Who invented swing sets

Ancient Greece In order to understand the evolution of swing sets, we have to look back first to Ancient Greece. Europe in the s The next big stop of the swing set evolution tour is Europe in the s. First U. S Playground in In the s, the U. Great Depression After that came the Great Depression, where the best swing sets of the era were built by the Work Progress Administration to create jobs for unemployed Americans. Modern Swing Set Evolutions The construction of modern swing sets was heavily affected by those that came before it.

Share This Article. It had been opened in , and its features were gaining popularity. In addition to sand piles, children were able to take advantage of:. Charles Wicksteed is responsible for some of the first modern iterations of both swing sets and slides.

Wicksteed Park, opened in in the U. John Ahrens, the founder of Miracle Recreation, is responsible for the merry-go-rounds you may have experienced in your childhood. There must be shock-absorbing material in fall zones, and there is a limit to how far a child would be able to fall. The organization was a response and call to action against the deplorable conditions for children in cities during the Industrial Revolution. Playgrounds were proposed as a means of social reform, to bring some relief to the kids in the city while giving them tools to help them become healthy and responsible citizens.

One of the most crucial accomplishments of the PAA was to create a program to train recreation and playground directors. The program was remarkably robust and highlighted the shift in how people viewed playgrounds. Playgrounds were now understood to be a critical component in child development, and they merited a serious approach.

Urban reformer and reporter J. Kelso founded the Toronto Playground Association in Prior to that year, Canada had numerous parks and gardens but no formal playgrounds. By , a few playgrounds had opened and were a public sensation. Once Canadians saw the benefits of playgrounds, planners and developers carefully observed and implemented the newest and best playground trends as they arose.

Playgrounds suffered from a lack of maintenance, and some were even raided for metal parts for the war effort. Carl Theodor Sorensen, a Danish landscape architect, first gave voice to the concept of the adventure playground in The first junk playground was built in at the edge of Copenhagen. Adventure playgrounds began cropping up in England in and were operated by a combination of organizations at the international, national and local level.

English adventure playgrounds were often built on bombed sites. Children would actually build the playgrounds themselves, with the help of parents and volunteering organizations. To be considered an adventure playground, the space needs to have a combination of fixed structures and movable materials that kids can explore and use in inventive ways.

An adventure playground might have some traditional equipment like slides and climbing structures, but it also needs to have a variety of tools that allow children to build, such as rope ladders, old tires or boards. Brooke Mar 22, Victor Feb 22, Feb 24, Apr 2, Hi, Brooke! We'd love to hear more about your research. Thanks for sharing! Mar 22, Man Person Man! Mar 21, Kitty Mar 21, It was interesting that swings have been around since the 5th century B.

Daniel Mar 19, Mar 20, We do, too! Related Wonders for You to Explore Match its definition: a person or thing that is excluded from a general statement or does not follow a rule. Word Match Congratulations! Share results. Play Again Quit.

Next Question. See your results. Share Results. Retake The Quiz. Be the first to know! Share with the World Tell everybody about Wonderopolis and its wonders. Share Wonderopolis. In fact, this is when swings became known as swing sets, as this were always built in pairs. By the late s, outdoor swing sets eventually became safer and more standardized in their design.

It was also during this time that child labor laws were established, prohibiting children from working in factories. Fortunately, working children were now free to experience the best outdoor swing sets of the time. Later, during the Great Depression, the best outdoor swing sets of the era were built by the Work Progress Administration, partly to create jobs for unemployed Americans.

After the end of World War II, as Americans returned to a life of prosperity, families moved to the suburbs, and everyone wanted the best outdoor swing sets in their own backyard. The home swing set was born. The construction of modern swing sets was largely affected by their predecessors. Early 20th century playgrounds were made of steel, and this caused many injuries and inspired later play sets to be constructed of softer materials like plastic and wood.