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Tag: Playgrounds

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Bagot, Allen, and Toukhsati, 2014

With little research examining children's restorative environments, the design of environments supportive of children's functioning is limited. The aim of this study was to examine the predictors of perceived restorativeness of children's school playgrounds, using Attention Restoration Theory. Children (N ¼ 550, 46% boys, Mage ¼ 9.73 years, SD ¼ 1.21) from 14 schools reported playground perceived restorativeness and play period experiences (affect, physical activity, social activity, perceived affordances). Playground characteristics of nature, size, play areas, play equipment and ratio of total grounds were assessed. After controlling for gender, age and playground size, vegetation volume was the only significant naturalness measure predicting perceived restorativeness. Play period experiences explained more variance than physical characteristics. With only moderate levels of perceived restorativeness revealed, the potential for school grounds to enhance children's functioning remains. Factors contributing to children's restorative environments may differ from adults, requiring children's inclusion in the research and design of their environments.

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By Learning Through Landscapes.

Childhood has changed dramatically in recent decades. One of the most significant changes has been the decline of children’s playful and self-led exploration of the natural world. We’re realising that this ‘extinction of experience’ has negative impacts on children’s health and wellbeing. Putting this more positively, we’re beginning to understand the ways in which regular access to quality natural spaces can help address some of the most pressing challenges facing children today.

Good outdoor environments encourage children to be physically active and to develop physical skills and confidence. They can foster the development of collaboration, social skills, creativity and positive behaviour. Regular access to nature provides a refuge from bustle and hassle, helping to alleviate stress and support positive emotional wellbeing. Playful interaction with nature encourages an understanding of and appreciation for the natural world. Teachers are discovering that the outdoors is often a better place to learn than indoors, bringing learning to life and opening up opportunities that are simply unavailable in the classroom. And when children are closely involved in developing and looking after their outdoor environment, it helps to develop their sense of belonging, participation, respect and pride. Together, these factors can contribute positively and significantly to children’s physical and emotional health but they also encourage health promoting habits and attitudes that have
a lasting impact into adulthood.

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By: Andrea Gordon (July 05, 2013).  It was a crisp March day outside Blaydon Public School when teachers discovered that 4-year-old Alex Wong could spell his name. There were no pencils or paper in sight. Everyone was bundled in winter jackets. Alex, who has autism, was in the outdoor classroom where his special-needs class played and explored for at least an hour every day, alongside 25 kids from the mainstream kindergarten class. Teacher Sue Cooper noticed Alex march over to a pile of wood, put three sticks in a small wheelbarrow and push it to a spot on the pavement. One by one, he placed the sticks on the ground, forming the letter A. He made three more trips and came back with sticks to make three more letters, which he placed in a row: L, E and X.

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Geoffrey Godbey (May 2009).  The research literature on outdoor recreation as it relates to human health is vast and growing. To help policymakers take new and emerging findings into account when designing recreation and park services and initiatives for the 21st century, this paper summarizes the salient issues and identifies research gaps. It considers how being outside in natural surroundings may improve health and how outdoor physical activities benefit participants. Particular attention is given to children’s health problems that can be mitigated through outdoor play, sports, and nature study. The paper describes approaches to measuring physical activity and recent trends in park visitation and outdoor activity participation. It looks at variables that affect participation in outdoor activities and considers the projected demographic changes that will affect policymaking in this arena. The findings of this literature review point to potential new directions for outdoor recreation policy, as well as new policy questions to be explored.

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Edward Shepard (April 18, 2015).  The average American boy or girl spends as few as 30 minutes in unstructured outdoor play each day. Only 6% of children nine to 13 play outside on their own in a typical week. But if you’re reading this, you probably already know that outdoor play is essential for children’s health and well-being. Here are eight science-backed reasons that prove you’re right.

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By Chris Mooney (June 2015). When it comes to the physical and psychological benefits of being exposed to nature — and especially to scenery that is filled with lush plant life — the evidence lately has been rolling in.

Recently we reported on a study by Australian researchers showing that brief 40 second micro-breaks, in which students looked at computerized images of a green roof, led to improved performance on an attention-demanding cognitive task.

And now, in what appears to be the first study of its kind, a team of researchers find myriad additional benefits for schoolchildren who go to schools that feature lots of green spaces and natural scenery. Kids exposed to more greenery — as measured by satellite imagery of their schools and neighborhoods — showed not only better attention, but also superior working memory.

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Olga Khazan  (June 16, 2015). When I lived in L.A., I reported on a school near Long Beach in which nearly a fifth of the students had asthma. One culprit seemed to be the school’s unfortunate geography: About 500 trucks passed by its grounds every hour, and according to a study released at the time, at least 9 percent of childhood-asthma cases in the area were attributable to road traffic. The air near the school, which sometimes smelled rotten or rubbery, contained nearly twice the normal level of elemental carbon, a marker of diesel particles.

Asthma is just one of the health problems linked to air pollution exposure. Sniffing exhaust all day also contributes to everything from stroke to premature death.

Conversely, spending time in nature is correlated with better mental health, attention, and mood in both children and adults. A new study out Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that green spaces can actually boost cognitive outcomes in children—in part by protecting their brains from air pollutants.

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Tom Jacobs (June 16, 2015). Parents, as a rule, want to give their children every possible academic advantage. While this usually takes the form of tutors or computers, a new study suggests a surprising factor they may want to consider when checking out a new school, home, or neighborhood: Whether it provides adequate access to the natural world. New research from Spain finds that, among second-, third-, and-fourth graders, quality time spent climbing trees and playing games on grass helps mental abilities blossom.

“Our study showed a beneficial association between exposure to green space and cognitive development among schoolchildren,” writes a research team led by Payam Dadvand of Barcelona’s Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology. This is partly, but not entirely, explained by the fact that kids who get to play in nature are exposed to less air pollution than those who hang out on city streets.

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By Carolyn Gregoire (2015) Children today spend less time outdoors than ever before -- and it may be detrimental not only to their physical health, but also to their cognitive development. A yearlong study, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that elementary school children who were exposed to more green spaces within or directly outside their school showed improved learning and memory. The findings reinforce that of a recent six-year study on 905 Massachusetts public elementary schools, which found that students in schools that had more "greenness" in their surroundings reported higher scores on standardized testing in English and math.

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By: Mark Cullen (Jun 26 2015). While interviewing a young child on his obsession with being indoors, Richard Louv leaned in towards the young lad and asked, “What is it about being indoors that you find so appealing?” “Why, that’s where the electrical outlets are,” he said. That day, back in 2004, the author decided to write a book exploring the importance of nature in the lives of young people: Last Child in the Woods. Although, it has been 10 years since Louv first published his landmark book, kids continue to suffer from “nature deficit disorder” and sequester themselves indoors. We are at risk of developing permanently hunched backs from looking down at our electronic hand held devices.

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