Children spent an hour Monday drawing their dream playgrounds, many of which featured swimming pools and slides leading out of castles, and then put their crayons down and watched as residents and city leaders turned their dreams into realities.

The activity was part of a three-hour design day meeting hosted by KaBoom, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to saving play, which comes after the recent announcement that Selma had been selected as a recipient of one of the organization’s community-built playground projects.

In no more than six hours on July 19, the playground will be built, without power tools, on the corner of Green Street and 1st Avenue. It will feature equipment designed by the children who attended Monday’s meeting, and be built by 200-225 Selma volunteers.

City councilwoman Angela Benjamin, who has been working to get the organization to come to Selma since 2008, said she couldn’t be more excited that the project is finally starting to come to fruition.

“This playground will be in walking distance for a large number of children,” Benjamin said. “That’s just so important. The fact that they’ll have easy access to it is enormous.”

With the help of KaBoom, the City of Selma, the local Hanil E Hwa and International Paper, more than $8,000 was raised to build the playground that will be located in Ward 4.

“There’s actually a play deficit in the United States,” Naudy Martinez, Selma’s playground project manager, said. “One-in-five children don’t have a safe place to play that’s in walking distance of their homes. So projects such as this one are so important for communities.”

Benjamin said she was first motivated to have KaBoom come build in Selma when she attended a conference in 2008 and learned about the organization.

“Then, when I saw them unveil a playground in Orlando, all these kids ran out to the playground, and the looks on their faces, it was absolutely heartwarming,” Benjamin said. “I said, ‘Hey, we can do this at home,’ and now here we are. It’s going to happen.”

Volunteers interested in helping with the six-hour build on July 19 should contact the City Council office at 874-1234.

“It’s amazing to be able to be part of the day and the process,” Martinez said. “I just love it.”

Renarda White, a community member who attended the meeting and will serve as the project’s food chair, said she and her children, both under the age of 4, couldn’t wait for the playground to be built.

“I’m extremely excited about the playground,” White said. “I get so tired of passing schools with playgrounds that my kids can’t play on and having to go all the way to Bloch Park to take them out so they can play. This is an exciting time.”