Cargando…

Parent and early childhood educator perspectives of unstructured nature play for young children: A qualitative descriptive study

Nature play is growing in popularity, with many early childhood settings transforming their outdoor play environments to incorporate more natural elements. Current research highlights the benefits of engaging in unstructured nature play for children’s health and development; yet little is known abou...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dankiw, Kylie A., Kumar, Saravana, Baldock, Katherine L., Tsiros, Margarita D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10246796/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37285363
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286468
_version_ 1785055103836749824
author Dankiw, Kylie A.
Kumar, Saravana
Baldock, Katherine L.
Tsiros, Margarita D.
author_facet Dankiw, Kylie A.
Kumar, Saravana
Baldock, Katherine L.
Tsiros, Margarita D.
author_sort Dankiw, Kylie A.
collection PubMed
description Nature play is growing in popularity, with many early childhood settings transforming their outdoor play environments to incorporate more natural elements. Current research highlights the benefits of engaging in unstructured nature play for children’s health and development; yet little is known about the experiences of key nature play end-users such as parents and early childhood educators, even though they directly impact the application of nature play within early childhood settings. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by exploring parent and early childhood educator (ECE) perspectives to gain an understanding about their experiences with nature play. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, semi-structured in-person and telephone interviews were conducted with 18 ECE and 13 parents across four early childhood centres (from various socio-economic regions) across metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia during 2019–2020. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis identified five main themes; positive affirmations of nature play, factors influencing nature play engagement, defining nature play, outdoor play space design and risky play. Children’s connection to the natural world, learning about sustainability, emotional regulation, and children discovering their own capabilities were perceived advantages of engaging in nature play. Despite the benefits, ECE’s described institutional barriers such as resourcing, adhering to policies and scheduling conflicts, whereas, parents described time, getting dirty and proximity to nature play spaces as barriers to nature play engagement. Parents and ECEs alike described adults as gatekeepers for play, especially when other daily tasks compete for their time, or when faced with weather-imposed barriers (cold, rain, extreme heat in summer). The findings suggest that parents and ECEs may need additional resources and guidance on how to engage with nature play and how to overcome barriers within early childhood settings and the home environment.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10246796
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-102467962023-06-08 Parent and early childhood educator perspectives of unstructured nature play for young children: A qualitative descriptive study Dankiw, Kylie A. Kumar, Saravana Baldock, Katherine L. Tsiros, Margarita D. PLoS One Research Article Nature play is growing in popularity, with many early childhood settings transforming their outdoor play environments to incorporate more natural elements. Current research highlights the benefits of engaging in unstructured nature play for children’s health and development; yet little is known about the experiences of key nature play end-users such as parents and early childhood educators, even though they directly impact the application of nature play within early childhood settings. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by exploring parent and early childhood educator (ECE) perspectives to gain an understanding about their experiences with nature play. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, semi-structured in-person and telephone interviews were conducted with 18 ECE and 13 parents across four early childhood centres (from various socio-economic regions) across metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia during 2019–2020. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis identified five main themes; positive affirmations of nature play, factors influencing nature play engagement, defining nature play, outdoor play space design and risky play. Children’s connection to the natural world, learning about sustainability, emotional regulation, and children discovering their own capabilities were perceived advantages of engaging in nature play. Despite the benefits, ECE’s described institutional barriers such as resourcing, adhering to policies and scheduling conflicts, whereas, parents described time, getting dirty and proximity to nature play spaces as barriers to nature play engagement. Parents and ECEs alike described adults as gatekeepers for play, especially when other daily tasks compete for their time, or when faced with weather-imposed barriers (cold, rain, extreme heat in summer). The findings suggest that parents and ECEs may need additional resources and guidance on how to engage with nature play and how to overcome barriers within early childhood settings and the home environment. Public Library of Science 2023-06-07 /pmc/articles/PMC10246796/ /pubmed/37285363 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286468 Text en © 2023 Dankiw et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Dankiw, Kylie A.
Kumar, Saravana
Baldock, Katherine L.
Tsiros, Margarita D.
Parent and early childhood educator perspectives of unstructured nature play for young children: A qualitative descriptive study
title Parent and early childhood educator perspectives of unstructured nature play for young children: A qualitative descriptive study
title_full Parent and early childhood educator perspectives of unstructured nature play for young children: A qualitative descriptive study
title_fullStr Parent and early childhood educator perspectives of unstructured nature play for young children: A qualitative descriptive study
title_full_unstemmed Parent and early childhood educator perspectives of unstructured nature play for young children: A qualitative descriptive study
title_short Parent and early childhood educator perspectives of unstructured nature play for young children: A qualitative descriptive study
title_sort parent and early childhood educator perspectives of unstructured nature play for young children: a qualitative descriptive study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10246796/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37285363
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286468
work_keys_str_mv AT dankiwkyliea parentandearlychildhoodeducatorperspectivesofunstructurednatureplayforyoungchildrenaqualitativedescriptivestudy
AT kumarsaravana parentandearlychildhoodeducatorperspectivesofunstructurednatureplayforyoungchildrenaqualitativedescriptivestudy
AT baldockkatherinel parentandearlychildhoodeducatorperspectivesofunstructurednatureplayforyoungchildrenaqualitativedescriptivestudy
AT tsirosmargaritad parentandearlychildhoodeducatorperspectivesofunstructurednatureplayforyoungchildrenaqualitativedescriptivestudy