People & Playgrounds
This person introduced the first public play space in Germany and is also the founder of the Kindergarten. He recognized the importance of stimulating environment & how it could positively impact children and he emphasized the need for contact with natural materials such as sand & water.
Freidrich Froebel
Inspired by the sand bergs that she had seen in the public parks of Berlin, Dr. Marie Zakrsewska introduced this preliminary playground prototype to Boston in 1886.
Sand Garden
This term refers to the just and fair quantity, proximity & connections to quality parks and green spaces, recreation facilities, as well as programs that are safe, inclusive, culturally relevant and welcoming to everyone.
Access
This approach to early childhood education was developed by Ms. Cheng, in a mostly rural area of eastern Zhejiang Province in China. It is an approach that is deeply resonant with western models of experiential learning that challenges assumptions about the capacity of the child & the teacher's role. Its aim is to create the condition for True Play, play that unfolds from the intention and trajectory of the child's own needs & interests.
Anji Play
This woman invented Barbie in 1959, whom she named after her daughter, Barbara. She also cofounded the toy manufacturing company, Mattel, with her husband Elliot and served as its first president.
Ruth Handler
This American president supported the establishment of the Playground Association of America in 1906, which served to promote the importance of public playgrounds to communities across the United States.
Teddy Roosevelt
This type of playground emerged in the early 20th century and was intended to be used by specially trained instructors to teach lessons & organize play. These playgrounds incorporated separate play sections & athletic fields for boys & girls, shelters toilets/bathing facilities, shaded spaces, garden plots & swimming pools, the 4S's (swings, seesaws, sandboxes & slides) and merry-go-rounds.
Model Playground
Exclusion
This historic event shaped the play of both low-income white & Black children. White immigrant children who worked in the factories & sweatshops to support their families were labeled "delinquents" for their age appropriate behavior, which did not align with behaviors deemed legal by the law established by those who owned the means of production. Black children were often subjected to extreme restriction of movement and their play was limited by the requirements of labor.
The Industrial Revolution
Critics of Barbie are alarmed by the fact that she serves as a teaching tool regarding this concept:_________, regardless of her race or ethnicity.
Femininity
This landscape architect petitioned for the first adventure playground to be opened in London, England in the mid 1940s. She is quoted to have said, "Better a broken arm than a broken spirit," in response to the type of play engendered by her proposed playground model.
Lady Marjorie Allen of Hurtwood
These playgrounds were initiated during & after WWII. In Denmark, play leaders encouraged spontaneous messing about with portable materials & "loose parts" found in vacant lots & junkyards. Meanwhile, play workers in the UK joined & assisted children in creating "impromptu playgrounds" from the rubble-filled vacant spaces that German bombs had cleared during the war. Children were permitted to light fires, build structures & manipulate the materials left over from demolished buildings.
Adventure Playgrounds
This term refers to America's first park rangers--Black Civil War soldiers who were prohibited from serving in the peacetime army, were formed into 6 Black regiments and charged with overseeing the Western expansion of the United States. Their duties included evicting poachers & timber thieves and suppressing fires in newly developed national parks.
Buffalo Soldiers
This American movement aimed at addressing the societal problems caused by industrialization & political corruption in the early 20th century and was led by mid-class white women & ministers who aimed to eradicate the ills of society, especially in urban settings. The movement led to child labor reforms that resulted in mandatory schooling, thus dividing children's play between school & free time. BUT many low-income & Black children lived in neighborhoods that lacked areas in which to play, thus contributing to to the notion of play as a privilege to be only enjoyed by whites.
The Progressive Movement
Cultural artifact
Following WWII, this Dutch architect was appointed as an architectural designer for the public works department of Amsterdam. His playgrounds utilized minimalist aesthetic equipment and were woven into the fabric of the city parks, squares & derelict post-war sites, without sharp boundaries to separate them from the city. His designs strived to nurture children's creativity through abstract play elements that could serve as "tools for imagination."
Aldo van Eyck
These playgrounds were intended to replace model playgrounds, because they were deemed unimaginative. In these playgrounds, designers began to create fantasy sculptures such as robots, vehicles & animals. Massive concrete climbing forms with tunnel mazes & a wide variety of shapes & spaces were also used, with the aim of encouraging children's imagination.
Novel Playgrounds
This term is derived from the color-coded maps created by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, which were used by the Federal Housing Administration to guide mortgage & lending decisions. Neighborhoods with predominantly white people were classified as good investments & shaded green, while neighborhoods with substantial numbers of Black residents & ethnic minorities were deemed a bad investment and shaded red.
Redlining
This theoretical tool focuses on the specificity of Blackness & anti-Black violence in play. It encourages play researchers to develop questions that privilege the stories of Black male youth & consider racism as a part of their everyday lived experience, including their participation in structured & unstructured play. It draws from Critical Race Theory, Black Critical Theory & Black Male Studies.
Black PlayCrit
This refers to a social system where men hold a disproportionate amount of power and privilege in various aspects of society, including politics, economics, and culture. It is a system that is characterized by male dominance and often involves the subordination and oppression of women. It is not about individual men, but rather a system that benefits men collectively through the structure of society. Also, something about horses :D
Patriarchy
This contemporary toy & playground designer is the founder of the toy company, Heroes Will Rise, is the inventor of the award-winning toy, the Rigamajig and is best known for their role in designing the imagination play ground.
Cas Holman
This term was originally coined by sculptor & designer Isamu Noguchi, whose playground model blurred the line between fine art, landscape design & childhood play. The modern version of Noguchi's design is the "nature playground" which focuses less on the sculptural & artistic qualities of the pieces & more on using natural materials to design site-specific equipment that is built into the landscape.
Playscapes
This term refers to the process by which adding green spaces & recreational amenities attracts wealthier residents & increases property values, but often results in the displacement of the original residents of the neighborhood, who become unable to afford their homes
Green gentrification
This theoretical concept brings attention to the absence of resources in urban communities (including play spaces), exclusion through redlining & the potential dangers of Black youth participating in play activities in public spaces, which include: increased policing, loss of innocence, decreased universal childhood experiences & in some cases death.
Play-Spatial Exclusion
Before realizing that he is Kenough, Ken turns Barbie's Dream House into this:
Mojo Dojo Casa House