HOULTON – Now that it’s winter, students aren’t always thinking too much about playing on their school’s playground equipment.

But the season has not deterred the parents of pupils at Houlton Elementary School, as volunteers are still working to raise money to build an upgraded playground.

Members of the school’s Parent and Teacher Organization have been working for nearly a year to raise money for the project.

The organization’s seven-member playground committee is striving to raise the estimated $130,000 needed to furnish the new playground structure and subsurface by the start of the next school year.

The expansive playground at the prekindergarten-through-third-grade school features the usual equipment: swing sets, slippery slides and hanging bars.

Many of the pieces, however, have been there for more than 30 years, and the PTO has been working hard to change that.

“We have raised about $46,000 so far,” Paula Mooers, the PTO president, said Thursday. “We are also looking into writing some grants to get even more money, and we’ve got several more fundraisers planned for the coming year.”

The new playground envisioned by the committee is slated to feature a wide variety of bright, durable equipment. Tube slides, climbing ladders, swing sets and activity panels are just some of the items that the committee aims to buy.

The group says a new playground would encourage exercise and could be used both by pupils during the day and by community members after the final bell rings. The school grounds are frequented during the evening by residents who walk, bike or play with their children.

Donations to the playground fund can be sent to: Houlton Elementary School, Attn: Paula Mooers, 60 South St. Houlton 04730.