From the first sandbox to today’s playgrounds.
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©2013 Scott K. Brown Photography, Inc.
Kidsburg in Williamsburg.
Everyone is familiar with the sight of children teetering back and forth on seesaws, sliding down plastic spiral tubes, and pretending to fly as they soar on swings. There is a playground in almost every neighborhood, park, and school campus. But how did these brightly colored jungle gyms come to be?
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©2013 Scott K. Brown Photography, Inc.
Kidsburg is family fun in Williamsburg.
According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the concept of playgrounds originated in Germany in the late 19th century as sand gardens. The first playgrounds in the United States appeared in Boston in 1886. In 1906, the Playground Association of America was founded and issued standards: “An ideal, proper playground would have separate play sections and athletic fields for boys and girls; would be supervised; and would feature shelters and toilet/bathing facilities, shaded spaces, garden plots, and swimming or wading pools.”
Today, playgrounds are expansive and imaginative. Kidsburg in Williamsburg is a 30,000-square-foot, fenced-in playground located in Veterans Memorial Park. It features tire swings, climbing walls, elevated walkways, ziplines, and themed play structures such as a pirate ship, a cannon, and a canoe. Kilmarnock Town Centre Park offers the more traditional River Play nature-themed playground with swings and climbing boulders, plus Waterworks Splash Pad, a water park featuring geysers for children 12 years of age and younger.
