Friday Fun: 50 Ways to 'Play Everywhere'

KaBOOM! announced the winners of the Play Everywhere Challenge this week.

1 minute read

September 23, 2016, 9:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


KaBOOM

"The Hangout" is an interactive play space proposed for New Orleans' Ninth Ward. | The Urban Conga Inc. for the KaBOOM! Play Everywhere Challenge / The Hangout

Gail Cornwall reports: "[KaBOOM!] "awarded $1 million to spur 50 new projects that create opportunities for urban children to play at places like bus stops, barber shops and Laundromats."

Cornwall highlights some of the inners to showcase the creativity and variety of the winning projects. Among the winners:

  • A "giant solar-powered bubble maker that on sunny days will send bubbles drifting over a busy Minneapolis thoroughfare,"
  • "periscopes built out of PVC tubes at East Harlem bus stops,"
  • "retractable jump ropes outside barber shops and salons in Richmond, Va.,"
  • "sidewalks in Detroit "repainted to resemble sprinting tracks,"
  • and slides that "pop up next to stairways used to commute through the slopes."

Each of the winning projects has its own project page on the KaBoom! website.

The 50 winners were chosen from more than 1,000 entries. The Play Everywhere Challenge has support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Target, Playworld, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016 in The New York Times

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Use Code 25for25 at checkout for 25% off an annual plan!

Redlining map of Oakland and Berkeley.

Rethinking Redlining

For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

May 15, 2025 - Alan Mallach

Interior of Place Versailles mall in Montreal, Canada.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units

Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

May 22, 2025 - CBC

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

May 21, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Line of RVs being used as homes parked on street in Mountain View, California.

Seattle Safe Parking Site to Close, Relocate

A nonprofit leases lots during permitting stages to erect tiny homes and RV safe parking sites for unhoused residents. But the model means constant uncertainty and displacement.

3 hours ago - The Seattle Times

Orange Los Angeles Metro bus passing on blurred street at night.

LA ‘Mobility Wallet’ Increased Quality of Life for Participants

The city distributed a monthly $150 transportation subsidy to 1,000 low-income Angelenos. It dramatically improved their lives.

5 hours ago - KTLA

White Shinkansen high-speed rail train passing on bridge over pond in Japan.

Texas, California Rail Projects Seek Out Private Funding

In the wake of Trump’s cuts to high-speed rail projects, rail authorities are looking to private-public partnerships to supplement their budgets.

7 hours ago - Smart Cities Dive