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. 🤸♂️📚

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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. 

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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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