Background to the Research

• Playday is the annual celebration of children's play, coordinated by the Children's Play Council with Playboard Northern Ireland, Play Scotland and Play Wales. The Children's Play Council, part of the National Children's Bureau, is a strategic alliance of organisations working to promote the importance of play and to stimulate better play opportunities. The Children's Play Council commissioned this review for Playday 2006.
  

Research Approach

• The theme for Playday 2006 was Play, naturally, which was chosen to represent the recognition that children have a natural drive to play and enjoy playing in natural environments. This review explores some of the research associated with this theme. The two central criteria of a child-friendly environment have been regarded as a diversity of environmental resources and access to play and exploration - these two significant and inter-connected criteria form the underlying basis of the review.
  

Main Findings

Children's Natures

• Extensive research shows that children have a strong and deep-rooted sensitivity to the natural world. Whilst there is evidence to support that this is biologically determined, other perspectives recognise the interplay of genes, individuals and environment in the expression of this attachment.
• Any attempt to explore children's relationship with the natural world must take into account that the human relationship with the natural world is complex; and the distinction between nature and human-made is a relatively new concept.
• For children, play is a biological drive and the primary mechanism through which they encounter and explore their immediate physical environments. Children play instinctively with natural elements: they are natural experts.
• As such, play is the process whereby children fulfil their drive to affiliate with nature; and natural environments provide optimal settings for children to engage and actualise their drive to play.
  

The Values and Benefits of Children's Play in Natural Settings

• There is substantial evidence that supports the wide-ranging values and benefits arising from children's play in natural settings. The research allows for some important conclusions about the relationship between children's play and natural environments to be drawn:
  • Natural environments support a wide range of children's play. The diverse, dynamic and flexible features found in natural spaces afford opportunities for extensive intentional play behaviours.
  • Whilst children do not necessarily differentiate between natural and artificial elements in their play, predominantly natural outdoor settings are more likely to be perceived by children as free from adult agendas and thus more open to the possibilities of play.
  • Playing in natural spaces offers possibilities for: control and mastery, construction of special spaces, manipulating loose parts, different ways of moving, risk-taking etc. Childhood experiences of playing with nature also instil a sense of wonder, stimulating creativity, imagination and symbolic play.
  • Children's opportunities to access their immediate natural environments supports the development of a sense of place and attachment. Playing in natural spaces also supports a child's sense of self, allowing children to recognise their independence alongside an interdependence and connectedness with their ecological worlds.
  • The powerful combination of a diversity of play experiences and direct contact with nature has direct benefits for children's physical, mental and emotional health. Free play opportunities in natural settings offer possibilities for restoration, and hence, well-being. Collectively, the benefits fully support the outcomes established in 'Every Child Matters'.

The State of Play: Children's Access to Natural Play Spaces

• Extensive research indicates that opportunities for children to access and play freely in natural spaces are currently seriously compromised, due to a variety of interconnected factors.
• Adult influences and poor environmental quality negatively affect children's play behaviours and may distort the ways in which children instinctively interact with natural elements and environments.
• Given the significant benefits that arise from children's playful contact with natural environments, there may be discernible consequences for children's well-being from contemporary limitations and restrictions to outdoor play.

Supporting Children's Opportunities to Play in Natural Spaces

• There are a number of existing 'compensatory' initiatives that seek to address the issue of children's access to natural play experiences - both as specific focused provision and at a more general level.
• The development of local authority play strategies should clearly acknowledge the importance of children's natural play in natural space and identify appropriate responses to enhance children's play lives.
• Children's access to everyday nature needs to be protected and developed. This may comprise a mosaic of: designated nature sites, public green spaces, 'waste ground', school grounds and naturalistic playgrounds.
• Research principles and successful practice should be incorporated into the design of outdoor spaces that support children's natural play.
• The playwork sector working jointly with key partners has demonstrated a high degree of success across a range of projects supporting environmental play provision. Elements of good practice are emerging.
• There is a recognisable need to develop consistency in environmental play provision through: sustainable funding, training, networking and strategic support.