What used to be a field of weeds is being transformed into a playground in the north yard of the Discovery Developmental Center in Kalispell.

The transformation came into full swing Thursday with the help of Home Depot.

The Kalispell Home Depot store hosted a regional Team Depot Day. More than 50 employees from around the state volunteered to transform the north yard  — which is about one-third of an acre — into an outdoor playground and garden area where children may explore, interact and learn.

The center received a $10,000 Home Depot Foundation grant to buy materials and plants for the project.

Discover Developmental Center Director Collette Box said she would love to have the children playing in the new yard by June 15.

Discovery is a nonprofit child-care and early learning center in Kalispell. Opened in 1992, the center has served more than 1,500 children, Box said.    

She said outdoor learning spaces are crucial for early childhood development.

Out in the yard on Thursday, volunteers wearing signature Home Depot orange were busy laying gravel for the pathway, planting, building arches, trellises, picnic tables and raised garden beds, putting siding on a bike shed, spreading mulch and staining wood for several shade structures.

The playground centerpieces are two wooden fort structures surrounded by a winding bike path. Box said they also plan to build living huts by planting willow sticks and shaping them.

Once completed, this children’s fantasy playground, designed by Bruce Boody Landscape Architect Inc., will be used by young and old alike.

Box pointed across the street to an assisted living center: “Once a month residents visit the center, or we go over to the assisted living center, to spend time together.”  

Jeremy Hancock, Home Depot Kalispell store manager, said this was the first time the store has been involved with a local project this size.

“It is awesome to do something as impactful as this project is, for the young children that attend the center,” Hancock said.

The playground design initially was drawn up in 2010. By fall 2011, initial excavation began for the wooden forts.

“All winter long we were trying to figure out how we were going to finish the rest,” Box said. “We kept chipping away” at fundraising.

Then Angie Carlson, a Team Depot coordinator and the parent of a child who attended Discovery Developmental Center, encouraged the center to apply for the grant.

“The timing finally came together,” Box said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.