KIDSVIEW is a unique playground located on a half-acre site at H.G. Mosley and FM 1845 in Longview, Texas. - See Map - An all-volunteer workforce of 2,500 community residents built Phase 1 of the playground in five days. November 1 - 5, 2000.

KIDSVIEW was designed by hundreds of area elementary-school children, with help from Leathers and Associates, a New York design firm. Leathers and Associates has designed and overseen the construction of more than 1,000 community-built playgrounds similar to KIDSVIEW across the country.

The KIDSVIEW playground will be to be part of Lear Park,a larger City of Longview park for which a master plan has been developed. The plan will integrate KIDSVIEW with girls' softball, baseball, and soccer fields as well as walking trails and a pond on a 150-acre site. The master plan has been developed by the city's park planner, Carter & Burgess of Dallas.

KIDSVIEW was named by four creative kids from the city's three school districts. Over 1,170 entries for naming the new playground were gathered from students in the Pine Tree, Longview, and Spring Hill elementary schools, as well as Longview's private schools. Winners were Kevin Perkins, Spring Hill Elementary School; Keya Richmond, Mozelle Johnston Elementary School; Rachel Griffith, Pine Tree Elementary; and Brashayuai Borens, G. K. Foster Elementary School. For submitting the winning entry, these students had the honor of cutting the ribbon to open the playground in November.

Lots of volunteers, tools, supplies, and money was needed to make the dream of KIDSVIEW a reality.

With an initial goal of $200,000, fund-raising for KIDSVIEW got real creative. A swing-a-thon was held, pennies for the playground were collected in 5-gallon jugs located all over town, and $8 t-shirts, $3 pickets, and $25 boards with names routed in them were all sold to benefit KIDSVIEW. For more information about helping fund KIDSVIEW and its long-term maintenance, call 297-4763.