Many studies suggest that children are increasingly disengaged with the natural environment and in contrast to past decades spend significantly less free time exploring natural play places. Other studies suggest that from the ages of three to eight, foundational childhood memories are formed, and these memories likely influence adult beliefs regarding the natural environment. The goal of this study was to examine the character and ecology of adults’ childhood memories of nature, along with how they potentially shaped the individual as they progressed through life. Adults between the ages of eighteen to twenty-seven were interviewed using a semi structured format, and asked to fill out two questionnaires to detect themes between memories and environmental beliefs. Responses were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results help to identify the behaviours and experiences that encourage children to engage with the natural environment, allowing play spaces to be designed in order to foster environmental connectivity.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional & Community Planning / Hyung Jin Kim / Nature-based play is gaining attention in early childhood education because of the social, physical, and cognitive benefits from interacting with nature at a young age (International Play Association 2014). Some studies provide strong evidence to suggest that nature-based unstructured play can have a positive benefit on early childhood development and improve the socialization, problem solving, confidence, creativity, autonomy, and self-awareness in children as well as their physical health (Fjortoft 2004, Louv 2005). The purpose of this study is to identify differences in play behavior among preschoolers that may influence early childhood development between standard or traditional playgrounds and playgrounds designed with interaction with nature, or access to nature, and, thus, to suggest design solutions for play environment, which responds to the issues this research identifies. This is a comparative observational study on play behavior between two study settings, including nature-based and standard/traditional-play environments with nature-access . Comparative observations were conducted at the Center for Child Development (nature-based) and Hoeflin Stone House Early Childhood Center (standard) at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Preschoolers’ play behaviors and behavior-environment interactions in both settings were compared using behavioral mapping and time-lapse observation (20 minutes per subject) techniques in which their location, activities, and interactions were recorded. Findings suggest that children in nature-based playgrounds are more likely to be physically active and creative with their play. Also, movable and manipulative play elements (“loose parts”) allow children to engage in more social activities than standard anchored playground element vs. standard playgrounds, however, allow children to explore games with rules and provide valuable development for motor and social skills. Therefore, this study suggests a design approach that is a hybrid between designed nature and standard play in a way that utilizes the positive aspects of both types of play. These findings will lead to a call for research and design into the direction of creating outdoor play environments that infuse standard play structures with natural environments.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Huston Gibson / Play is essential to the development of children, as it serves as the main platform for a child to begin to explore his or her world and understand their physical and social environment. It is not a frivolous activity, but a method of learning. Despite this recognition, many playground designs are still steered, wrongly so, by unwarranted societal fears of safety. Such playgrounds lack developmental benefits due to their composition of isolated, prefab plastic components on an asphalt field. Despite recognition in the late twentieth century that “childhood itself is in danger of extinction”, many playground are still sterile in nature. The time is now for designers to look critically at playground design trends and intervene to improve the quality of the environments our children are exposed too. The positive development of the next generation, our children, depends on it. In the case of the community of La Chuscada in Chinandega, Nicaragua, economic status presents a major barrier to the creation of beneficial learning environments. This project addresses the hardships of implementing a developmentally beneficial playground, and through the collaboration with the Amigos for Christ philanthropic organization and interior architecture student Aaron Bisch, offers solutions to achieve this goal. Culture-specific influences of play are explored and survey data from the community of La Chuscada reveal strategies for the implementation of a nature playground design that offers developmental benefits for the children of the community.

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Self-motivated activities, or play, that children choose to engage in are manifestations of a variety of science process skills being used to construct knowledge about their environment. While many people agree that science skills should be fostered at an early age, due to the possible positive influence of a wider base of experiential knowledge and the development of a love of science, there is a lack of research available to support the development of early childhood science curriculum (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997, Brenneman, Stevenson-Boyd & Frede, 2009). This study follows the daily activities of four- and five-year-old children attending a science-based preschool in the southwestern United States. The play activities of the children were observed for their use of the science process skills of observing, comparing, classifying, measuring, communicating, inferring, predicting and experimenting. A wide range of play activities centered around the foundational skills of observing, comparing, measuring, communicating and inferring. The teachers and students combine to create a unique environment promoting excitement and exploration. / text

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