Starting from theoretical issues concerning places for children and from historical studies of childhood and education, the present article deals with the history of the school playground in a Swedish context. The focus is on a school playground debate in the 1970s, in which school playgrounds were the subject of lively discussion and the object of powerful criticism. The Swedish school playground debate of the 1970s is analysed in relation to the educational history of the Swedish welfare state and in relation to theoretical issues of place and space in children's life at school. In particular, the article discusses the connection between the school playground issue and new ideas regarding the social lives of schoolchildren. (Contains 2 figures and 67 footnotes.)