An exploration of infant and toddler unstructured outdoor play

ABSTRACT

Unstructured outdoor play is important for children's development. The present study examined infants’ and toddlers’ physical and social unstructured outdoor play behaviors within childcare centers. Children's outdoor play behaviors were video recorded at two centers (A&B) and assessed using a modified version of the Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children in Preschool (OSRAC-P). Children in this study primarily took part in active play (56.7%) and engaged in play without any type of prompting from a teacher (91.2%). There was a significant interaction between the effect of center and location on physically active play (p < 0.001). Children at Center B were most active in open play areas (77.6%), while children at Center A were most active in gross motor play areas (72.2%). In sum, the outdoor play environment influences infants’ and toddlers’ physical and social play behaviors; however, more research is needed to determine the optimal environment for development.

KEYWORDS:

• Play
• infant
• toddler
• childcare
• outdoor
• activity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability

The data set can be made available by contacting the corresponding author.

Compliance with ethical standards

Ethical approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

ORCID

Danae Dinkel http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0262-4429

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Nebraska Foundation.