OCR Text |
Show Playgrounds Expert Here 5 & Talks for the Children DR. HENBY S. CURTIS. Dr. Henry S. Curtis, Who Will Teach at University Summer School, Gives Valuable Hints Dr. Henry S. Curtis, founder and vice president of the Playgrounds association as-sociation of America, who is to he connected with the summer school course of the University of Utah this year, arrived in Salt Lake Friday afternoon. af-ternoon. Dr. Curtis comes to Utah this ypM- upon the urgent request of the university summer school committee, commit-tee, and besides giving a series of lectures lec-tures ab the regular summer school course will make a thorough study of the city with a "view to advising tho park and playgrounds committee of the city in the establishment of parks and playgrounds. TJr. Curtis comes to Salt Lake with an abundance of enthusiasm in the playground movement anlj had not been in town -an hour beiore he had commented favorably .upon the broad parked streets of the city. Perhaps no man in the entire country is better bet-ter informed in tho matter of playgrounds play-grounds than is Xr. Curtis, as ho has spent the past twelve years studying the needs aud conditions of the cougested. districts of tho cast and of Europe and has been the means of establishing new-parks new-parks and playgrounds in many of tho eastern cities. During the three years after taking his degree of doctor of philosophy in psychology from Yale university in 190S, he was director, assistant director and general director of playgrounds in New York City. He spent one summer investigating tho playgrounds of Germany Ger-many and England and was four years the "supervisor of playgrounds in the Distict of Columbia. Talks of His Work. Dr. Curtis highly commended tho action of tho park aud plav grounds committeo of Salt Lake, with w, A. North as president, assisted by Professor Jakob Bolin of the university univer-sity as vice president. "As a rule." explained Dr. Curtis. "every city should bo provided with a neighborhood neighbor-hood park and playground for every square mile of its territory. In every case in existence where playgrounds aud , parks have been established, the increased in-creased value of the real estate of tho neighborhood has more than paid for the pa.rk. Salt Lake with an area of about twenty-five square miles should havo as many parks provided with adjoining ad-joining playgrounds for tho children. "No playground should be less than two acres in area, and should preferably prefer-ably be not less than five acres, and if ten' is aA-ailablc in one piece of ground, the most economical park that can bo built is to use half of tho ten acres for plaj'grounds, and five for a community com-munity park for the grown up pcoplo of the section. "Of the five acres of playground area three acres should be arranged for the uso of tho boys. Tho boys should be provided witli grounds for baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, a running run-ning track, a giant stride and an outdoor out-door gymnasium. Equipment for Girls. "The girls' field should bo similarly equipped with possibly the exception ot the footbiill field. A wading pool for the little children should be arranged in the girls' playground and a large swimming pool between the boys' and girls' playground which could be used in common. In this way the greatest efficiency of the ground could bo obtained." ob-tained." A special course of fort' four lectures lec-tures has boen arranged for the students stu-dents of the summer school in which Dr. Curtis will take up the theory and function of play in seven lectures. This course will include the subiects "Historic "His-toric Theories of Play," "Tho Joy of Play and Its Source" "Age and Sex DifJcrenpes in Play 'Interest, " "The Transmission of (Sanies," "The Influences In-fluences of the Citj' on the Development Develop-ment of Play," "The Itelatiou of Play fo "Work" and "Play, Optimism and Happiness." In addition to tho course of lectures to be' given to the adult, Dr. Curtis will have direct charge of the boys' and girls' vacation clubs that have been arranged for tho students of tho city schools. |