1. Measure the fill around the equipment. It should be at least 12 inches deep. Clean out trash and animal droppings. Examine rubber mats for curls and wooden borders for splinters.
2. Examine the play structure for cracks and breakage. Check for rust spots or splinters. Run your hand over plastic parts—they shouldn’t have any imperfections. Shake stairs to make sure they are still sturdy.
3. Examine bolts and nails to make sure they’re still tight and not protruding. You should never be able to turn bolts with your fingers.
4. Look for missing caps or plugs (common on ladders and climbers). Examine hooks for wear.
5. Look for wear in gears and other moving parts. Oil as needed.
6. Make sure seesaw handles are secure and bumpers are in place to cushion the landing.
7. Wash equipment with soap and water as needed. Never use bleach.

Read “How To Inspect Your Playground” for more details, and find lots more tips and ideas on the School Playgrounds resources page.

The tenacity of the elementary school PTA featured in this recent article is admirable. To date they have raised 37K and secured matching grant funding.But what makes it even better is that they are holding a barbecue and silent auction to raise even more money. Why? To replace the gravel on the playground with compressed wood chips — a wheelchair-friendly product that will let their special-needs preschoolers enjoy the playground. That’s going to be one awesome playground.

Love it even more when a Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant is a big part of the reason why the project worked.. 

Nice.

Thanks Lowe’s!

The 2nd cycle of the 2008-09 school year was just completed.  The totals — more than $4,000,000 shared with more than 900 local parent groups across the country.  And that’s just this year.  The Toolbox program is now well over $10 million in total.  Double thanks, Lowe’s!

PTO Today is proud of the modest role we play as the communications and administrative team behind the scenes of Toolbox. None of this would happen without the generosity of the Lowe’s Charitable & Educational Foundation. Hundreds of playgrounds, hundreds of school grounds upgrades, hundreds of school signs, and innumerable creative building projects that don’t fit squarely in a common category (but which all are making schools better places…) — awesome.

Let’s Build Something Together is the Lowe’s tag line.  With this program, they’re really making that a reality.  Can your group gear up now to get involved next year?  

Side note: looks like our friends at Playworld Systems were heavily involved in this program with Ellen. That new NEOS playground system of theirs looks cool.

Story is a great example of the “doing fewer things but doing those things better” philosophy that we’ve written about in the magazine for years. This is the kind of event that — done well — can change the reputation of a PTO for the better.

And it’s why this LA Times story on significant declines in school field trips is so disconcerting. Thank God for the parent groups doing what they can to stem this tide. Also worthwhile to give credit (as the story does) to the good work of one of our favorite partners, Target, on this issue. Their field trip grant program is a step in the right direction.

Here’s just one great Lowe’s giving story from Lynn, MA. These guys built wooden easels for all their teachers thanks to their grant.

Similarly, I was lucky enough to attend a ribbon-cutting for a local playground recently. Lowe’s generously contributed nearly half the funds needed for the build. So great to see a couple of hundred little faces as they surged toward their new school backyard. Very cool.