Building a Better Playground: Part 3

I partnered with Dr Pepper Snapple Group and The Motherhood for this post, but thoughts and opinions are my own.

You can read the first two posts in this series here: Part 1, Part 2.

 

After the first two days of hanging with the incredible team at Kaboom!, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, and the ACCESS School I wasn’t sure how I could adequately describe how much the playground rebuild means to the kids at ACCESS. How does one fully share how a simple act of kindness from a community can change the course of a child’s education, childhood, and life?

 

There are hundreds of studies on the benefit of play for kids. It teaches them skills that no other activity possibly can, and as a mom I can tell you that my own kids are proof of that. The way I see my boys learn and grow when they play is multi-dimensional, and not something I’ve ever seen when they sit in front of a computer or educational programming.

 

For the kids at ACCESS school who have differing needs, a safe and well-structured playground is huge. It’s used not only for the play that kids so desperately need; it’s also used for therapy and as a tool for learning. By creating this safe space, 160+ students who will lead stronger and healthier lives. You really can’t put a price on that!

As a refresher, this amazing community feat was done through Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s Let’s Play initiative, which works to increase the availability of play for children throughout North America. The ACCESS school was in desperate need of a new playground to better serve the students here, and through the Let’s Play initiative they were able to provide the students in this community with a much needed resource.

After Build Day I wasn’t sure I could be much more impressed – I mean a playground built in one day? Seemed impossible…until I saw it with my own eyes. But as cool as it was to see it all go down, seeing it totally finished was even better.

 

Like the rest of the country, Little Rock schools are on a holiday break right now. This means I couldn’t get any pictures of the playground in use, although I can only imagine how excited those kiddos must be to jump and climb and slide on any given day. After chatting with Laura Collins, the Community Relations Associate for ACCESS School, it was very clear that the kids in the school are extremely excited about their new playground. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it means to each student, but the impact of the service of this project has been huge for them.

 

Knowing that a community cares about students, especially those with special needs, shows unequivocally how much they matter. And they do – every single student matters!

Friends, I have been so honored to share what Dr Pepper Snapple Group is doing to improve the lives of children throughout North America. It’s an initiative worth paying attention to, and one that opened my eyes to part of the Little Rock community that I didn’t know existed. I can’t wait to see the way these kids build back into our lives!