Students at the Fishback Center for Early Childhood Education will have a first-class playground after construction is complete outside the Pugsley Continuing Education Center. A $400,000 donation from the SDSU Foundation is making the new play area possible. A Clark Drew Construction crew was hard at work Thursday on a new playground outside the Fishback Center for Early Childhood Education.

With a $400,000 donation from The South Dakota State University Foundation, construction of a new playground for the students at the Fishback Center For Early Childhood Education has begun, and one thing's for sure: This is no ordinary playground.

The youngsters who go to school there will be the envy of every kid in town.

Staff and organizers at the Fishback Center wanted to provide students with something really different, said Kay Cutler, associate professor and director of the Fishback Center.

"The original playground was created in mid- '70s, and no one's really done any changing to it since then," she said. "It needed a facelift … But also, we wanted a wider range of activities for the different age groups of students who would be playing there."

The playground is located right outside the Pugsley Continuing Education Center, on the corner of Eighth Street and Medary Avenue.

The playground will be a kid's dream. Approximately 12,000 square feet in size, it will include child-sized buildings, boulders and benches, tunnels to crawl through, paved city streets where tots can ride trikes and scooters, trees, a central green and the biggest sandbox in South Dakota. It'll even have a mini-Campanile .

The installation is designed to engage a child's imagination , as well as give the boys and girls at the SDSU lab school some physical activity and the opportunity to blow off a little steam.

According to Dean Kattelmann, assistant vice president of facilities and service at the university , the renovation price tag will also include the installation of a oneway driveway with a cul-de-sac for safer drop-off and pick-up of students. Complete by Sept. 1

The project in its entirety is expected to be complete by Sept. 1, and construction is already well under way.

SDSU's Fishback Center hosts a preschool and a kindergarten class, and those are the students who will be able to use the new playground, Cutler said. She added that it won't be open for public use.

The new playground will have a market-square appearance .

"We wanted to have a little more natural emphasis," Cutler said. "So we created different zones of play in the plan. There are places that will focus or center on a particular type of play."

For example, said Cutler, in one part of the park, there will be a riding area for trikes and scooters. There will also be a depot, which will double as a theater stage for performances . Fort supplies supplied

In another area that is nestled into some trees, Cutler said, there will be different kinds of supplies for children to build forts, such as planks and other building materials.

In that same area, a bar will be installed that kids can hang from - it's the only sort of "traditional" playground equipment the park will feature. (Cutler added that the teachers and youngsters might want to drape blankets and tarps from the bar for additional fortbuilding .)

"We also thought that the older children needed something for building arm strength," she noted. In another section, the park will feature a garden area where the kids can plant and tend to different growing things - maybe even some vegetables.

Giving the park what Kattelmann describes as a "market-square appearance," the pretend play area will provide children with three playhouses . "This will be for roleplaying and other types of pretend , neighborhood play games," Cutler said.

In addition, the students requested a miniature Campanile, and they are getting that too, said Cutler.

There will also be a cupboard-like area for large groups of students, Cutler said, that can be used to tell stories or sing songs.

In still another area, student will be provided with a large easel for doing artwork, with a pedestal for sculpture.

Planners are going to be using drainage coming into the playground to their benefit, too. When precipitation causes heavy drainage, students will get to indulge their imaginations with a small stream or water feature in the park, where they can finger-paint on rocks and such, Cutler said. Connected to music

Lastly, Cutler said, the students are closely connected to music because SDSU bands often practice upstairs at the center, so the children will be provided with instruments such as drums and bells.

"I think that with the more natural elements, where the kids can tend to gardens and play in water," said Cutler, "it will allow for types of play that usually don't take place in traditional playground settings.

"It will also provide our teachers with the opportunity to see the different ways children can play. We are really excited about the change, and the opportunities for working with the children."

Contact Amanda Palluck at apalluck @brookingsregister.com.