Running Head: Play in Early Childhood 1

Play in Early Childhood Education and Its Effect on Children

Courtney Krueger
County College of Morris
Play in Early Childhood 2

Play in Early Childhood Education and Its Effect on Children

The article “The Natural Environment as a Playground for Children: The Impact of

Outdoor Play Activities in Pre-Primary School Children” by Ingunn Fjørtoft is an article related

to the effect that outdoor play has on children. Fjørtoft argues that play is a very important and

necessary part of childhood and should be enforced in schools. He notes how children are now

spending way too much time on electronics instead of playing outside. “Norwegian studies have

revealed a disquieting tendency that children are becoming more sedentary in their adolescence.

They spend more time, approximately three hours a day, on TV, video, and electronic media”

(Fjørtoft 111). Although this article revolves around Norway, it is still very relevant in the

United States. And although it is 17 years old, the use of technology has gotten so much greater

that the point is even more emphasized. He goes on to say, “Four out of ten children expressed a

wish for more time for physical activity (Hansen, 1999), but children complain about the lack of

suitable arenas for play and free time activities, such as grounds for climbing, building dens,

sliding, and skiing (Mjaavatn, 1999)” (Fjørtoft 111). Fjørtoft is arguing that there needs to be

more, safe, places for children to play and express their energy. He points out a researcher named

Frost, who “argued that natural features are important qualities of playgrounds, and that the

natural features allow a wide range of learning opportunities not available from other playground

options” (Fjørtoft 112). Fjørtoft also notes that Scandinavia is big on outdoor play and allows

their kindergarteners to play in a natural outside environment almost all day, which has improved

their creativity, health, motivation and motor ability.

A study was done in Norway that took 2 groups of kindergarteners and observed their

play for 9 months. One group was given 1-2 hours per day in natural environment (a forest),

while the other group was given 1-2 hours per day in a traditional playground. They were tested

on their motor abilities and things like balancing, running, flexibility, etc. “At the pretest the
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reference group scored better than the experimental group (Table 1). At the posttest the

experimental group had caught up with the reference group and significant differences between

the pre- and posttest in all the test items except for flexibility (sit and reach) were found within

the experimental group. The improvement within the reference group was not as striking (Table

1)” (Fjørtoft 115). This shows that allowing children to play in a more natural and less structured

area will benefit them in terms of their motor abilities.

This article shows the importance of outdoor play in early childhood and how it can

benefit the children. Today, it has become a big issue that children are too glued to their

electronics and are not being active. This is an important thing to note when it comes to play

because it stresses the importance of it in an elementary school. Although it was not as

significant, even the reference group who played in the playground improved their motor

abilities by playing outside every day. Sitting and watching a screen all day can be very

detrimental to a child’s health and since they are already getting a lot of screen time at home,

outside time at school is especially important. I thought this article was very interesting because I

had never thought to let kindergarteners play in a forest. I definitely see how that would help

their creativity as they don’t have as much to play with and have to stretch their imagination to

have fun. But I thought it was very interesting how this article showed that not only cognitively

did the forest help the children, but it also helped them physically. This article is very important

when it comes to outdoor play because it shows the impact of it and why it is required in schools.

I’m not sure if playing in the forest is something that would ever work in elementary schools or

day cares, mostly due to safety reasons. But it is an interesting thought and maybe schools can

use that to alter their playground/play area to benefit the children.

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The article “The Influence of School Architecture and Design on the Outdoor Play

Experience within the Primary School” by Marc Armitage goes over “The study of children’s

play at school – not ‘play’ used within the classroom as a teaching method but the play of

children during their own free time of playtimes and lunchtimes” (Armitage 535). Armitage

argues that there is indeed a problem with play in school and that some of the answers to these

problems can be found in how play is designed in the schools. He begins at looking at why

playtime is being reduced or eliminated, the first reason he states is because of violence.

Violence in children’s play has increased “schools are tempted to reduce opportunities for this

‘roughness’ by drastically reducing playtime at school, or even by removing it altogether”

(Armitage 536). Another reason it has been reduced is to increased screen time that is replacing

play with computer games and television. Children are spending less time playing outside and

more time starting at a tablet, which can negatively affect them. This is why it is especially

important to require outdoor play in schools because a lot of kids aren’t getting it at home, or at

least not nearly as much as the generations before them did. This article notes that despite the

changes in play, games and activities, that children games are things that have carried on from

generation to generation, although many believe they have not. “If a present day schoolchild was

wafted back to any previous century he would probably find himself more at home with the

games being played than with any other social custom” (Armitage 537, 538). Games like

hopscotch, hide and seek, jump rope, tag, etc. are games that have been around for awhile and

are still often used today.

Armitage uses lots of research to argue that it is not only what is being played and how

often, but where it is being played that makes a difference. “Children’s play is influenced largely

by the environment in which t takes place and the materials available that can be included”
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(Armitage 539). The environment in which children play in and what materials are offered to

them make a difference in their learning experience. Being aware of that and willing to make

accommodations to the play area to fit the children’s need is important. Just like Fjørtoft, he

argues that a more natural setting is more beneficial to the play of children opposed to a

playground. Armitage goes into the history of playgrounds and how from the beginning schools

have also had outside space available. He also notes how the restrictions of playgrounds have

increased since school shootings became more common. There are different types of

playgrounds and how they are set up that are discussed in this article. Schools started with a

square shaped building in which the playground was on the perimeter, making a U or L shape.

These buildings did not have flat walls and allowed for nooks and crannies for the children to

play in. They then began to have less nooks and crannies and the playground began to move

further away from the walls. The modern day playgrounds are now completely separated from

school and often times don’t let the children near the walls because of the grass by them.

I really enjoyed reading this article and found it had a lot of useful information in it. I

think it is important to go over reasons why play may be a smaller part of curriculums and how

that could be because parents fear it provokes aggression or that it is simply easier to put children

in front of a screen. I also think it is important how he notes that play is not just play that is

incorporated into lesson, but actual free play requires children to explore and not be limited to

what they want to do. I also really liked his point about how a lot of games are timeless.

Thinking about it there are so many games that have been around for ages and continue to be

played because although technology is slowly getting rid of play, there is something about

playing those games that is so entertaining and cannot be replaced. Another part of this article

that I found super interesting was the history of the playgrounds. I have only ever grown up
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playing on a modern playground, so looking at how they used to be was very intriguing. I think

that allowing the children access to the sides of the building and the nook and crannies would be

a great thing for them. They can use those spaces as part of their games which I think is a really

good idea, especially if they are playing games that need two walls like sharks and minos.

This article states the importance of outdoor play as well as how the design of it can have

an impact on how children play. I had never really thought about how the shape and location of

the playground changes how the children play but this article suggests that it can. It might not be

as practical to go back to the perimeter-style playground as it would distract the classes that are

inside, but I think that elements from that could be incorporated into the design of playgrounds.

As a school, it is important to spark the children’s activity and creativity and allow them a space

that is going to help them the most in doing that. Just like the first article, this article is important

in that it emphasizes evaluating the play space we give children and what can be done to make it

better for them. Play is an extremely important part of child development and always looking at

way to improve it is very beneficial to children.

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References

Fjørtoft, I. (2001). The Natural Environment as a Playground for Children: The Impact of

Outdoor Play Activities in Pre-Primary School Children. Early Childhood Education

Journal, 29(2), 111–117.

Armitage, M. (2005). The Influence of School Architecture and Design on the Outdoor Play

Experience within the Primary School. Paedagogica Historica, 41(4/5), 535–553.