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In 1837, the concept of kindergarten, with the term coined in 1840, was developed by the early child psychologist Friedrich Fröbel. He realized that children at early ages needed to combine play with learning and that learning was, in fact, intertwined with play for young children. As Friedrich Fröbel developed an early kindergarten in Bad Blankenburg, in modern Germany, he realized the school also needed a play space to encourage his learning-play concept. The first playground was created within the the area of the first kindergarten. The first playgrounds encouraged dancing and activities that were measured for their educational effect. Sadly, kindergartens were banned by the Prussian government that came to power in 1851, suppressing the idea and spread of playgrounds in Germany for decades. In the 1880s, playgrounds did appear again in Germany, which were then called sand gardens.<ref>For more on how the concept of playgrounds firs evolved, see: Frost, Joe L. 2010. <i>A History of Children’s Play and Play Environments: Toward a Contemporary Child-Saving Movement</i>. New York: Routledge. </ref>

In 1859, in Manchester, England, the Victorian population in the city realized the difficulties they had with children running on the street and the dangers that could cause for accidents. The city decided that year to build the first purpose-built playground that was not attached to any school. The idea was to keep children busy and give them some space away from the busy urban areas. Nevertheless, many people did not see the purpose of playgrounds, as streets were often not that busy in many areas and there were spaces for children to play in neighbourhoods. In 1886, Boston created arguably the first playground in the United States. However, the idea did not prove popular among many residents in the United States and many saw funds for public playgrounds as a waste. Things only began to change more substantially as the automobile began to be introduced. In 1901, one of the first reports to publish accidental deaths caused on streets was published.The number of children killed astonished people and soon created a movement to create play areas designated for children. Additionally, educational theories in the United States were beginning to see the relevance of Fröbel's ideas on the importance of play and education. These two effects combined to create a playground movement within the United States in the first decade of the 1900s, culminating with the founding of the Playground Association of America in 1906 (Figure 1).<ref>For more on how playgrounds spread in the United States, see: Doell, Charles Edward, Fitzgerald, Gerald B., Bank, Theodore P. <i>A Brief History of Parks and Recreation in the United States</i>. Literary Licensing, LLC. </ref>