Children’s preferences for schoolyard features and understanding of ecosystem service innovations–a study in five Swedish preschools.

The study investigates which elements kindergarten children prefer in the kindergarten's outdoor area, and how the children experience and use the different parts of the outdoor area, both before and after the installation of new environmental elements aimed at promoting natural ecosystems. The research questions are: 1) What elements of the kindergarten's outdoor area are the children's favourites, and what opportunities do these provide? 2) How do the children perceive the new environmental elements, which are intended to promote ecosystems in the kindergarten's outdoor area?

The results show that few children showed spontaneous interest in the newly installed environmental elements, such as insect hotels. However, the analysis suggests that this may be because the children were not sufficiently involved in the development of the outdoor area and were given limited opportunities to explore the various elements and functions. This doesn't necessarily mean that the children weren't interested, but rather that they didn't have the opportunity to discover and appreciate the new elements. The researchers therefore recommend that children be involved to a greater extent in programmes to improve the kindergarten's outdoor areas.

23 children aged four years old from five Swedish kindergartens participated in the study. The data material was collected using walk-and-talk conversations of which audio recordings were made. During these sessions, which were usually one-to-one between researcher and child (in two cases, two children accompanied by the researcher), the children were asked to show and photograph their favourite places in the kindergarten's outdoor area. The children were encouraged to explain what they liked about the place, how they used it and whether they used to spend time there alone or with others. The walk-and-talk conversations were repeated a year later, after kindergartens had installed new environmental elements to promote natural ecosystems. The same children participated and were asked the same questions as last time.

Almers, E., Askerlund, P., Samuelsson, T., Waite, S. (2021). “Children’s preferences for schoolyard features and understanding of ecosystem service innovations–a study in five Swedish preschools”. Journal of adventure education and outdoor learning, 21(3):230-246.