Place as partner: material and affective intra-play between young people and trees

Abstract

A collaboration between the third sector and a university in Southwest England, the Good from Woods project investigated wellbeing outcomes of time spent in woodland through action research by a range of woodland practitioners. The research reported in this article explores relations between children aged 3-15 years and trees in an adventure playground set in woodland regrowth on an old municipal tip. The innovative arts-based methodology highlights playful, imaginative and affective place-based play. We examine the flows of activity amongst human and nonhuman in this environment and consider how this place and its materiality supported intra-play between trees and children, nonhuman and human inhabitants. Our analysis interweaves post-paradigmatic new materialism with ideas of cultureplaces leading us towards an understanding of place as children's (unequal) partner in intra-play.

Environmental Qualities That Enhance Outdoor Play in Community Playgrounds from the Perspective of Children with and without Disabilities: A Scoping Review

“…Playgrounds were located in community areas such as playgrounds in parks or specific playground spaces (n = 27), schools (n = 16), or both public and school playgrounds (n = 3). Two of the papers looked at adventure playgrounds [54,81], and two studies focused on inclusive playgrounds [72,95]. Several reviewed studies shared the same data set.…”

“…Newly furnished playgrounds [56,89,92], inclusive play equipment and playgrounds [72,95], natural surroundings and landscape features [58,78,81], themed play equipment e.g., animal-themed [71,77], real climbing trees [78,92,100] and real rocks or boulders [71,89,93], creeks (human constructed) [94] tree houses [81], larger playground with provision of natural loose materials that kept children's interest for longer periods [54,69,92,94], large obstacles courses [100], provision of play objects and equipment that could be formed and shaped by children [84,94], and weather conditions and seasonal changes providing additional affordances [64,69,76,81,92,96].…”

“…The social environment meant adults (and other people) granting permission for children's own play. Across studies, children or children's groups provided examples of their unfolding play in correspondence to their particular physical and social environment [53,[55][56][57]61,63,[66][67][68]70,75,76,81,88]. Unfolding own play evolved during play itself, while the child was engaging in own play within and with the environment such as climbing-high-and-performing-climbing-stunts-play [57,70], flyjump-off-the-bench-with-closed-eyes-play [63], jumping-off-swings-and-rolling-down-withpeers-on-slope-play [73], needle-spotting-play [55], or race-against-the-rolling-disc-play [53].…”

“…This was perceived in three ways. First, adults were actively involved in the same play together with the children [52,64,84,88] such as helping in constructing play [81] or playing together on the same play equipment [52,68,71]. Second, sharing play, wherein adults watched the child rather than being active themselves [52].…”

‘It’s not for people like (them)’: structural and cultural barriers to children and young people engaging with nature outside schooling

“…This worldview has implications for not only how 'engagement' is understood but also how it might be promoted (Waite, Husain, Scandone, Forsyth, & Piggott, in press). Shifting from anthropocentric thinking around relations between children and nature prompts different methodologies (Goodenough, Waite, & Wright, 2020) and calls for additional research to include this important perspective.…”