The KaBOOM! approach-Create safe, community-built playspaces
Learn about KaBOOM! Grant opportunities.
As of the end of 2018, KaBOOM! has directly built over 3,100 playgrounds. Combined with our other grants, over 20 years, KaBOOM! has built or improved over 17,000 playspaces.
The unique model, called Build it with KaBOOM!, pairs funding partners with under-resourced communities who come together to build safe playgrounds – in just one day – resulting in kids feeling valued. Our community-built playgrounds generate a tangible, achievable win for communities too familiar with broken promises, too much talk and little, if any, action.
Apply for a playground grant today, or find out how to fund our important work.
KaBOOM! offers two different grants to help groups build playgrounds:
Build it with KaBOOM! and Build it Yourself. Collectively, we call these grants “Community‑Built Playgrounds” because they are designed and built by your community. If you wish to receive funding for a playground, select Community‑Built Playgrounds on the Start My Application page. Once you complete Part II of the application, we will review your application to see if it’s a fit for the Build it with KaBOOM! or Build it Yourself program.
More background: There is a play deficit in America.
Only one in four kids in the US are getting the recommended daily amount of physical activity. That means, in a class of 20 students, only 5 are truly able to be a kid for just one hour each day. Children are not playing at home, they are not playing in schools, and they are not playing in their communities. For the 14 million kids living in poverty, play is too hard to come by as their families face many obstacles to play; from a lack of safe places, under-resourced schools that cut recess and physical education, and too much screen time.