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A history of playspaces

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Abstract
Children’s play has existed across every human culture and time period. 1 However, the history of play spaces specially designed for children is relatively short. The idea that children need separate places for their games is a modern notion, virtually unknown before the nineteenth century. Archaeologists struggle to recreate a detailed sense of children’s lives in the pre-written past. 2, 3 Where traces of ancient children’s history have been uncovered – such as objects presumed to be toys – there has been no corresponding evidence that children’s play was restricted to certain areas. 4 Visual evidence from the medieval period in Europe reinforces this sense that children played anywhere and everywhere. 5 Anthropological studies from non-urbanised communities and pre-twentieth-century societies record the omnipresence of children’s play. These children appropriated their own play spaces that were informal, fluid and seasonal, like the nineteenth-century New Zealand youth studied by Brian Sutton-Smith. 6
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Authors/Creators: | Pascoe, C |
Keywords: | history, childhood, children, play, playground |
Publisher: | Routledge |
DOI / ID Number: | 10.4324/9781315695198 |
Copyright Information: | Copyright 2017 Routledge |
Item Statistics: | View statistics for this item |
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