Scheperboer, C. (Coen) (2017) Is the grass always greener in a green playground? The effect of greening a playground on children’s play behaviour. thesis, Human Movement Sciences.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Green playgrounds have been repeatedly suggested as a superior alternative for the often criticized conventional playgrounds. Among the aspects that have been praised, are the argued preference of children for nature and physical activity (PA) promoting influence of green playgrounds. However, the universality of these claims is questionable from an affordances perspective. The present study examined whether children are attracted to natural elements in a playground consisting of both natural and conventional elements, whether the addition of natural elements in a playground cause a change in the PA of children and if the effect of greening a playground is different for children of different ages. To this end, two groups consisting of children from different ages played in a conventional and a greened playground. The children were allowed to play freely in both playgrounds for 20 minutes, whereafter the locations and the activities of the children were analysed. Surprisingly, the results showed that the natural elements in the greened playground were less attracting to the children than the conventional elements. In addition, the results showed that the children aged 7-9 were less active in the greened playground compared to the conventional one. The implications of these findings are explored in light of an affordances perspective.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Withagen, R. |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 11 May 2022 09:10 |
| Last Modified: | 11 May 2022 09:10 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3267 |
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