ORIGIN OF RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Early Leaders in Recreation “Recreation” comes from Latin word

Movement (History) “Recreatio”, means that refreshes or restore.

Inventor and “Father of the American playground

movement,” who introduced the first contemporary
neighborhood playground in the U.S. Born to a
wealthy Boston family, Lee believed that with
fortune comes responsibility. To counter social
problems of the time, he promoted recreation
JOSEPH LEE activities as nurturing experiences. A Boston
charity, copying a German practice, established
(1862-1937)
sand-pile play areas among the Boston tenements.
In the early 1890 s, Lee extended this idea by
establishing his own playground for research and
demonstration purposes. In speeches and articles
Lee supported the spread of the playground
movement across the U.S. “Play for adults is
recreation-the renewal of life; for children it is
growth-the gaining of life”.

Physician, educator and administrator, Luther H.

Gulick was a leading force in the playground and
physical education movements in the turn of the
20th century. It was Gulick who dreamed of a
national playground association to provide
leadership to the growing interest in play areas
nationwide. He, along with other leaders in the
movement, established the Playground Association
of America in 1906. Luther Gulick was elected to
serve as the first president of the new organization. LUTHER H. GULICK
President Theodore Roosevelt hosted the founding
group and agreed to serve as its honorary president. (1865-1918)
The Playground Association of America soon
became the Playground and Recreation Association
of America, later the National Recreation
Association and in 1965 the National Recreation
and Park Association. Dr. Gulick’s role in the
founding of the Playground Association of America
had its genesis in a suggestion he made in
November 1905, to Dr Henry S. Curtis, then general
director of the school grounds of New York City.

It was one of the firsts to recognize the recreational

needs of the non- institutionalized disabled person
BEATRICE HILL and advocated focusing service attention or
therapeutic recreation.