Research on Children’s Outdoor Play: Analysis of Published Journal Articles in Korea from 2005 to 2015

Abstract

This study reviewed outdoor play articles published in Korea during past 10 years. The purposes were to determine the main themes of outdoor play articles and the research methods used in the studies.To summarize the main findings: (1) seven research themes were identified, with 'outdoor play environment' and 'children's outdoor play behaviors' being the major research topics. (2) With regard to research method, approximately two-thirds of studies employed a quantitative methodology, with survey being the most frequent. However, when exploring the theme of 'outdoor play experience,' all studies used qualitative research methods such as participant observation, interview, or archival data collection.Keywords: research review, outdoor play, children, Korea Corresponding author, 1) djshin@duksung.ac.kr Dongju Shin 30All children in the world play, and play has been a part of early childhood education since Froebel developed the first kindergarten. Children learn about the world, express their feelings and ideas, and develop social relationships with other people through play.According to Wachs (1986), the content of children's play is influenced by their experiences and the contexts of their lives. The context can include the physical environment, time, other children or adults, and cultural expectation.As Dempsey and Frost (1993) Play does not occur in vacuum. Rather, it occurs within a context including social and physical dimensions since children play with something and/or someone, even if only in imagination, in a certain place and at a certain time (Naylor, 1985). According to Wohlwill and Heft (1987), outdoor environments enhance the opportunity for free exploration. The existence of various natural materials in outdoor environments, which offer little restriction and make few special demands on children, allow them to more freely explore the world around. In other words, the relatively unconstrained environment provided by the outdoors offers children opportunities to create and organize their world more freely (Shin, 1994).Also, an increasing body of literature has presented empirical evidence on the value of outdoor play for child development. Outdoor play is associated with greater levels of physical activity, and this kind of whole body exercise has a long-lasting influence throughout development and health (Baranowski, Thompson, Durant, Baranowski, & Puhl, 1993;Brown et al., 2009;Spencer & Wright, 2014). Children who regularly play outdoors tend to be fitter and leaner, develop stronger immune systems, play more creatively, have more active imagination, report lower stress levels, and demonstrate greater respect for themselves and others (Fjørtoft, 2004;Burdette & Whitaker, 2005).In the early childhood education area in Korea, play has been topic of interest, and many To provide further evidence on the value of outdoor play for children's development, it is very important to collect and communicate the research and knowledge regarding outdoor play. Therefore, to clarify the current status of o...

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