Playing in ‘The Backyard’: Environmental Features and Conditions of a Natural Playspace Which Support Diverse Outdoor Play Activities among Younger Children

Abstract

Outdoor play in nature-rich spaces has been associated with healthy development among young children. The diverse play opportunities afforded to children by natural playspaces can scaffold health benefits, appreciation of nature, and pro-environmental behaviors into adulthood. Environmental features and conditions of outdoor playspaces significantly influence the diversity and quality of play opportunities. Understanding how the physical environment can support high-quality play experiences can inform the design of stimulating, health-promoting playscapes for children. An observational behavior mapping framework was utilized to examine the environmental features of The Backyard, a large natural playscape, associated with play activities among young children. The Tool for Observing Play Outdoors was used to capture outdoor play types OPT), along with associated behavioral and environmental data, during seven days of field observation. While the playspace supported most OPTs, Physical and Exploratory play were most prevalent. Associations with activity intensity and risk play are also presented. Loose parts, particularly natural loose parts, were highly involved in most OPTs, but especially associated with Exploratory play. Ground topography showed some association with several OPTs and warrants further investigation. The environmental features of The Backyard supported an abundant and diverse range of outdoor play activities for young children and families.

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

“…These were four studies from Sweden [56][57][58][59], two studies from Norway [97,98], two studies from Australia [75,76] and The total participant sample included n = 3676 children with 34.9% (n = 1282) male, 35.3% (n = 1299) female, and 29.8% (n = 1095) unreported sex. Six observational studies provided observation counts but not participant numbers [51,89,[93][94][95]101], and one study did not report participant numbers or sex [66]. The study population age range fell most frequently between 5 and 10 years (31 studies), with 20 studies including children aged 11-12 years and 21 studies including those aged 3-4 years.…”

“…Surfaces properties that are uneven, irregular, very smooth, icy, or frosty when children engage in balance, climbing, or slide/gliding [69,90,92,94,96].…”

“…Having possibilities for diverse sensory play, including getting messy [84,94], tactile play through touching natural materials [68,76,78] walking barefoot [78,88], tasting herbs, fruits, vegetables, ice, and snow [69,76,78], smelling flowers [78,79], watching spinning objects [53,68], and creating sounds with music instruments [53] or natural elements (crackling dry leaves) [78].…”

“…Having possibilities to combine or mix multiple materials, for example, sand play in combination with water, natural loose materials, or manufactured play objects [80,[89][90][91]94,101].…”

“…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].…”