Students at Woodman Cainsville Public School say their schoolyard is going from drab to fab.

With more than $40,000 gathered through a combination of fundraising, grants and donations from corporations and school families, the playground will undergo a major greening this summer. The total project will cost about $64,000.

“Right now we have a rundown baseball diamond and a couple of soccer posts,” said Michelle Spencer, a longtime teacher at the Woodman Drive school. “The kids are playing on the pavement.”

Spencer, a kindergarten teacher, said that with few options to explore nature, staff would wheel out a plastic bin of sand for their young students to play in. She said that, with no trees on the school grounds, there is no relief from the sun.

So, Spencer decided to make an application to the Brantford/Brant Earth Week Committee, which has provided funding for greening projects at 11 other local schools. On Tuesday, Chuck Beach, chair of the committee, presented the school staff a cheque for $9,000. That was matched with a $9,000 contribution from TD Friends of the Environment Foundation.

The money will be used to help create an outdoor oasis for Woodman’s 300 students that includes a permanent sandbox, a paved path, hills, an outdoor stage, 20 trees, some no-mow areas, and seating for outdoor learning and just hanging out.

“There will be opportunities for kids to dig in the dirt and find a worm,” said Spencer. “There’s a different dynamic being outside.”

Coun. Cheryl Antoski, who was at the school’s community greening ceremony on Tuesday with her wardmate Rick Carpenter, said she’s happy to see more green in Ward 2.

“Somehow we’ve lost along the way how important it is to play outside.”

Mayor Kevin Davis told students “we have to do more to make the city beautiful and healthy.”

“Little projects like yours that are important to you are also important to the city.”

Davis, who lives in the Woodman area, said the playground will be open to the community after school hours.

“It will be a beautiful park I can take my grandsons to.”

Woodman students and staff played a major role in fundraising, organizing a samosa day, a pancake breakfast, Harvey’s Day and a dance-athon, collectively bringing in more than $7,000 for the project. They also had a say in the schoolyard design.

“My generation hasn’t done a great job taking care of the environment,” David Dean, a trustee for the Grand Erie District School Board, told students. “I know you will make it better and stronger.”