Children’s Rough-and-Tumble Play in a Supportive Early Childhood Education and Care Environment.

The study explores the prevalence and characteristics of rough-and-tumble play (R&T) both indoors and outdoors, in a Norwegian context where children are free to choose what they want to play, where they want to play and who they want to play with.

The results show that the children liked rough-and-tumble play indoors better than outdoors. Boys in particular participated more often in rough-and-tumble play, such as play fighting. The girls often preferred less physically demanding rough-and-tumble play. Most of the times where the children participated in rough-and-tumble play, boys and girls were divided into separate groups, but they were in the same area. The study points out that rough-and-tumble play contributes to children's development of perception, motor skills and social skills.

The data material was collected using systematic and random video observations of children during free play in both indoor and outdoor environments on two occasions in eight kindergartens (T1 and T2). Ten children (five girls and five boys) between the ages of three and five were randomly selected from each kindergarten. The indoor environments of all the kindergartens had toys and equipment suitable for different types of play and daily activities. The outdoor environments varied in size and had traditional playground equipment.

Storli, R. (2021). "Children’s Rough-and-Tumble Play in a Supportive Early Childhood Education and Care Environment". International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(19):10469.