Nature Play For Urban Elementary Preschoolers: Benefits To Their Development And Connectedness To The Environment (original) (raw)
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Nature and its Influence on Children’s Outdoor Play Kellie Dowdell, Tonia Gray and Karen Malone
A growing body of literature indicates that humans need contact with nature for their wellbeing, however at the same time young children are becoming increasingly separated from the natural world as their access to the outdoors diminishes. The importance of school and prior-to-school settings in connecting children with nature has been acknowledged. This study sought to find out how opportunities to engage with nature would influence children’s play and social behaviours. Two early childhood centres with contrasting outdoor environments were selected for the study, and twelve focus participants were observed over a twelve-week period in concert with interviews and field notes. The findings suggest that natural environments support children’s imaginative play, the development of positive relationships and allows for the environment to become a place of learning. The authors conclude that in order to make effective use of the outdoors, early childhood centres need to provide children with access to the natural environment and teachers who support children in developing a relationship with nature. Keywords: children, nature, environmental learning, play behaviours, social interactions"
EDULEARN16 Proceedings, 2016
The Irish Neighbourhood Play Research Project was a large scale research project which included almost 1700 participant families and 240 communities throughout Ireland. It used parental surveys and naturalistic observation to secure data on how children in modern Ireland aged 0-15 are spending their free time. An all-island approach was taken incorporating cities, towns and rural areas across a variety of socioeconomic groupings. Interesting findings arose from the data relating to the choices that children are making within their free time. This paper focuses on the choices they are making within their engagement with nature and natural materials. Data on the children's nature choices will be presented and discussed through a child development lens. The positive and negative implications for both learning and development are raised. This leads us to interesting questions about the role of nature within child development and learning. As an international nature play movement gains ground in raising awareness about the importance of nature based learning and its linkages with educational structure and pedagogy, this research into children's nature choices is timely
Connecting Children to Nature: A Multiple Case Study of Nature Center Preschools
CONNECTING CHILDREN TO NATURE: A MULTIPLE CASE STUDY OF NATURE CENTER PRESCHOOLS Patti Ensel Bailie, Ph.D. University of Nebraska, 2012 Adviser: Carolyn Pope Edwards Environmental degradation, childhood obesity, and aggression of youth are societal problems that appear unconnected. However, their cause (and possible solution) may be linked to a common experience – the amount and quality of time spent in the natural world. Environment based education, significant life experience research, and studies involving urban youth and green spaces have shown that children’s experiences in the natural world have a positive effect on their attitudes, behaviors, and environmental awareness. Nature center based preschools are one approach for connecting children and nature, but little is known about the quality and consistency of their practices. This study explored program practices at preschools located at or operated by American nature centers. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to describe how these preschools integrate child development and environmental goals in teaching young children. Data collection included semi-structured interviews with eight nature preschool directors, observations of their classes, and review of their documents. Data were analyzed within case and across cases to better understand how the preschool directors create and implement curriculum and to find similarities and differences among the programs. A major finding of this study suggests that the combination of early childhood education and environmental education is more powerful together than each by itself. Nature preschool goals address both the developmental needs of young children and their biophilic tendency to focus on the natural world. High quality practices for nature preschools emerged, suggesting that a nature-focused curriculum can include both developmentally appropriate practices and environmental literacy and learning, but staff education and training is crucial for providing an excellent program. No professional standards exist today for nature preschools. Recommendations include developing quality standards for nature preschools and establishing an association or network for early childhood environmental educators.
Frontiers in Psychology
Play in nature-based environments in childhood education has positive benefits for child development. Although previous reviews showed the benefits of play in nature-based environments for child development they did not attempt to understand how and why nature-based environments contribute to play quality. This review aims to explore the value of play in nature-based environments compared to non-nature-based environments for developmental outcomes of young children (2–8 year). We searched for studies that investigated the relation between play and nature-based environments on the databases PsycINFO, ERIC, and Web of Science. Inclusion/exclusion criteria were: (1) the study focused on play in/on a nature based environment, (2) the study included participants between the age of 2–8 years, (3) it was an empirical study, (4) the study was conducted in the context of early childhood education (ECE), and (5) the study included participants without special needs or disabilities. Using thes...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2015
Our work assessed the influence of an urban environmental education program on children's attitudes toward outdoor play, as well as knowledge of neighborhood features that can facilitate this type of activity. The project team engaged 6 schools near the newest Urban Ecology Center location in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, through a communityacademic partnership entitled More Than a Pretty Place. Intervention classrooms participated in programming over the 2012-2013 academic year and pre and post surveys
Encouraging educational research into nature, outdoor learning and play [blog]
2019
Do w nlo a d e d fro m: h t t p://i n si g h t. c u m b ri a. a c. u k/i d/ e p ri n t/ 5 4 7 1/ U s a g e o f a n y i t e m s f r o m t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f C u m b r i a' s i n s t i t u t i o n a l r e p o s i t o r y 'I n s i g h t' m u s t c o n f o r m t o t h e f o l l o w i n g f a i r u s a g e g u i d e l i n e s .
Environmental education in natural play spaces
Science in Early Childhood
Child: I saw a snake in my backyard yesterday. Educator: Did your parents kill it? Child: No, we took a photo of it. Educator: Did you tell your neighbours? You know, snakes are very dangerous. They're poisonous and they bite. It cou ld kill you.
Online Journal for TVET Practitioners, 2023
Urbanisation has limited people's exposure and interaction with nature (Mohamad Muslim et al., 2017; Rahmatullah et al., 2021). Compared to those who grew up in rural areas, a significantly lower number of children who grew up in urban areas had experiences in nature-related activities (Noor Hafizah et al., 2019). In terms of children learning and development, learning through play via exposure to nature and its elements have greater impact on their cognitive development than classroom activities and social learning alone (UNICEF, 2018). Saleh et al. (2018) explains that nature provides both formal and informal learning to children, in which learning without direct participation by their educators is equally important as learning in a formal environment. Hence, a school's environment should allow them to participate in diverse natural surroundings. A school's physical environment should encourage learning as children will be more motivated to be innovative and creative if the environment encourages experimental play (Safaripoor, 2016; Shaari et al., 2021). When a child's connection to nature is lacking, they will face difficulties with their senses and attention during learning and are more susceptible to chronic physical and mental illnesses (Shaari et al., 2021; Woodward & Zari, 2018). Moreover, exposure to heavy pollutants and environmental stressors, particularly from urban and industrialized areas, can significantly affect mental and physical development (Di Cesare et al., 2019) and predispose humans to various non-communicable diseases in later stages of life such as Diabetes, obesity, and cancer, which are currently
Environmental Education: Let Nature Be Your Teacher
Day Care Early Education, 1995
Is your outdoor area an exciting and healthy place for young children to be? Does it offer young children the opportunity to smell the earth, climb a tree, hide under a bush, watch butterflies move among the flowers, sit on a rock, dig a hole, grow flowers and vegetables, and be alone in a quiet spot? If not, you may wish to give some thought to enhancing your outdoor area to foster an understanding and appreciation of the natural environment. The outdoor environment of a preschool program typically consists of a grassy area, some playground equipment, and a paved area for riding bikes and bouncing balls. These areas are usually called playgrounds and are designed to foster large-motor skills and give young children the opportunity to run about freely and loudly. What such areas do not offer, however, is rich opportunities to learn about the natural environment. Learning about the outdoor environment, however, is an important aspect of early childhood development
2019
Time spent outdoors benefits children’s physical, social and psychological development, although children today spend far less time outdoors than children of previous generations. The nature-based school initiative has grown in popularity as a means of increasing children’s connection with nature and harnessing its benefits for their educational development. The current study is one of the first to quantitatively compare a traditional and a naturebased pre-primary program at the same school. Using a multi-method approach, this study aimed to better understand the relationships between learning environment and important developmental variables, including social interaction, play, behavior, school enjoyment and nature appreciation. Results indicate that both groups are equally prepared for kindergarten with regard to social-emotional, academic and pretend play skills.