Children engage in nature exploration and social interaction during recess in a natural schoolyard Research suggests that spending time in nature during the school day can improve children’s attention and concentration, promote connection with nature, increase resilience, decrease stress and support positive interaction between students. Because children spend much of their time at school, an improved understanding of how the physical environment shapes engagement with nature in school contexts is needed. This study employed a quasi-experimental research design to investigate children’s experiences of place and play behaviors during recess in a natural ‘green’ schoolyard compared to recess in a built ‘grey’ schoolyard. The study examined children’s drawings and written descriptions of their free and unstructured activities to increase understanding of “how children perceive the physical environment, how they interact with it, and their play and non-play behaviors during their recess in natural (vs. built) schoolyards.”
The study was conducted at two primary schools located in cities in Italy. Both schools had existing natural (school garden) and built (basketball court) outdoor areas. Participants included 298 children (average age 9.6 years) in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes. As classes, participants were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions. Seven classes (152 students) were assigned to the natural environment condition and another seven classes (146 students) were assigned to the built environment condition. For one day, during their regular 30-minute-long recess, the children had recreational free time in their assigned environment (natural or built). Immediately after recess, the children were given 15 minutes to create drawings of their recess setting. The children were also later given 15 minutes to write a description of the activities they engaged in during recess. Children’s drawings and written descriptions were analyzed with qualitative coding methods. Attention was focused on children’s perceptions of the physical environment, children-environment interactions, and activities and play behaviors during recess. Statistical analyses were also conducted to determine if significant differences existed in the key elements identified in drawings and written descriptions between the natural and built environment conditions.
Analysis of written descriptions and drawings revealed differences between the two conditions. Written descriptions indicated that children in the natural environment engaged in significantly more exploratory behaviors, conversations, and rough and tumble behaviors. The built environment had significantly more dramatic play and games-with-rules behaviors. Significant differences were also found between children’s drawings. The drawings of children in the natural environment contained more light green color, showed the environment as open, and did not show activity. Drawings of the built environment used the color grey more frequently, portrayed the environment as closed, showed more sad faces and interactions between children, and included play involving a ball or play with rules. Drawings from students in the natural environment also showed significantly more and greater variation in types of plants and animals, and contained more details in their depictions of people, plants, and atmospheric conditions. The presence of details in the drawings may indicate children’s interest in visually exploring natural elements and the value they place on these natural features. Drawings from students in the built environment showed more people, built features (benches, buildings), objects and toys, and motion. The main elements that differentiated children’s recess in the natural versus the built environment were also identified. Elements related to children’s experience that showed the most variation between the two settings included the number of play and non-play behaviors, the presence of active conversation, movement and details in drawings. Elements related to children’s descriptions of the environment revealed that the presence of plants and animals, built features and light green in drawings were the main distinguishing features between natural and built conditions.
Overall, the study reveals “how both natural and built schoolyards can afford different experiences and play and non-play behaviors in school children.” Results suggest that recess in the ‘green’ schoolyard supported nature exploration and social interaction, while the ‘grey’ schoolyard encouraged structured types of play, especially games with rules. The authors suggest that designing schoolyards that include both natural and built settings will allow children the freedom to choose how to spend their recess time, which may enhance well-being.
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