The First Playground: How Massachusetts Ignited the Outdoor Phys-Ed Revolution in 1821

The first playground for young Americans can be traced back to Massachusetts, where the Salem Latin School – one of the OGs of publicly funded education – turned heads by kicking off outdoor phys-ed in 1821. 🤸♂️📚

Picture this: kids breaking free to bask in the great outdoors, sculpting their young selves into future athletes. 🏃♂️🏃♀️ While their peers wrestled with ABCs indoors, these trailblazers were sculpting muscles and rewriting the classroom rulebook.

Other New England colleges jumped on the play wagon, setting up al fresco gymnasiums from 1825 to 1830. Thanks to German political refugees who threw their weight behind this game-changing idea. They teamed up to form the Turnvereins, a gym-and-athlete dream team that championed bringing gymnastics to public schools. 🏆

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