G.I. Joe is considered to be the first action figure to enter the toy market. As the first doll-like toy marketed specifically for boys, the first G.I. Joe action figures were just under 12 inches tall and had moveable joints to allow for posing in different stances.
Carl Theodor Sorensen is considered one of the greatest landscape architects of the 20th century. He is best known for creating the first adventure playground along with schoolteacher Hans Dragehjelm in Emdrup, Denmark, in 1940.
Throughout history and around the world children have been playing clapping games. Hand clapping, often in complex patterns while chanting rhymes, requires concentration, coordination, and cooperation with at least one other child.
The Play Movement in the United States, A Study of Community Recreation, written by Clarence E. Rainwater, PhD. was published in 1922 by The University of Chicago. The book is an analysis of the concept and structure of the play movement in the United States from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
A.G. Spalding & Bros. Inc., an American sporting goods company, opened its first store in Chicago in 1876. Eventually known simply as Spalding, the company has had a long history of manufacturing baseballs, footballs, basketballs, volleyballs, soccer balls, and a wide range of athletic equipment and clothing.
Reflections of a Recreation Professional is an autobiography written by Robert Wilson Crawford and published by the National Recreation and Park Association in 1993. He had a long and distinguished career in park and recreation and was recognized as one of the greatest leaders in the field.
Temporal awareness is the development of an internal time structure that recognizes the relationship between movement and time. People are enabled to efficiently coordinate movements of the eyes and limbs.
A classic children’s toy that has lasted for over 100 years, Tinkertoy construction sets feature spools and rods that were designed with mathematical principles in mind to allow children to build sturdy structures during their constructive play.
As a research professor of psychology at Boston College for 30 years, Dr. Peter Gray brought the evolutionary viewpoint to general psychology, education, human development, and children’s play.
The Ambiguity of Play was written by Brian Sutton-Smith and published in 1997. As a leading play theorist, Sutton-Smith considers the possible meanings of play as they have been debated and described in a range of disciplines including education, biology, psychology, and sociology.
