Recess Playground Makeovers, Playworks Style

  1. Updates

In partnership with Advent Software, Coverity and Salesfore.com,  Playworks is painting the recess playground at all our partner schools this year. 

Side by side with our corporate volunteers, we are changing the landscape of our schools and brightening our neighborhoods. 

With lines and colors on the playground more kids play and kids play a larger variety of games.

Check out our own Coach Alex's experience as his recess playground got a make over…

Sometimes, a new look can go a long way.  I recently had the good fortune of working with a group of corporate volunteers to paint fresh lines and colors on my playground. It was – to say the least – a hot day (especially by San Francisco standards). Yet in a just over two hours, we laid down crisp white lines around the kickball field and volleyball and basketball courts, and hit the four-square courts and basketball keys with ultra-bright splashes of yellow, green, red and blue. It was a very cool transformation to witness.

But the change was much more than a cosmetic one. When the painting was finished, the fruits of our labor were descended upon by a group of fourth and fifth graders from the after-school program, (many of whom had been watching the whole process with great interest from the third floor windows.

For the volunteers and coordinators, this was to be our moment of truth – and we did not disappoint.

The faces of those children when they stepped onto their new playground were nothing short of inspiring, their smiles contagious as they raced from one area to the next, talking amongst each other about the games they couldn’t wait to play. “My eyes just lit up,” remarked one fifth grader. “The bright colors make me feel so happy!”

The day closed with all of us – volunteers, coordinators, and kids – coming together to share a few words about the experience. For many of the volunteers, the afternoon had given them a chance to not just get out of the office, but to revisit their childhood, reminisce on the games they themselves played as elementary schoolers, and, perhaps most importantly, to realize the immediate effect they were going to have on the lives of so many young people.

-Alex Brasfield (Playworks Coach at Sherman Elementary)

More Updates


January 12, 2023

Golden State Warriors Community Foundation & Salesforce partner with Playworks ›

We are grateful for our continued partnership with the Warriors Community Foundation and Salesforce during the 2022-2023 school year. With their support, Playworks Northern California has delivered safe and healthy play to over 41,200 elementary school children of promise this year! Check out this inspiring video showcasing our work together:      

A boy and girl holding basketballs on a playground.
A boy and girl holding basketballs on a playground.

November 16, 2022

2021-22 Annual Report ›

We are excited to share with you a look back at everything we accomplished in the 2021-2022 program year. It was a year focused on rebuilding after the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and we are proud to share that we served 41,200 students in the Northern California Region.  We are thankful for your continued…

three people with Playworks shirts
three people with Playworks shirts

July 28, 2022

A year of social and emotional learning ›

“You can’t do SEL, trauma, or equity work without each other,” Jennette Claassen, Head of Evaluation, Playworks. As Playworks continued to progress on our equity journey, we explored a critical question: what are the intersections between play, social and emotional learning, physical activity, and trauma? A working group focused on this question decided, among other…