Term Paper on "History of the American Playground Movement"

Term Paper 5 pages (1634 words) Sources: 6

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Physical Education

History of the American Playground Movement

In 1885 the Massachusetts Emergency and Hygiene Association (MEHA) positioned a mound of sand in the backyard of the Parmenter Street Chapel, a mission in Boston's North End. The mound became known as a sand garden, and its point was to give a managed play spot for the immigrant children in the direct neighborhood. In the beginning, an average of fifteen children came to the sand garden an average of three days per week. The administrators took the occasion to encourage pleasing moral behavior throughout play (Dickason, 2004).

The sand garden turned into such a well-liked attraction for the area kids that the next year MEHA constructed three additional ones. In 1887 the agenda extended to eleven places. The Boston School Board gave MEHA authorization to use empty school areas throughout the summer as managed play spots for very young children. MEHA changed the name of sand garden to playground and started moving the accountability for procedures to the school board and park board. School yards and park playgrounds extended their agendas to comprise things for bigger kids (Dickason, 2004).

The playground design extended to other municipalities by way of the public media and dialogues between settlement house workers. In 1887 the New York State Legislature sanctioned the procurement of land in lower New York City for small parks. In 1888 Philadelphia created the Small Parks Association in order to expand playgrounds, and in 1892 the Boston Park Commission made policies for playgrounds in the middle of crowded cities everywhere. Jane Addams, of Chicago's Hull-House, planned a model playground in 1894 to move forward a superior social principle in the midst of the members in her settlement house activities (Dickason, 2004).

Hull House emphasized the position of children in the Americanization progression of new immigrants, and promoted the play association and the study and service fields of relaxation, childhood, and human services. Addams disputed that leisure and amusement agendas are desirable because cities were demolishing the spirit of youth. Addams feared that cities and factories were eradicating the character of youth. She felt that leisure and play were healthy ways to guide the character of youth. Hull-House had numerous programs in language classes, art and drama, kindergarten curriculum, boys' and girls' associations, reading crowds, college expansion classes, along with public baths, a gymnasium, a free-speech environment, an employment museum and playground. They were all intended to promote self-governing collaboration and combined action and downplay uniqueness. She assisted in passing the first representation dwelling code and the first factory laws in Illinois (Jane Addams, 2009).

Nowadays, playgrounds are normally connected with free play and the adventures of children. Nevertheless, the notion of the playground began under very different circumstances. The proposal of organized play, as an attempt to manage free play, materialized in the late nineteenth century when methodical movements tried to structure and sanctify play and play spaces. At the beginning of the twentieth century, these labors were closely linked to larger social and political reservations of industrialization, immigration, and urbanization. Organized play maneuvered the free play and independence connected with children, and it was proposed to supersede the cultural customs of immigrants and the working classes to get ready them for full incorporation into twentieth-century American democratic standards (Butler, 2003).

Social organizations normally grouped immigrants, the working classes, and children jointly as a single entity that desired saving. In addition, immigrants and the working classes were characteristically recognized as children whose actions needed to be redesigned and restricted. Therefore, social reformers frowned on immigrant customs, and they encouraged ethical and behavioral improvement through social actions. Looking at play as a social movement that could be restricted, reformers desired to organize play within the restricted setting of the playground. Visions of restricting criminal behavior and corruption while endorsing Americanization largely fueled the playground movement, and because of its focal point being on the interests of children, the playground movement emerged unselfish, easily gathering public support (Butler, 2003).

The last three decades of the nineteenth century saw augmented interest in play and the quick construction of playgrounds. Play became an issue in gym classes, the first play movement was created, and associations focused particularly on play were fashioned. The first official playground was built in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1872. Cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, and New York soon built comparable playgrounds. Laws were enacted in order to persuade spending on parks and playgrounds. The principle was that playgrounds should be constructed on school grounds so they could be utilized throughout and beyond the school year. School funds paid for these playgrounds founded early and close relations between the playground and the school community. This association combined education and community through play, attempting to advance separate play from playfulness (Butler, 2003).

Leaders in social work, education and municipal restructuring were experimenting with the uses of leisure actions to change the raw material of youth into energetic adults who embraced high ethical and democratic values and who were willing and able to strengthen their fellow citizens as well as themselves. These interests were drawn together and for numerous years worked synergistically in order to drive play and leisure from its disregarded status as a playful activity to a tool for the social alteration of America. This era of joint action to construct the play and leisure movement could mostly be accredited to the work of Joseph Lee. He saw overpopulation as one of the main forces that limited people's access to the resources of this setting and thus he directed a fraction of his labors to the support of birth control, sterilization and restricted immigration. He dedicated the rest of his attention to expanding people's access to the experiences that would allow them to expand their potentials as human beings. He saw leisure activities as chief arrangements for delivering these nurturing, educational and character-building practices (Joseph Lee (1862-1937), n.d.).

It was roughly the year 1900 when the second period of growth in the playground movement began. The Playground Associations with their numerous friends now had their grounds well structured and fully operating. Several years of work had driven home one reality, specifically, that a space in which to play does not make a playground. From this point forward the movement was a recognized success (The playground movement in America and its relation to public education, n.d.).

In the regions where the Association had opened a playground, under good play leaders, either in a schoolyard, or in the corner of a public park, or on a vacant lot, results were first seen in the schools. The children were more conscientious and came back after their breaks more industrious. Attendance officers saw a decrease in the amount of non-attendance cases. The development in behavior noted by the teachers was followed by the testimony of parents of children using the playgrounds as to an all-purpose increase in physical health and less misbehavior (The playground movement in America and its relation to public education, n.d.).

Playground expansion in America pursued two theoretical courses. The first highlighted growth and knowledge. This growth emphasis on play and playgrounds for nursery school playgrounds and kindergartens was later toughened by the work of early 20th century child research hubs. The developmental importance persists in the early 21st century. Until lately, preschools were comparatively unaltered by modern high venture testing and persisted to focus on play as a principal vehicle for knowledge and development (Frost, n.d.).

A second academic course in playground growth influenced American public school and community park playgrounds to the current time. At first encouraged by the German physical fitness association, school and park playgrounds pursued this emphasis through the American Playground Movement of the early 1900's. This association was originally focused in large cities and provoked by concerns about… READ MORE

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