What is it about the monkey bars?

Abstract

The outdoors has long been seen as a significant and important aspect of children's lives within New Zealand. Early childhood educators have historically recognised the benefits of being outside and physically active. Today, many more experts and researchers from a variety of health, psychological, neuroscience, environmental, and educational fields posit strong arguments that play in outdoor settings is very different from play that occurs indoors, and has a unique role in the holistic (intellectual, social, emotional, physical, and spiritual) development of children (Bilton, 2002; Burdette & Whitaker, 2005; Frost, 2006; Greenman, 2005; Pica, 2006; Rivkin, 1998). This study was motivated from my 53 years of experiencing the benefits of being outside, and the 34 years that I have spent with young children as a teacher, mother, grandmother, and tertiary educator in a field-based programme. Over these years, I have been constantly reminded by children of the pleasure they appear to get from being outside--particularly in rich stimulating, natural environments where adults are interested and enthusiastic about being outside as well. The context of this study is one where the significance of the outdoor environment in early childhood settings for young children's (aged between two and five years) holistic development has rarely been investigated. Though there is a long history of educational and parental wisdom acknowledging that most children prefer to be in the outdoors, there is a dearth of qualitative research that has investigated the young child's perspective of what it is about being outside that they find so compelling (Towers, 1997). Only a small body of research to date has explored young children's, teachers', and parents' views on outdoor play (Clark & Moss, 2005; Cullen, 1993; Hands & Martin, 2003; Hart, 1979; Stephenson, 1998; Temple & O'Connor, 2003). Playing outside was the recurring theme that emerges from research into children's preferences in their early childhood centre (Clark & Moss, 2005; Einarsdottir, 2005; Hands & Martin, 2003; Sheridan & Pramling-Samuelsson, 2001; Wiltz & Klein, 2001). Clements (2004) was the only study I could find that specifically sought parents' perspective on outdoor play, and the main finding was that nearly all the parents recognised the benefits of outdoor active play, but thought children spent less time outside than previous generations. In relation to teachers' attitudes, the research indicates that teachers tend to supervise children outside, seldom realising the potential of the outdoors; and adults' values and beliefs about outdoor play impact on what happens for children, as do attitudes to risk taking--perceived or observed (Davies, 1996; Davis, 1998; Hutt, Tyler, Hutt, & Christopherson, 1989; Lockie & Wright, 2002; Sandberg & Pramling-Samuelsson, 2005). These themes were significant to my study in the research design and analysis. The semiparticipatory case study took place over 14 weeks and explored: 14 young children's views on their outdoor experiences in an early childhood education setting; parents' and teachers' views on the value and role of the outdoors in young children's lives; and participants' views on the role of the teacher in the outdoor environment (Greenfield, 2007). The 14 children comprised eight boys and six girls, and were aged from two years, nine months to four years, ten months. The outdoor setting contained: an aviary which housed birds and guinea pigs; a sandpit with tank water access; wilderness areas; a rustic storage shed; a vegetable garden; low moveable equipment; and a three-level water feature. Native wildlife mosaics were set into winding pathways. There were places to gather, wooden benches in unexpected places, nooks for one or for two people, and raised edges made of wood, boulders, and benches. There were many topographical changes, including planted slopes with pathways through them, and a flat paved area. …