KAILUA — From the mountain to the sea, O'ahu residents get out and revel in Mother Nature's beauty. 'Aikahi Elementary School parents want to provide similar recreational opportunities for their children with a new playground designed and constructed by the community.

The design phase of the project took flight with imaginative students offering up their ideas to consultants from Leathers Associates, a New York playground design company.

As each group of students filed through the school library to discuss their ideas, a plan began to take shape.

The ideas were well articulated and creative, said playground designer Barry Segal, who met with the students and parents.

"A lot of times on a playground, all you hear about is a swing or slide but these guys are coming up with giant turtles, fishes and ladybugs that are flying into castles," Segal said after talking to preschoolers, kindergartners and first-graders.

Almost two months after a playground made of recycled tires and wood was demolished at 'Aikahi Elementary School for safety reasons, parents have mobilized to replace it, involving the community and children in the process.

They are raising $150,000 for the project that is expected to take about six days to build with the help of hundreds of volunteers in January.

The design firm was chosen for its ability to build community support while building a playground, said Jenny Helman, playground committee volunteer and parent.

"Their specialty is listening to kids, seeing what the kids really want and making it as close to a reality as possible," Helman said.

Segal told third-graders that he expected to hear more than 2,000 ideas and he would combine some of them to fit into the space available on campus.

The children said they wanted a volcano, a sunken ship, a jellyfish swing, mermaid seesaw, a swimming pool, rock climbing wall, wrestling area, roller coaster, dodge-ball court, coin hunt, trampoline, castle, jellyfish bouncy house, giant twisty slide and a water slide.

He offered them a volcano with a climbing wall on one side and a slide on the other and a hanging platform below the volcano.

Some students thought about things for younger kids and students with disabilities.

Segal said parents and teachers wanted a scheme that included activities from the mountain to the sea. By the time he'd heard from the sixth-graders, a concept surfaced.

From the mountain, there would be a volcano with slides and a hammock hanging from the center, he said. Climbing out of the volcano onto suspension bridges, a person could go to a tree house that has a spider net hanging from it, Segal imagined, adding that at the sea, kids could crawl through a giant shark or turtle.

The only transition missing was what to do between the mountain and tree house and the sea. The final group of fifth-graders were talking about sugar cane.

It's still a work in progress.