Sustainable Outdoor Playspaces in Early Childhood Centres: Investigating Perceptions, Facilitating Change and Generating Theory (original) (raw)
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2014
Almost 150 years ago, nineteenth century psychologist Herbert Spencer published his book, Principals of Psychology, in which he espoused the "surplus energy theory," explaining that the main reason for children's play is to get rid of surplus energy. Although researchers and developmental theorists have rejected his theory, it has had an unfortunate and lasting influence on the design of children's outdoor play environments (Malone 2003). As a result of Spencer's theory, playgrounds are seen as areas for physical play during recess, where children 'burn off steam, ' and not for the other domains of development or for learning. In child care settings, playgrounds typically have manufactured climbing equipment, and other than sometimes-manicured grass, are void of nature and vegetation. The playgrounds for multitudes of children are not green, but gray (Moore & Wong 1997), many analogous to a parking lot (Worth 2003). Early childhood learning facilit...
Play is a pivotal part of a child's life. Outdoor play fosters opportunities for creativity, imagination, social connections, and learned behaviors. There are two types of outdoor playscapes: natural and constructed. Natural playscapes offer sensory stimulation and physical diversity which is critical for childhood experiences outdoors. Through careful design, constructed playscapes can be greened to simulate natural playscapes. Greening is the integration of natural elements and processes in a playscape. Children's direct social and individual experiences in nature in early to middle childhood during the "developmental window of opportunity" between the ages of three and twelve years help shape their environmental identity and guide their environmental actions. Outdoor play in greened playscapes has a positive effect on children's social development, motor skill development, attention, and activity level. It also can provide children with experiences in naturalistic landscapes which could impact their morals, values and actions. School yards have the ability to assist in teaching children and act as a safe-haven where parental concerns for safety and risk do not inhibit play. Understanding the relationships between play, experiences in nature, environmental identity, the health, learning, attention, and development benefits of outdoor play, and the evolution of playscape design, a series of guidelines can be created to provide better childhood playscapes. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my family for their continued support and dedication to my success. I do not know how I could have gotten through the late nights and long weekends without you. Kyra, my angel, you make my life worth living. Chris, you have provided me with more happiness than you can imagine. Mom and Clif, without you it would have been impossible. Dad, thanks for pushing me. My sisters, your always there when I need you. Thank you all so much! I would also like to thank my professors. You all have encouraged me to achieve more than I thought possible. I am a better person, designer, researcher, and writer because of all of you. You have greatly helped to shape the professional I will become. Ashley Parsons Acknowledgements iii Chapter 1-What is play and how does it relate to outdoor play, nature and wilderness experiences? Chapter 2-What is the importance of childhood experiences outdoors in the creation of an environmental identity? Chapter 3-What are the effects of outdoor play on health, learning, and development? Chapter 4-What are the past and current trends for the design of children's playscapes? Decreased interaction and decreased quality of interaction between children and outdoor environments has a negative impact on children's health, learning, and development. Play is important in childhood. The environment used for play is also important because different
Gull-Laird, S., McFarland-Piazza, L., & Allen, S. (2014).Young children’s opportunities for unstructured environmental exploration of nature: Links to adults’ experiences in childhood. International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education, 2(1), 58-73.
Outdoor environmental education and provision of unstructured exploration of nature are often forgotten aspects of the early childhood experience. The aim of this study was to understand how adults' early experiences in nature relate to their attitudes and practices in providing such experiences for young children. This study surveyed 33 parents and early childhood educators at an Australian university-located early childhood service about their own childhood experiences in nature and their current provision of such experiences with their children. Participants completed an online questionnaire consisting of the Nature Relatedness Scale -Short Form and the Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale . Questions regarding adults' knowledge and behaviour on gardening and sustainability topics were also included. Results indicate that although most participants were strongly engaged in unstructured nature experiences as children, few of them provided such experiences for their children. Implications for environmental education in early childhood settings and the home setting are discussed.
Children: global posthumanist perspectives and materialist theories, 2019
This book series presents original and cutting edge knowledge for a growing field of scholarship about children. Its focus is on the interface of children being in the everyday spaces and places of contemporary childhoods, and how different theoretical approaches influence ways of knowing the future lives of children. The authors explore and analyse children's lived embodied everyday experiences and encounters with tangible objects and materials such as artefacts, toys, homes, landscapes, animals, food, and the broader intangible materiality of representational objects, such as popular culture, air, weather, bodies, relations, identities and sexualities. Monographs and edited collections in this series are attentive to the mundane everyday relationships, in-between 'what is' and 'what could be', with matters and materials. The series is unique because it challenges traditional western-centric views of children and childhood by drawing on a range of perspectives including Indigenous, Pacifica, Asian and those from the Global South. The book series is also unique as it provides a shift from developmental, social constructivists, structuralist approaches to understanding and theorising about childhood. These dominant paradigms will be challenged through a variety of post-positivist/postqualitative/posthumanist theories of being children and childhood.
The ‘Connecting Children and Nature Network’: Building a collaborative partnership for change
Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit, 2015
This paper explores the current public and policy interest in ‘children and nature’ from the perspective of a Higher Education Institution. It offers a conceptualisation of concern based on two competing discourses: one of environmental crisis; the other a crisis of childhood. It goes on to argue that rather than being in conflict, the two discourses are actually mutually reinforcing. An implication is that this is an agenda that requires an inter-disciplinary approach requiring those whose primary interest is in the environment to come together with those whose starting point is the child. This conceptual understanding underpins the approach adopted by one UK University in the ‘Connecting Children and Nature Network’. This initiative is an example of how small-scale seed funding can generate significant impacts and is innovative because of its cross-disciplinary support. It is also an example of how Education for Sustainable Development can be embedded through a tripartite model of...
Method for Researching Children’s Experiences with Nature
2015
In order to study children’s subjective experiences, researchers need to employ methods that are interesting and engaging but at the same time can produce data that answers research questions. This article critically reflects on the use of an innovative visually expressive method, sand tray pictures, which allows children to communicate their multi-dimensional subjective experiences with nature. In this study, sand tray pictures were compared with photographs taken and pictures drawn by the children as approaches for understanding children’s experiences in a public botanic garden during a five-day summer camp. Sand trays were identified as a highly effective tool in eliciting insights about children’s subjective and socio-cultural experiences in nature.
Benefits of Nature on Children’s Developmental Needs: A Review
Asian Journal of Behavioural Studies
The past few decades have shown that the opportunity for children to have a direct connection with nature and outdoor environment declined due to rapid urbanization. Children face various physical and health problems as consequences from this phenomenon. This paper presents a review on benefits of nature on children’s developmental needs. The review also highlights children’s experience in nature and the effect of disconnection from nature. In summary, it is crucial to understand children’s view towards nature and environment in creating spaces that reconnect them with nature. Designing for children today is indeed designing for the future as well.Keywords: Children, nature, connection, developmental needseISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association ...