It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog, and it’s time to put out some good news!
The Bogin Playscape Project has received a $7000. grant from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. We had been waiting for a while to hear if we would receive the grant, and it is most welcome news…

The grant will permit the project to continue for the coming year, and opens up lots of opportunities. I’m planning to spend much of the summer working on my own on some equipment ideas and designs, and devote time to developing the part of the project that I found so difficult to pursue at the same time I was teaching. It took a full day to clear out a space in my cluttered barn so that I can really work, and I’m also spending time looking into what tools and equipment I need for building. I’m thinking very carefully as I start to spend the project dollars and want to keep to the costs low and the tools as simple as possible. I’ve begun a small plywood structure that I think of as a “play base” for a pre-school classroom, with the hope of combining as many activities onto this structure as I can dream up.

I also met with Ellen Rainville and Susannah Howe late in June, and we discussed how the project will evolve for the seminar next year. There are new possibilities for scheduling the class over a winter term or over a series of weekends as a way to include more students and concentrate our efforts rather than spreading the work out over a whole semester.

But this summer is my time to build and explore, and I am pleased to be working on some of these ideas I’ve carried around for so long. I want to thank the Community Foundation of Western Mass for their support, and I will update as there is more to share.