CATSKILL — A floor-to-ceiling wooden fort, decked out with ladders, slides, swings and windows, has risen in the Catskill Community Center over the past two days. The one-of-a-kind play space is the result of the six-week Design, Build, Play program that took kids through the various stages of design to bring a dream to life.
Concept drawings now cover a wall near the play space, detailing features like a “puppets and hang-out” space, a “tree of play,” the “secret underground” accessed, of course, by a secret tunnel, and a slide that ends at “softness.”
Along the opposite wall sits a table full of small-scale models made with string, PVC pipe, cardboard, sticks, playdough, blocks and other materials, including the ambitious “Utopian Catskill” block city with a central pyramid, and a hammock-like swing prototype.
“I’m hoping they’ve gotten some sense of the design process,” said Laura Anderson, director of after school activities at the Community Center. “From drawing to modeling to hands-on building.”
After six weeks of design, guided by supervisors and volunteers, the children picked up simple hand tools and — under careful supervision — got to work building their dream.
“I was super excited that in the last couple of weeks, they actually worked with hand tools,” said Anderson. “They used hand drills and screwdrivers. Some of the kids who werent even interested at first, by the end of the day, were like ‘Hey, I did it!’ There was this pride that came from it.”
Along with Anderson, the project was supervised by builder and artist Matt Bua, who built the Catamount People’s Museum on West Bridge Street. Anderson said the two-level play space — built mostly from off-cuts from a local saw mill, donated wood and other recycled materials — will be “absolutely safe.” When finished, it will be inspected and approved by the Community Center Board of Directors.
Anderson said about 18 children participated over the course of the program, from ages six to 12, with about ten adult volunteers. Most of that crowd showed up for the first community build day on Saturday, June 15. Sunday was more sparsely attended due to Father’s Day. Anderson anticipates at least one more public day, possibly focused on painting murals on the walls behind the play fort.
When the structure began to rise, Anderson said the kids became even more inspired, generating more and more ideas for it.
“They’re so excited,” she said. “After school they came up here and they were just speechless.”
In the future, she’d like the play space to have public hours, especially in winter, so the community can take advantage of it. She’s also considering establishing a “Play Cafe,” a few hours on a weekend morning when parents can enjoy brunch, tea or coffee while the children play.
When Anderson asked 7-year-old Charlotte LaRocque, a regular participant who was helping to build Sunday afternoon, what she first thought when she saw the play space, her answer was concise: “post office.” An elaborate post office operation, with houses across the street — on the other side of the room — house number nine, number two, that you have to deliver all the letters to correctly.
The post office, of course, is downstairs. The upstairs is a jungle, as you can tell, Charlotte explained, by the green backdrop and all the vines — the vines aren’t up yet, though. Those ropes on the ground, she pointed out, will be the vines, so for now you just have to imagine it.
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To reach reporter Kyle Adams, call 518-943-2100, ext. 3323, or e-mail kadams@thedailymail.net
Seven-year-old Charlotte LaRocque tests out the new play space at the Catskill Community Center Sunday afternoon. Phote by Kyle Adams
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