Please join Mayor Harry Rilling and other special guests as we officially spring to life Carver’s new playground on Monday, July 1st, at 11:30 AM at the Carver Community Center.

Following a successful fundraising drive led by student volunteers at New Canaan High School, the new playground is now ready for Carver’s summer camp students to enjoy it.

Carver's previous playground was built decades ago for pre-kindergarten children. Our new playground has all the latest safety and fun learning features for K-5 aged children, including a new padded surface that ties together all the pieces of the playground.

Ask children, “How was school today?” and you’re likely to hear about what they experienced in playtime. In Carver after school and summer programs, play can include robotics and many other hands-on project-based activities, but we never lose sight of the fundamental value of play as it’s been understood and enjoyed through the centuries.

For many children, the time on the playground represents the emotional core of their day. Whether they come home light- or heavy-hearted depends on what happened during play time. Researchers say that one of the best predictors of whether kids feel happy in school is whether they feel comfortable and competent during play.

Philosophers and child development experts have been trumpeting the importance of play for centuries. Piaget said that children discover the world through play. Friedrich Froebel, who opened the first kindergarten in 1837, called play “deeply significant.” And Plato believed that children had to grow up in an atmosphere of play to become virtuous citizens. In the face of this accumulated wisdom, we are grateful to you for helping us reimagine and recreate the playground at the Carver Community Center.

Play requires the acquisition of a complex set of skills. It’s not just about exercising or letting off steam. It’s about making agreements with others as equals, stepping into an imagined structure, and accepting that structure even when things don’t go your way. This may be why Plato considered play the ideal preparation for citizenship.

Please join us on for there ribbon cutting of our new playground!