Småbarn i naturbarnehager om vinteren.

The study compares nature daycare centres (naturbarnehagene) with conventional daycare centres. The purpose is to examine what facilities the children are offered in the winter in the two types of institutions. Focus is on the components; outdoor time, activities during outdoor time as well as trips. Furthermore, the study examines initiatives by nature daycare centres to provide the children with good nature experiences.

The study shows that nature institutions are more flexible and are more likely to adjust outdoor activities to the children's ability. They are also more capable of meeting the challenges involved in being outdoors with toddlers in the winter. For example, the nature institutions are better at dividing the group of children, so the children who are cold can go inside. Nature institutions also have outdoor-indoor rooms in which the children can keep their outdoor clothes on. Small groups of children and a high number of early childhood educators are important prerequisites for offering toddlers a meaningful outdoor experience.

The study shows that there are considerable differences in the facilities nature institutions and conventional daycare centres can offer the children, not least measured in terms of time outdoors. On average, children at nature institutions are outside for 2.7 hours a day, whereas children in conventional daycare centres are outside for 0.6 hours a day. There are also differences in the frequency of outdoor activities arranged by the early childhood educators in the two types of institutions; climbing, sledging and skiing are more common at nature institutions and the children at these institutions go on more trips.

The data material is based on field observations recorded in table form of toddler-group playrooms in five Norwegian integrated daycare centres - two nature daycare centres and three conventional institutions. Moreover, interviews were carried out with early childhood educators from the five institutions, but the study only reports on interview material from the two nature institutions. Data collection was carried out by five student early childhood educators in winter 2011. Each student collected data from one daycare centre. The average age of the children in the five institutions was 23 months.

Sando, O.J. & Lysklett, O.B. (2013). Småbarn i naturbarnehager om vinteren. In I. Pareliussen, B.B. Moen, A. Reinertsen & T. Solhaug (red.), FoU i praksis 2012 conference proceedings (224-231). Trondheim: Akademika forlag.