Abstract
Nature contacts are recognized as positively contributing to humans’ health and well-being. Although there have been projects to green daycare or schoolyards, yard greening and microbial biodiversity have never been studied simultaneously. We asked whether simultaneously increasing biodiversity exposure and greening urban daycare yards affects 3–5 years-old children’s physical activity and play, their environmental relationships, and their perceived well-being. For transforming six daycare yards in Finland, we used a forest floor with high biodiversity, sod, peat blocks, and planters for vegetable and flower growing. We used qualitative interview and survey-based data collected from the daycare personnel and parents to analyze how green yards encourage children’s engagement with their everyday life-worlds. We identified the functional possibilities provided by the yards and the dynamic aspects related to the greening. Green, biodiverse yards were considered safe, and inspired children’s play, diversified their activities, and increased physical activity. The greenery offered embodied experiences of nature and provided the children with multi-sensory exploration and diverse learning situations. The dynamic and emotional ways of engaging with the natural environment increased their well-being. The activities related to caring for the yards and exploring them promoted the development of environmental relationships. The results can be used for designing health-enhancing yards
Highlights
In urbanized societies, children’s opportunities to connect with nature in everyday life have diminished as the number of natural areas has decreased, and the level of children’s independent mobility has declined [1,2]
We examined whether simultaneously increasing biodiversity exposure and greening daycare yards is perceived to affect 3–5 years-old children’s physical activity and play, their environmental relationships, and their well-being in the urban environment in Finland
By combining the concept of affordance with measurements of microbial diversity in a novel way, we identified both the functional opportunities provided by the green daycare yards and the different dynamic aspects related to the greening
Summary
Children’s opportunities to connect with nature in everyday life have diminished as the number of natural areas has decreased, and the level of children’s independent mobility has declined [1,2]. Public Health 2019, 16, 2948; doi:10.3390/ijerph16162948 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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