By the early 1800s there was an international toy market. Toys and play were still mostly to educate. The focus was on competitiveness, individual play, and skills they would need in adulthood. There was not much imaginative play. The idea that adults would buy kids their own toys started at this time (before this, toys belonged to the entire family). Later in the century, play started to be thought of more like it is today. Educational toys moved from being mostly in-home activities into schools because of the creation of kindergarten. Friedrich Froebel started the idea of kindergarten being important. Froebel believed play was very important in learning and that they should be an environment where kids can play with his small toys, gently guided by parents and teachers. Froebel's toys helped children explore, learn and play together. Educators and manufacturers in the U.S. began to work together in the 1870's when a leader of the kindergarten movement, Elizabeth Peabody, convinced Milton Bradley company to make toys that were based on Froebel's toys.