Affordances of Ditches for Preschool Children

Abstract

This study aims to expand understanding of the affordances provided by ditches in a Danish preschool context. Affordances are defined as the meaningful action possibilities of the environment. At a forest preschool, a group of 21 children aged approximately 3 to 6.5 years accompanied by two or three staff members walked to various sites in the forest and stayed for two to five hours every day. The researcher observed the children's activities and the features they used at 15 different forest sites during all seasons, following an ethnography-inspired, participant observation approach. Ditches offered varied and changing action possibilities for the preschool children. The paper discusses the possible incorporation of this largely unrecognized design element by planners and managers of green spaces and playgrounds for children in preschool.