The summer recreation system for children in the 1950s–1960s

Abstract

The purpose of the aerticle is to study the summer recreation system for children in the USSR in the 50s and 60s of the 20thcentury. In previous articles, we considered the origin and formation of the summer recreation system in the 20-40s of the last century; from tent and collective farm camps to stationary and intercollegiate; the emergence of new types of pioneer camps (tourist, school, defense sports); personnel training; the formation of organizational and substantive foundations of camp life; linking the educational system of the school and the pioneer camp. The methodology of the research is based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of regulatory documents in the field of summer recreation during this period, archival sources analysis, as well as materials from newspapers and magazines of those years. The article reveals the content of the forms and methods that made it possible to build a system of recreation and health improvement for children during this period. The authors note that special emphasis at that time was placed on the creation of summer health camps with economically strong Since 1964, military sports camps have been established, including on the basis of military academies and colleges, to prepare young men for service in the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. Much attention was paid in the pioneer camps to the development of self-government. In addition, in Leningrad in 1965-1966, the tradition began to expand, which was initiated by virgin students: about a thousand teenagers were in the student detachments that went to the areas of virgin lands in the summer for construction, as well as to rural areas of the Leningrad region every year. Thus, by the end of the 60s of the twentieth century, an integral system of summer recreation had developed in the Soviet Union, confirming the thesis that «education is a continuous process, actively continuing in the summer».