Australian Playground Finder

I found an Australian Playground Finder web site. So if you are ever in Australia with your children, well, here's a great way to have some outdoor fun and enjoy that excellent Aussie weather!

Great Article!

This article appeared in the Boston Globe back in April, 2007, by Drake Bennet.

Back to the Playground article

A great push for more leniency and creative ideas at playgrounds. They site Teardrop Park in New York as a "manifesto on the possibilities of a playground."

It's a long article but an interesting read if you are planning to build a playground.

KaBOOM!

This is a great non-profit organization that deals only with playgrounds, building them, funding them, and making sure playgrounds are everywhere. Their mission: To have every child walking distance from a playground.

Kaboom.org

They also have a PlaySpace Finder with currently over 5000 playgrounds to search from. I have been trying to reach them to work with them on their site. That makes me sound snobbish, but I think the site could use a bit of help. But it's still great.

West Newbury, Action Cove

Here's the writeup for this magnificent five star playground located on Bachelor St. between Meetinghouse Hill Rd. and Middle St. in West Newbury. Action Cove is now up in the top FIVE of playgrounds in the North Shore. Similar to Eagle Nest in Essex, but even better with even more platforms, under-floor crawl spaces, and nooks.

Download the PDF at my web site:

www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

The photo is of course in color as is all the photos in the newly done addendums I have been posting.

Enjoy!

Salem's Mary Jane Lee

Okay, I have finally finished all the edits for the known missing playgrounds for Salem. Just Mary Jane Lee Playground located on the corners of Prince St. and Palmer St. in the Point Neighborhood.

Download the PDF of the writeup at my website:

www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

The playground photos are in color in all of my addendums now, so you get a great visual.

Maps

Well, here's something I am not proud of doing but I think I have to, especially because my editor told me to - that's my wife.

So on the addendums I have been working on, I have been updating the maps to reflect the addition of the missing playground. You know, putting it on the map and adding the streets, etc. Of course, as in the original maps I had done for the book, the map page also lists every playground, its location, and its rating. PLUS, it is all in color now.

Now, anybody can download the map even if they didn't buy the book. I don't have some insane registration process to get the download. I just don't know how to code that into the web site and what a logistical pain that would be. 

So with the new colored map, you pretty much have an entire city with all its playgrounds and their ratings in your hands without spending one penny. And that is actually just fine with me. 

BUT - and here's the rub - I am planning to sell those playground brochures (a map and photo of each playground in their city) to their respective park and recreation departments. Well, why would the city want to pay for something that is already free on my site? Darn it.

So I am left with a marketing choice, which always puts the audience at a disadvantage, and had to leave the maps off the downloadable updates. Hopefully, IF the cities buy their brochure then you can download the brochure with the color maps at that point. But in the meantime, you'll have to put your own little stars marking the playground on the maps in the book. Sorry.

Gloucester Addendum

I finally finished the first addendum to the Playground book. Go to the web site:
www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

and download the PDF of the updated pages. It includes the write ups for each of the five playgrounds. And best of all, they are all in color!

The playgrouds are:
Babson Playground
Brown's Field
Edward "Gint" Middleton Playground
Ganine Nancy Doucette Playground
Joseph Palazola Playground

Brochures

During the winter, the other thing I have been doing is creating single page pamphlets that could be made into downloadable PDF's with all the playgrounds in one town. It includes the town map with all the playgrounds such as that in the book, and a color photo of each playground on the reverse. No ratings and descriptions though.

Why would I do this? Won't it cut into "profits?" I don't even know what a "profit" is. Anyhoo, there are a couple of reasons why I'm doing this. One is I can't keep updating the book every two years because I just can't afford to print the book all the time. So I need a way to keep everybody updated with the playgrounds without spending a bijillion dollars. Well, a downloadable PDF would allow me not to print anything thereby saving some money (alright, a lot of money. . . alright, all the money). And second: see below.

What will I do with this brochure? The plan would be to sell the PDF to their respective cities so that they can post and advertise the PDF on their city websites for their citizens. Wouldn't that be handy for everyone? Okay, so there isn't a rating system on the brochure but if I did, it would be the rating of ONE individual and may not benefit the city. Maybe the cities wouldn't want their one star playground pointed out.

I'm still working on Salem's brochure. And I haven't approached them yet with the idea, although I had gone to a public space meeting several months ago and was asked about doing such a pamphlet for them. Of course, nothing has come of it. We'll see.

Updates coming!

Winter is here and we don't go to as many playgrounds as we use to. BUT I should be working on getting those updated playgrounds into a print format for those people who have purchased Playgrounds of the North Shore.

Well, I have finally started working on them and my editor (wife) is currently going over them and I should have them posted this weekend I hope.

First up will be those five playgrounds I missed in Gloucester:

Babson Playground

Brown's Field

Edward "Gint" Middleton Playground

Ganine Nancy Doucette Playground

Joseph Palazola Playground

Next up will be Action Cove in Newbury and the ONE playground I missed in my own hometown of Salem, Mary Jane Lee Playground.