Tagfat nu: En rapport om idrætsbørnehaver og børnehaveidræt.

The objective of this study is to clarify the pedagogical practice at sports kindergartens, with special focus on the conditions and purpose of play initiated by adults. The study seeks to identify the structural, organisational and personnel conditions which form the foundation for sports in a pedagogical context. The study looks back at the emergence of the first kindergartens in Denmark and presents the architects of kindergarten pedagogics.  This is continued with a review of the perceptions of sports didactics, play, and exercise in a historical perspective.  The study analyses sports pedagogical practice, including the significance of the physical framework for children’s motor-skills and learning processes. Differences and similarities between club sports, school sports and kindergarten sports are highlighted.

The social, organisational and personnel conditions for child sports are in many areas conflicting and hard to reconcile. The child carer has to take into account the various contextual conditions and consider the form and content sports should have. Sports at kindergartens form the object of didactic considerations other than those linked to school sports and club sports.  Sport activities at kindergarten often differ from sport activities at school in many ways. For instance kindergarten sport activities can take place at many different times during the day; they can include everybody and do not necessarily have the same rules or purpose as sports generally (e.g. winning/losing). In addition, sport activities at kindergartens have the potential of inclusion. However, the study also shows that sport activities at kindergartens depend on the training and commitment of the child carer.

The report builds on more than 25 video observations of children at play, with focus on the adult-child relationship. In addition, 11 interviews with child carers were conducted at six sports kindergartens. The sports games were analysed on the basis of a grounded theory approach.

Brus, A. (2006). Tagfat nu: En rapport om idrætsbørnehaver og børnehaveidræt. København: BUPL.