults, can still recall such pleasurable playground experiences as winning a race or going down a slide only underscores the meaningful impact play has on our lives. During my visit to Bangladesh, I was amazed by how children were able to amuse themselves in such hazardous conditions: rummaging through piles of paper trash, walking on top of PVC pipes and playing with stray dogs, among other things. It showed me not only the remarkable ability of children to adapt their play to immediate surroundings, but also the urgent need for secure, accessible playgrounds. 

Thus, the goal of this project is to create safe environments for underprivileged children to play. The program will start small, building a playground in one or two villages. The key here is that a playground will only be constructed in a village where a primary school is already in place. Ideally, the playground would be placed next to the school. One community member will be trained on playground planning, design, building and maintenance. She will act as the playground project manager. The manager will then go back to her village and meet with the parents and adults of her community to discuss playground designs. She will then split the parents into groups and assign each group a task in the building process. The entire process from conception to construction will take roughly 2-3 weeks, with a total budget set at $2000. My project team will visit the site each day of construction to carefully monitor and offer needed advice. Weekly maintenance check ups will be administered upon completion. This project helps children reach their full potential. Play is inherently self-directed; so by building playgrounds, a sense of self-reliance and self-confidence will be cultivated in underprivileged children. This is especially true for girls, since playgrounds know no gender. Involving parents in every step of the process serves numerous functions. For example, coming from the community they often know what materials are available for use. Parents are also more likely to become advocates of play after seeing the project from start to finish.