Nature play in early childhood education: A systematic review and meta ethnography of qualitative research
Play in nature-based environments in childhood education has positive benefits for child development. Although previous reviews showed the benefits of play in nature-based environments for child development they did not attempt to understand how and why nature-based environments contribute to play q...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.995164/full |
| _version_ | 1828098975105810432 |
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| author | Jannette Prins Femke van der Wilt Femke van der Wilt Chiel van der Veen Chiel van der Veen Dieuwke Hovinga |
| author_facet | Jannette Prins Femke van der Wilt Femke van der Wilt Chiel van der Veen Chiel van der Veen Dieuwke Hovinga |
| author_sort | Jannette Prins |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Play in nature-based environments in childhood education has positive benefits for child development. Although previous reviews showed the benefits of play in nature-based environments for child development they did not attempt to understand how and why nature-based environments contribute to play quality. This review aims to explore the value of play in nature-based environments compared to non-nature-based environments for developmental outcomes of young children (2–8 year). We searched for studies that investigated the relation between play and nature-based environments on the databases PsycINFO, ERIC, and Web of Science. Inclusion/exclusion criteria were: (1) the study focused on play in/on a nature based environment, (2) the study included participants between the age of 2–8 years, (3) it was an empirical study, (4) the study was conducted in the context of early childhood education (ECE), and (5) the study included participants without special needs or disabilities. Using these criteria we selected 28 qualitative studies with an overall sample size of N = 998 children aged 2–8 years. The studies were synthesized using an adaptation of Noblit and Hare’s meta-ethnographic approach. Three overarching themes were found: (1) the aspects of play quality that are related to nature-based environments, (2) the aspects of nature-based environments that support play, and (3) the aspects of teacher-child interactions that contribute to nature play quality. The meta themes resonate with play theories and theories of the restorative value of nature. We draw on the qualitative data to refine and extend these theories, and to come up with a definition of the concept “nature play.” This systematic review also sets a base for future research on play interventions in nature-based environments. We argue that (1) research will benefit from thoroughly conceptualizing the role of play in the development of young children, (2) using the affordances theory research will benefit from moving beyond the individual play actions as a unit of analysis, and (3) from an educational perspective it is important to shift the focus of nature play to its benefits for children’s cognitive development. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T08:10:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5138f9135bdd43409d38e035ce0f6a31 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T08:10:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-5138f9135bdd43409d38e035ce0f6a312022-12-22T04:35:22ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-11-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.995164995164Nature play in early childhood education: A systematic review and meta ethnography of qualitative researchJannette Prins0Femke van der Wilt1Femke van der Wilt2Chiel van der Veen3Chiel van der Veen4Dieuwke Hovinga5Department of Education, Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Rotterdam, NetherlandsDepartment of Educational and Family Studies, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NetherlandsLEARN! Research Institute, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NetherlandsDepartment of Educational and Family Studies, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NetherlandsLEARN! Research Institute, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NetherlandsDepartment of Education, University of Applied Sciences Leiden, Leiden, NetherlandsPlay in nature-based environments in childhood education has positive benefits for child development. Although previous reviews showed the benefits of play in nature-based environments for child development they did not attempt to understand how and why nature-based environments contribute to play quality. This review aims to explore the value of play in nature-based environments compared to non-nature-based environments for developmental outcomes of young children (2–8 year). We searched for studies that investigated the relation between play and nature-based environments on the databases PsycINFO, ERIC, and Web of Science. Inclusion/exclusion criteria were: (1) the study focused on play in/on a nature based environment, (2) the study included participants between the age of 2–8 years, (3) it was an empirical study, (4) the study was conducted in the context of early childhood education (ECE), and (5) the study included participants without special needs or disabilities. Using these criteria we selected 28 qualitative studies with an overall sample size of N = 998 children aged 2–8 years. The studies were synthesized using an adaptation of Noblit and Hare’s meta-ethnographic approach. Three overarching themes were found: (1) the aspects of play quality that are related to nature-based environments, (2) the aspects of nature-based environments that support play, and (3) the aspects of teacher-child interactions that contribute to nature play quality. The meta themes resonate with play theories and theories of the restorative value of nature. We draw on the qualitative data to refine and extend these theories, and to come up with a definition of the concept “nature play.” This systematic review also sets a base for future research on play interventions in nature-based environments. We argue that (1) research will benefit from thoroughly conceptualizing the role of play in the development of young children, (2) using the affordances theory research will benefit from moving beyond the individual play actions as a unit of analysis, and (3) from an educational perspective it is important to shift the focus of nature play to its benefits for children’s cognitive development.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.995164/fullplaynature-based environmentplay environmentearly childhood educationnature playcognitive development |
| spellingShingle | Jannette Prins Femke van der Wilt Femke van der Wilt Chiel van der Veen Chiel van der Veen Dieuwke Hovinga Nature play in early childhood education: A systematic review and meta ethnography of qualitative research Frontiers in Psychology play nature-based environment play environment early childhood education nature play cognitive development |
| title | Nature play in early childhood education: A systematic review and meta ethnography of qualitative research |
| title_full | Nature play in early childhood education: A systematic review and meta ethnography of qualitative research |
| title_fullStr | Nature play in early childhood education: A systematic review and meta ethnography of qualitative research |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nature play in early childhood education: A systematic review and meta ethnography of qualitative research |
| title_short | Nature play in early childhood education: A systematic review and meta ethnography of qualitative research |
| title_sort | nature play in early childhood education a systematic review and meta ethnography of qualitative research |
| topic | play nature-based environment play environment early childhood education nature play cognitive development |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.995164/full |
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