Therefore, a starting point lies in promoting opportunities for action in safe, instigating and children-orientated spaces, notably gregarious and natural ones in our view. Thus, in this chapter we pose as our research question, how can outdoor spaces be afforded by infants and toddlers (under-twos) within pedagogical conceptions, practices and contexts? More specifcally, how, when and which outdoor spaces could babies access, occupy and participate in their everyday experiences in collective educational settings, and how does pedagogical practice constrain the process?

Specifcally, as our aim in this chapter, we seek to investigate the possibilities of access, occupation and participation of under-two babies in outdoor spaces within the pedagogical work of a Brazilian ECEC centre. To this end, we will discuss how these elements constrain infants` and toddlers experiences and appropriation of different spaces. This leads us to our theoretical approach.

# **3.3 Theoretical Approach**

Network of meanings, educational space and the autonomous embodied baby.

The perspective of the Network of Meanings (Rossetti-Ferreira et al., 2007) is a theoretical methodological tool that has been constituted from a historical dialogue between theory, research and praxis originally from developmental studies of young children in early childhood education settings. Based on cultural-historical authors such as Vygotsky, Wallon, Valsiner and Bakhtin, we conceptualize development as a process temporally (co)constructed by active people in specifc scenarios that are culturally and socially situated.

Such conceptualization causes the researcher's focus to shift from the individual viewpoint to people and groups in interaction, their interdependence, synergy, negotiations, conficts, and mutual constitution. The phenomena are observed through the lens of a processual view in naturalistic contexts, with attention to the persistence and/or transformation of elements that, jointly, contribute to reconstructing developmental trajectories within an ecological reality. This foregrounds the intimate and reciprocal constitution between person and context through the experiences that unfold (Rossetti-Ferreira et al., 2007; Vygotsky, 1934, 2010).

In this person-context intertwining, the environment is apprehended and appropriated differently according to children's specifc developmental condition and their sensory, motor, perceptual and symbolic organizations (Carvalho, Pedrosa, & Rossetti-Ferreira, 2012; Vygotsky, 1934, 2010) that become materialized in the concreteness of the society-nature relationship inserted a socio-historical matrix. Therefore, the environment is not the same at all ages, and it affords differing motivations, affective states, developmental stages and socio-cultural materiality for children. As the child's experience constitutes an inseparable unity with the meanings that are elaborated in the process, while children change throughout their development, the environment acquires new meanings according to their experiences and interpretations attributed socially, affecting and constituting dialectically the person-context unity (Vygostky, 1934; Vygotsky, 2010).

In view of the person-context unity, when it comes to ECEC contexts, the conceptualization and role of space becomes central. We defne space as a curricular element, often referred to as the "third educator", which, in addition to its physical delimitation, is the place where life happens (Forneiro, 1998). For children, space is what they experience, feel and do within its contours, where meanings emerge and constitute the experiences that are unveiled there. Though space and environment may be used equivalently, here they are conceptually distinct. The physical space relates to the places where educational situations are developed, whereas the environment comprises the various objects, shapes, colours, aromas and people that inhabit and relate within the delimitation of the physical structure, as an inseparable whole.

Therefore, the environment is dynamic, lively, and embraces all these pulsating elements, constituting four interrelated dimensions: physical space – refers to concrete and organizational aspects; temporal – refers to the times and rhythms of use, including historical time, routine, and contrasting individual pacing; functional – refers to the mode and purpose of use; and, relational – refers to the people, circumstances, possible interactions and norms of use (Forneiro, 1998). In the triple logic of space – environment – place, the environment is the locus of experience, where the mediating adult, who knows and presents the objects of culture, brings the child closer to a place (Moreira, 2013).

As free movement and the autonomy of the child are starting points to this end, we should consider infants' developmental specifcities, their organization and competence for social life, their possibilities for action and apprehension of the world according to what they can perceive and do with their bodies and their ability to affect and be affected by the others. Seeking to integrate these elements, we work with the notion of "embodiment" which is an instance of inseparable complementarity between the physical concreteness of the body and its experiences through active engagement with the world and others (Overton, 2008). In a dialogical relationship, the body signifes and is signifed, expressed through tonicity, postures, gestures, movements of approaching or distancing, among other actions (Amorim & Rossetti-Ferreira, 2008) that allow the baby to play different roles and connect in an intercorporeal relationship.

As a rapidly-changing process, infants` relationship with the environment through embodiment changes drastically in a matter of months. In the frst two years of life, it is estimated that their height doubles, the bodyweight nearly quadruples and the circumference of the head increases by about a third (Adolph, 2008). Mobility gradually develops along with postural progression from the supine position until upright posture alongside the development of expanded gestures and movements that require increased balance, coordination, strength and speed. All these elements entail key transformations of perceptual-bodily possibilities and strategies, as well as the meanings attributed to infants, the places where they are taken to, how they are positioned, and how, in turn, they may embrace or confict these (pro)positions (Amorim & Rossetti-Ferreira, 2008).

These aspects draw attention to the practitioners` challenge of preparing environments in their functional, spatial, temporal and interactional dimensions (Forneiro, 1998) so that infants may act, express themselves, dialogue with various social actors and thus exercise their fundamental rights of participating in society (Coutinho & Vieira, 2020). In counterpoint, we as researchers and scientifc toolmakers (Holzman & Newman, 1993) must take an active role in our relationship with the researched events and subjects, by building and making use of epistemological and methodological constructs that will amplify infants` action and standpoint. In our immersion in this effort, there are constant "zooming in" and "zooming out" analytical movements, in which epistemological premises channel elements and interpretations to the observed events (Rossetti-Ferreira et al., 2007) that may stand out as "fgure", while others remain in the "background" as a network formation, always as a selection from a greater whole. Given these issues, we then present the construction of our methodological outline.

# **3.4 Methodology**

We bring a qualitative case study (Rey, 2020; Yin, 2009) of a government-funded daycare centre in a medium-sized city in the state of São Paulo. The local Ethics Committee authorized the research, a partnership was established with the institution, and the participants granted their consent. Our unit of analysis (Matusov, 2007) in this chapter was the pedagogical situations in outdoor spaces developed throughout the year.

The study followed the frst year of full-time attendance of a group of infants and toddlers, internally subdivided into two groups according to age. Throughout the frst semester, both remained in the nursery module, but given the difference in development, the group of toddlers was moved to a different sector from the second semester onwards. Henceforth, our records shall focus mainly on the younger group, comprising six infants (3 boys and 3 girls, initial age from 7 months to 12 months).

The follow-up was monthly and longitudinal, throughout the school year, according to the Brazilian calendar. Observational material comprises naturalistic observations, video recordings and feld notes that sought to accompany moments of routine (sleep, food, bath, exchange), moments of play, and moments of interaction throughout the period of stay. For the present work, we selected only the material related to the presence of infants in outdoor spaces.

In addition to this material, the daycare centre generously granted us images from its own collection along with class reports, written by the teachers, to further detail the pedagogical actions regarding the use of outdoors. Finally, we collected informal accounts from the teachers and prominent people involved in the history of conceiving and constructing the centre, so that the previously mentioned records contemplated the pedagogical intentionality intertwined with the practices.

From the triangulation of this material, we identifed all the records that presented the infant group in outdoor spaces and organized them chronologically to investigate whether their use occurred in everyday life, and if, over time, additional spaces were included in the group's routine. In our analysis, we initially present the centre and its outdoor spatial confguration. Next, by organizing such records and reports temporally and thematically, we developed pedagogical narratives (Coutinho & Vieira, 2020) seeking to apprehend which outdoor spaces were most commonly accessed routinely, what were the possibilities of using these spaces beyond teachers` routine practice and whether/which new outdoor spaces were introduced over time. Henceforth, we will proceed to the presentation of the case and discuss our fndings.

# **3.5 Results and Discussion**

Our case study is of a publicly funded daycare centre that was built in a farm of 8000 m2, in the outskirts of town. The original building functioned as a silkworms rearing house, which was later transformed into the Rural School Group, and fnally into a daycare centre. This educational space, therefore, was surrounded by large outdoor areas, abounding with grass, fruit trees and allowing broad contact with nature.

In the centre's historical process, spatial conception and structuring received infuence from the pedagogy of authors such as Anísio Teixeira, Celéstin Freinet and Daniel Élkonin, who based on scientifc progress of children's psychology from

**Fig. 3.1** Visual representation of the nursery complex

their time, advocated for greater freedom and autonomy for children. Also, relying on studies of environmental psychology, child development and education (Rossetti-Ferreira, Oliveira, Campos-de-Carvalho, & Amorim, 2010) institutional training oriented teachers' practice of (re)creating barriers and spatial geometry that could facilitate children's visual access of objects and same-age peers and foster greater participation, autonomy and spontaneous grouping. The centre was organized in sectors according to age groups and purpose and here we will focus on the external spaces that were intended for babies, notably those attached to the nursery complex and the wider outdoors.

The nursery complex, illustrated in Fig. 3.1, was composed of a variety of internal and external spaces, some equipped for care routine (bathing, eating, sleeping) and others structured for moments of interaction and play. The inner playroom had a seamless and unrestricted access to a balcony, providing outdoor-indoor connectedness (Kernan & Devine, 2010), and had intermediate access to the other boundaried outdoor spaces (Kernan & Devine, ibid) attached to the nursery complex, requiring passage through indoor spaces, with midway obstruction of baby gates on the doors. There was also a large solarium, which was accessed via a ramp attached to the balcony of the main hall, also obstructed by a short gate. As part of the pedagogical strategies, these attached external spaces were daily used in rotation and other spaces were gradually introduced into the babies' routine, though some should require more or less planning ahead.

There was a vast diversity of open spaces in the wider outdoors, a part composed by a complex of concrete areas and other part with several spaces in the green areas such as plazas, tables, houses, sand tanks, etc. Although groups more commonly used certain areas according to their age group and development conditions, the daycare centre sought to promote the occupation and participation of everyone in the different spaces. For this, teachers and a technical team (with pedagogical coordinators, psychologist, nutrition and nursing technician) engaged in recurrent planning and sought to integrate proposals more particularly focused on infants, their skills, challenges and needs.

In terms of socio-spatial practices (Rutanen, 2012), we observed that not all outdoor areas were accessed equally from the start. During the frst semester, the infants' group would mostly be limited to the nusery's attached spaces (indooroutdoor connectedness and boundaried outdoor spaces). We also observed that the centre created opportunities for these and wider spaces to be accessed on alternative periods, where more adults could be present. Finally, that children's developed recurrent going to wider outdoor areas upon cruising and walking onset, which happened mainly in the second semester.

Therefore, we organize narratives of these practices in a temporal logic within the following strands of analysis: "attached outdoor spaces as part of everyday life", "projects, workshops and the diversifcation of spaces" and "paving the way for the wider (green and concrete) areas". In each of these strands, we discuss the possibility of infants' access, the pedagogical propositions developed, and the infants' actions regarding these propositions, seeking to discuss how the intertwining of these elements constitute infants' cultural formation within the outdoors (Hedegaard & Ødegaard, 2020; Rossetti-Ferreira et al., 2007). Therefore, we shall proceed to these strands of analysis.

# *3.5.1 Attached Outdoor Spaces as Part of Everyday Life*

We observed that, from day-one, the nursery's attached outdoor spaces were accessed on a daily basis. Because temporality is one of the dimensions of the environment (Forneiro, 1998) that alters the needs of children in this age group, the morning and afternoon periods had different temporal-spatial arrangements. The more structured outdoor spatial organizations were planned for moments of arrival, after lunch, after the afternoon nap and before departure.

In these moments, as a way of demarcating space and structuring an environment, the teachers spread out mats and large toys (e.g. activity centres, learning walkers, etc.) on the foor and hung objects (e.g. rattles, cloths, etc.) on the fences, within the children's reach. We interpreted this situation as an intentional invitation for babies to remain outside, as we identifed several records in which they gathered in groups in that area and gradually stayed for a longer time, demonstrating increasing initiative to direct themselves and remain there. Also, the adult's practice of heading and staying outside were references of spatial orientation for babies and facilitated the formation of groups and fostered sustained engagement and sharing of attention/actions in educational situations (Campos-de-Carvalho, 2004; Musatti, Mayer, Pettenati, & Picchio, 2017) Over time, we observed that the babies started to head outside autonomously more often, independently of the adult being present or not.

Besides the spatial organization previously described, teachers often (re)positioned the gates' barriers and recreated spatial geometry, since many of the passages from one space to another had support for ftting mobile grids, We observed that these spatial (re)arrangements (Campos-de-Carvalho, 2004) invited infants to experience and explore the same place differently and redirect their attention to specifc features of space possibly unnoticed in their regular everyday use. For example, when teachers left the entry gate open and obstructed the corridor towards the solarium with a detachable gate, the ramp, usually a simple hallway, was transformed into a speeding "driveway" for car toys by children.

We also identifed infants experiencing and appropriating the multiplicity of spatial dimensions (Forneiro, 1998) in everyday situations such as: contemplatng and interacting with the landscape and elements of nature nearby (e.g. wind, birds, trees, grass); playing with water using outdoor showers, basins and dolls (differing from the stationary posture and temporal confguration of bath routine); manipulating fuid matter, and getting dirty without restriction. Regarding the fences: toddlers threw objects beyond the gate and fence, or even tried handling the lock; cruising infants leaned on the fence and walked throughout its contours; and, infants had close or distal interaction with older children and adults who went by the corridors.

Therefore, we observed that access to external spaces was guaranteed from the beginning, became diversifed over time and was legitimatized as pedagogical locus of infants' autonomy. Temporal-spatial arrays and the permanence of the adult were important elements to channel the direction and permanence of the babies. Also, practitioners had high concerns of carrying out the process gradually, respecting infants' habituation, rhythm and initiative so that they had physical and emotional security to explore such places. Finally, visual openness and postural accessibility through affordances (Gibson, 1979) (e.g. low gates and fences that afforded cruising support) fostered infants expansive and independent movement, whilst allowed extended contact with people and outer surroundings that composed a wider ecosystem, beyond the aseptic and adult-centric reference in a room.

Moreover, through the interrelationship of elements such as permeability/porosity, demarcation/fexibility, versatility/stability, and openness/containment constrained different ways of infants inserting themselves in attached outdoor spaces and integrating them into daily life as environments of exploration, discovery, and communication with the nursery's surroundings and community.

With greater habituation of babies to open-air environments, teachers began to conduct more structured actions in the nursery's attached outdoors and the wider areas, notably those which were more diffcult to access on a daily basis. This occurred mainly from the proposal for projects and workshops, which shall be our following topic.

# *3.5.2 Projects, Workshops and the Diversifcation of Spaces*

This ECEC unit conceived its relationship with families as a partnership and sought to establish a joint work in promoting the children's development and well-being. As a result, in addition to the practices regularly developed by the teachers, the centre promoted a series of educational situations, which were coordinated by different actors and often included families, notably through workshops and integrative projects (Barbosa & Horn, 2009). We observed that most of these situations occurred in outdoor spaces.

Due to the proximity to parents' workplace, family members were invited to visit the centre during lunch hours and stay with their children during this period every day. Although this proposal initially sought to handle work shifts and favour a more gradual transition for full-time babies, visiting hours throughout the history of the daycare became a signifcant moment of integration between families and the centre community. During the visits parents often took infants to the green areas. On that occasion, they were able to have one-to-one interactions and meet more directly infants' individual interests by diversifying their access to spaces that would be diffcult during group time, for requiring bodily handling and more individualized supervision (e.g. being pushed on the swing, exploring the playhouses, being carried in the lap to see the animals).

We also identifed this diversifcation of access occurring in structured moments organized with parents. The reports mention musical recitals in the park plaza, children's birthday celebrations or craft workshops in the solariums or even at tables in the park, picnics and outdoor storytelling. Moreover, off-hours commemorative events also provided opportunities for families to circulate through the centre and enjoy their wider outdoor spaces in another setting. Hence, children were presented to and experienced a diversity of cultural arrays in the outdoors by having the necessary support to participate, express themselves and act on their interests, despite their momentary physical limitations. This all becomes fundamental in the process of transforming space in an environment, and children being invited to transform it into a place by active participation (Moreira, 2013).

Moreover, such elements proved to be potent incentives for children and their parents to experience a daily period outside with their children in a way that the experience could also be pleasant for adults, which according to Tiriba and Barros (2018) is an important step in the process of constituting experiences in the outdoors. Therefore, such opportunities also allowed parents, who are also part of this confnement ecosystem, to experience pleasant day-to-day moments with their children and come to value these types of space more.

In some of these visiting moments, the nursery's technical team held a series of sensorial workshops in which they presented sensory challenges to infants that could be freely manipulated and explored. The centre followed a plan for when and which substances would be (re)offered. These included wet and dry foods, such as cornmeal, sago, four, objects in contrasting temperatures, fabrics of various textures, etc. It was a practice that allowed infants to experience the different sensations aroused by these elements, to help them to get used to being dirty, or even make their peers dirty. These expansive gestures, such as scattering, spilling and pinching gestures, were often newly experienced by babies by repeating several cycles of the same actions, which Henri Wallon, conceptualized as acquisition play, where the child observes using the full body, as if it were all eyes and all ears (Wallon, p. 76, 1981) (Fig. 3.2).

This was an important moment to prepare babies for the parks, where they would play with sand, mud, leaves, feel the texture of the grass and the dirt. For this reason,

**Fig. 3.2** Photos from the sensorial workshops

the teachers were attentive to the children's reactions, especially those of discomfort, monitoring if the discomfort persisted or not in following sessions. Moreover, this was an opportunity for parents to experience this way of playing with their children and encourage them to explore, or even comfort their refusals and possible diffculties.

Thus, in the fow of occupation of outdoor spaces, the next step was to take children to wider outdoors in a more autonomous manner. This process occurred mainly in the second semester and will be discussed in the next topic.

# *3.5.3 Paving the Way for the Wider (Green and Concrete) Outdoor Areas*

The centre had two complexes of wider outdoors, each at opposite ends of the unit's grounds. The area closest to the lunch room was of concrete foor and comprised covered areas (e.g. semi-open patios and corridors), as well as open areas (e.g. sports court, areas with showers). The area closest to the large solarium/entrance ramp, on the other hand, gave access to the wider green areas, which were structured in delimited spaces such as plazas, sand tanks, various types of playhouses, bird coops, playgrounds etc. According to the teacher's report and mapping of the records, the younger group most recurrent trips to these places started to take place in the second semester. At this time, only the younger group had remained in the nursery and all babies had developed independent mobility with differing onsets (crawling, cruising and walking).

The key teacher tells us that these moments were challenging, required planning in advance, and eventually demanded help from an aid. Some babies needed to be carried/physically assisted, occasionally a child expressed discomfort or needed to return to the room (e.g. diaper accident) and there was a concern that babies did not disperse. Regarding weather events, because of the hot weather subject to mosquitoes-borne diseases, parents collectively provided sunscreen and repellent for children's daily use. Moreover, the maintenance of these spaces was costly and complex, requiring regular insect removal, gardening work, animal care, hygiene of toys and sand tanks, among other aspects.

However, notwithstanding the various challenges and requirements, the use of outdoor spaces was rooted and valued in the centre's pedagogical premise and practices. Access to the outdoors was embedded as fundamental rights of children (MEC, Brazil, 1995, 2009), that included the "right to movement in wide spaces" and "the right to contact with nature". These notions were historically built within intersectoral work and training of teachers and staff, so the centre could foster joint effort to help children make use and develop abilities that would allow them to exercise these rights. To demonstrate how access to the wider cemented and green areas took place, we selected two vignettes that will be discussed shortly.

The frst vignette refers to the ffth month of attendance, in which the children's age varied between 12 months and 17 months and illustrates their going to the patio in the wider cemented outdoors. On that day, fve of the babies were present (Fig. 3.3).

Inside the room, the teacher is near a small gate that interconnects the lunch area to an external corridor. Babies gather around her, some standing, some in crawling position. After the teacher puts on her shoes, she exclaims "let's go for a walk!" and immediately one of the babies heads towards a high wooden niche where his shoes are. He tiptoes on his feet trying to grab them, but is unable to reach his shoes. A few moments later, the teacher heads outside, and the babies (crawlers, novice and experienced walkers) follow her in line. The teacher goes down the corridor and turns left. At this turning point, a wider and more visually complex spatial feld opens up for the babies (e.g, crossing corridors, access to doors and patios from other rooms and people circulating). With the exception of a walking baby who follows the teacher, all the other four interrupt their traveling and stay sit when they reach this point. The teacher kneels facing them, smiles and calls out "come, let's play!".

**Fig. 3.3** The group heading to the patio

One of the babies goes out on a crawling bout towards the teacher. The remaining babies stay in crawling position, gazing at the teacher and apparently struggling to move forward. Some employees around encourage the infants verbally and offer support for cruising, helping them stand and move forward. It takes nearly three minutes for all the babies to reach the teacher. When the group is complete, the teacher spreads out a rug on the foor and provides a box of toys for the children to play.

We highlight some points from this vignette. First, we observed that when grouping close to the little gate with the teacher and even reproducing cultural gestures through immediate and deferred imitation (Werebe & Nadel-Brulfert, 1986), such as fetching the shoe, babies are able to anticipate the moment to leave and show signs of appropriation. A second point is that the difference in locomotor acquisitions integrates and constrains perception-action mechanisms in babies who move differently (Gibson, 1988). According to Kretch, Franchak & Adolph (Kretch, Franchak, & Adolph, 2014), walking babies have their visual fow and movement more easily targeted ahead, while crawling babies have their visual feld more directed to the foor and need to sit and scan the environment to reach targets. This might be one of the reasons why at the corridor's turning point crawling infants struggle more to move forward, in contrast to the walking toddler.

Hence, the postural and locomotor aspects are central when considering the possibilities of infant's movement and displacement in wider outdoor space. This doesn't imply that babies were left to their devices. As they were able to take steps with cruising, their displacement was facilitated by receiving postural support from adults. Finally, not only the teacher, but other staff members were engaged in guiding babies to the patio, where they could be visible, perceptible while they could also see and perceive others.

The second vignette refers to the eighth month of attendance, with the children (who are now toddlers) ages ranging from 15 months to 21 months. On this day, there were six toddlers present (Fig. 3.4).

**Fig. 3.4** The group heading to the sand tank in the green area

The scene starts when the group of children, the main teacher and an auxiliary are moving from the semi-open corridor to the open green areas. All children can walk independently. There is a marked path on the ground that starts at the covered area and seamlessly extends to the park. Just upon entering the park, there is a broad and low stairway to facilitate small steps, but even so the toddlers struggle. In one scene, three stumble and fall at the same time (without getting hurt), placing their hands on the foor to absorb impact. One of the toddlers climbs up the remaining steps in this position (legs extended, torso bent forward and hands on the foor, also called "bear crawling"). The teacher and assistant reach out their hand and help the children who have to walk the remaining steps. Upon arriving at the park, the children begin to follow the paved path that passes by one of the play houses. The teacher and assistant, however, go right across the grass, heading towards the sand tank, and call the children. They say "sand, we're heading to the sand". Some toddlers follow them immediately, but others need to be called more insistently or led by hand. When everyone reaches the sand tank, the adults hand over buckets, water and sand tools. There is a scene in which one of the babies tries different ways of putting the sand into the bucket, frst with the sieve, then with pinching hand gestures, and after looking around, says "pá.pá" (the word in Portuguese for shovel, which resembles one of the initial babbling babies' utterances). Shortly afterwards, the assistant hands over a shovel, which the baby uses to throw sand into the bucket.

In the excerpt, the marked path helped children to orient themselves, but the stairs and moving away from the path were challenges along the way. Apprehending the route and learning to walk either through a delimited path or open space with greater autonomy and confdence are embodied educational situations. Besides motricity issues, spatial and time use diverged between adults and children, in a way that infants and toddlers' processing and action time, both in gesture and in language, conficted with the adult.

Due to such a distinction, times and directions needed to be (re)negotiated, requiring changes of rhythm, transmutation of space (Gobbi, Leite, & Pito, 2019) and re-arrangement of locomotor aims. Within a structured proposal, such as playing in the sand, cultural artefacts instrumentalized the children's actions in their contact with reality, allowing them to experience different textures, dry or wet, and to explore different modes of handling. When transferring the sand to the bucket, for instance, by testing varied hand movements and experimenting with tools, children indicate a rudimentary apprehension of everyday concepts and learning through acquisition games (Wallon, 1981).

In view of the analyzes discussed, we will move on to the fnal considerations.

# **3.6 Final Considerations**

Infants and toddlers face the challenge of having their access and participation to outdoor spaces denied or hindered, which permeate historical confnement practices, with cribs, containment devices, small rooms and nowadays, even restraining through media devices (Kopp, 2011). Allied to these issues, urban structuring, socio-economic inequalities and conceptions of care and education that favor confnement and adult-centric models perpetuate those practices. Despite the

challenges, collective spaces, such as early childhood education units, have the great potential to ressignify those issues and actively contribute to their cultural formation on such matter.

Through the case, we identifed that the structuring of spaces refects expectations and meanings about what is desired in the pedagogical process. When practitioners intervene in space, by prior organization, by routine insertion, by physical demarcation, and by stimulus to the independent action of the child, they can offer children a safe and stimulating environment that provides experiences and gradual appropriation. In doing so, children can "activate the different modes of interaction with others and the environment depending on the situations they encounter and according to the means available in their behavioral repertoire and the goals they seek" (Wallon, 1942).

As "it takes a village to raise a child", the case also reveals the potential of including different actors in the daycare centre when planning actions and accompanying children in their moments in outdoor spaces. The possibility of bringing families into the centre and watching their children interacting with the outdoor environment on a daily basis contributes to the adult having a more qualifed and attentive look to the way the child acts, its capacities and its challenges. The proposals for workshops and projects help to diversify the access and use of spaces, and contribute to the socialization and integration process of both children and families at the institution.

Finally, the infants' developmental resources constrain the way they are inserted and navigate through outdoor spaces. The possibility of adjoining areas closer to the rooms used by babies can facilitate their daily exposure to the outdoors and to venture into actions specifcally provided by such places, in a more gradual and safe way. Also, the complexity of trips to wider outdoors, notably green areas, should be possibly considered as a pedagogical practice in itself, taking into account the differences in children's times and skills, with a distinction between those crawling, cruising and walking infants/toddlers.

Therefore, in agreement with Dowdell et al. (2011), we argue that access and exposure to nature and outdoor gregarious spaces allow babies and young children to exercise their rights and learn about the world with hands-on experience without needing adult-centered explanations, constituting their cultural formation (Hedegaard & Ødegaard, 2020) as participants in both local and wider territories. Hence, confnement practices and centralization of the relationships around the adult's proposal are more easily dissolved in the outdoors, and even upon developmental limitations, adults can be supportive of children's initiative and activeness. In a triple protagonism, the child eager to learn and act is affected by the environment, and the teacher, who knows the cultural object, presents and draws the child closer towards it (Oliveira et al., 2012). To this end, it is essential to provide possibilities of access and occupation to reframe conceptions, practices and even policies related to babies and young children.

# **References**

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# **Chapter 4 Princesses (Don't) Run in the Mud: Tracing the Child's Perspective in Parental Perceptions of Cultural Formation Through Outdoor Activities in Norwegian ECEs**

**Alicja R. Sadownik**

**Abstract** By examining Polish parents' perceptions of outdoor activities in Norwegian Early Childhood Education (ECE), this chapter discusses how focusing on the child's perspective can change and challenge parental gender-related value positions, thereby changing perceptions of the cultural formation taking place through outdoor activities. The empirical data on the basis of which this question is answered are comprised of group interviews with 30 Polish migrant parents (18 mothers and 12 fathers) whose children were in Norwegian ECEs. The applied theoretical toolkit of a cultural historical wholeness approach (Hedegaard M, Mind Cult Act 19:127–138, 2012) enables the description of (parental) experiences of cultural formation through outdoor activities as anchored in the value positions established within and across involved societies. It also allows us to grasp those moments when the focus on the child's perspective in outdoor activities challenges parental value positions and cultural traditions of heteronormativity. The concluding remarks point to the importance of enhancing both the child's perspective and the specifc plane of interpersonal interactions in ECE collaborations with parents and caregivers.

**Keywords** Outdoor activities · Cultural formation · Child perspective · Gender performance · Parental collaboration

© The Author(s) 2021 61 L. T. Grindheim et al. (eds.), *Outdoor Learning and Play*, International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development 34, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72595-2\_4

A. R. Sadownik (\*)

Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
# **4.1 Introduction**

Apart from their other tasks, Norwegian ECEs are expected to "work in close cooperation and agreement with the parents" (UDIR, 2017, p. 29), and these parents may sometimes represent other value positions and thereby have different perspectives on various institutional practices as well as the cultural formation that takes place through them.

This chapter examines Polish parents' perceptions of outdoor activities in Norwegian ECEs and their children's cultural formation taking place through these outdoor activities. This creates a foundation to discuss how a focus on the child's perspective on the process of cultural formation through outdoor activities can change or challenge parental perceptions of these activities, thus challenging the silent assumptions regarding heteronormativity present in the institutional lives of modern Western societies. The chapter frst presents the cultural historical wholeness approach as a framework that enables the researcher to (a) anchor the process of cultural formation in sociocultural and institutional foundations, (b) link the perceptions of certain institutional practices with value positions and (c) spot those moments in refections on outdoor activities from the child's perspective that challenge traditional parental gender values and/or heteronormativity. Next, explanations of cultural formation, heteronormativity, and aspects related to gender in Poland are presented. The chapter then presents the research project, including its methodology, a presentation of the participants, and the results. These fndings form the fnal basis for the discussion, which focuses on the possibility of challenging conservative gender attitudes as well as heteronormativity in general by including the child's perspective on cultural formation through outdoor activities.

# **4.2 The Cultural Historical Wholeness Approach and Cultural Formation**

The cultural historical wholeness approach describes the child/individual as always operating in a particular context. Hedegaard (2012) divides the context into three planes:

• A *specifc* plane that refects the shared activity settings of persons in a specifc institution (i.e., a specifc home or a specifc school, depicted as activity settings in the model). (Hedegaard, 2012, pp. 129–130)

All three planes are inseparable when trying to understand the child's development or social situation. By social situation, Hedegaard (2012) understands "the person's relation via motives and competences to different activity settings" (p. 130). The motives occur in relation to the realised demands and result in certain activities that can lead the child to grow certain competences, which are again the basis for further motives, activities and thereby development.

 Cultural traditions and value positions may differ across societies as well as within a society. This means that the social situation of the child also includes the child's relation to the value positions and cultural traditions that lie behind the institutions in which the child is participating.

The model (Fig. 4.1) illustrates the three planes on which the child's development takes place. Moreover, it includes the value positions that mediate the plane of cultural traditions and institutions, as well as the motives and competences that mediate individuals' social situations (their relation to various activity settings). The human being develops by acting in response to experienced demands created by

**Fig. 4.1** A model of children's activity settings in different institutions. (Source: Hedegaard, 2012, p.130)

others, institutional practices, and/or sets of values and meanings presented in institutional practices and lying behind institutional settings. Activity in response to experienced demands can, however, include resistance—and thereby the occurrence of activity that differs from that expected by the institution.

Vygotsky states the following:

Experience is a unity, in which, in indivisible form, on the one hand the environment, that which is being experienced, is presented—the experience of everything relates to something existing outside the person—and, on the other hand, how I experience it, that is, all of the special features of personality and all the special features of the environment are present in experience. (1934, pp. 97–98)

This dialectical character of an activity, which includes both the cultural traditions and demands *imposed on* the child, but also the child's own responses to these traditions and demands as a result of their own motives and competences, makes it possible to relate the categories of social situation and activity to the concept of cultural formation.

# **4.3 Cultural Formation**

Cultural formation, also called *becoming* and, in Norwegian policy documents, *formative development* (UDIR, 2017), is a concept developed to embrace the dialectical character of the experience joining together the outside physical and cultural world with the internal processing of the experienced content (Ødegaard, 2016). Ødegaard and White (2016), in describing the historical development of the concept of *Bildung/danning/becoming*, present as critical the dialectical relationship between the culture, represented by the community, older generations and educational institutions, and the individuals actively involved in the social institutions. This allows us to see cultural formation as both the culture shaping individuals (when an individual is framed and formed by demands anchored in the values and meanings existing in the culture) and as individuals negotiating their own subjectivity (creating their own selves in dialogue with the *imposed* cultural values).

The Norwegian Framework Plan for Kindergartens: Content and Tasks (UDIR, 2017) relates formative development to the facilitation of a "probing and inquisitive approach to the world" (UDIR, 2017, p. 1). On the one hand, this promotes the sharing of values and norms. On the other hand, it endorses the strengthening of "courageous, independent and responsible participation" and the valuing of "individual expressions and actions" (UDIR, 2017, p. 21).

The dual nature of *danning* fts the cultural historical wholeness approach, where becoming's frst dimension relates to the individual being introduced to the particular demands of interpersonal, institutional and sociocultural expectations. The second, self-creating, dimension relates to the individual developing various motives and activities in response to the experienced demands. (Re)acting in response to the

various demands in a dialogical involvement with them constitutes the process of formative development. This suggests that the concept of cultural formation particularly activates the *specifc plane* (Hedegaard, 2012, p. 130)*,* as it explains how culturally anchored meanings and values are lived and negotiated in institutional practices by interacting individuals who exchange and challenge each other's values and meanings through their own activities.

In this chapter, the everyday practice of ECE institutions is narrowed to their outdoor activities and the children's cultural formation taking place through them. The focus of the research is on individual (parental) perceptions of outdoor activities in Norwegian ECEs, as well as the cultural formation through outdoor activities in which children participate. As parental perceptions are shaped by parents' cultural traditions and value positions connected to gender, as well as their capability to acknowledge the child's perspective, the process of experiencing their children's cultural formation taking place through outdoor activities links the plane of cultural traditions and value positions with the specifc plane of interpersonal relationships (for Hedegaard's model, see Fig. 4.1). The signifcant institutional context in this case is the ECE setting and *home*'s perception of it.

What is interesting in the parental perceptions presented below is that not of all them include the child's perspective on the process of cultural formation.

# **4.4 The Child's and Children's Perspectives**

Following Sylvia's (2010) conceptualisation, I understand the child's perspective as directing

adult's attention towards an understanding of children's perceptions, experiences, and actions in the world. Thus, child perspectives are created by adults who are seeking, deliberately and as realistically as possible, to reconstruct children's perspectives, for example through scientifc concepts concerning children's understanding of their world and their actions. (Sylva, 2010, p. vi)

However, no matter how sympathetic the adults are and how close to the children they get, they will always end up generating adult objectifcations of the children's experiences. Nevertheless, the effort taken seems to matter, as it can be distinguished from parental perceptions of, for example, ECE outdoor activities. The children's perspectives are here understood as representing

children's experiences, perceptions, and understanding in their life-world. In contrast to the child perspectives, the focus here is on the child as subject in his or her own world, the child's own phenomenology. This is what adults attempt to understand through their child perspective, for example in attempts at child-focused interpretations of children's intentional acts and statements. (Sylva, 2010, p. vi)

This perspective will be applied to outdoor activities in the ECE setting in this chapter.

# **4.5 Gender Equality: A Value Position Occurring Across Countries and Societies (Poland and Norway)**

Today, gender equality is a fundamental value position (EEAS, 2018) imposed on various cultures and societies operating in the European geographical area. Norwegian ECE is required by its steering documents to "promote equity and equality irrespective of gender, functional ability, sexual orientation, gender identity … . Kindergartens shall combat all forms of discrimination and promote compassion" (UDIR, 2017, p. 10). Outdoor activities, then, apart from being rooted in longstanding Norwegian outdoor life traditions, are activities based

on the principle of equality and antidiscrimination and help to ensure that the children are able to experience and create an egalitarian society. Everyone shall have the same opportunities to be seen, heard and encouraged to participate in a shared activities in kindergarten. (UDIR, 2017, p. 10)

To make this happen, the staff has to act according to value positions connected to gender, which requires refection and change. The Framework Plan for Kindergartens articulates expressly that the staff "must refect on their own attitudes in order to best convey and promote equity and equality" (UDIR, 2017, p. 10).

ECE settings can however not expect such gender related values and attitudes from the parents, representing diverse cultural and/or national origins. In Poland, although it is formally a member of the EU, mainstream values in relation to gender consider traditional and separate social paths for two biological sexes to be the *right* paths. Women are expected to be feminine in terms of physical appearance (ideally beautiful and delicate) and choice of jobs (ideally connected to education, care and service as well as household work, with the main responsibility of caring for their own children) (Gal & Klingman, 2000; Graff, 2008). The expectations for men demand physical strength, a great career or a well-paid job, more spare time, and economic rather than care- or housework-related duties in terms of family life. In Poland, gender-related values seem to correlate with level of education and age: the older and the less educated are more likely to value traditional positions connected to gender. This also means that the younger and more educated that people are, the higher the probability that they will have a more liberated attitude to gender roles (ISSP Research Group, 2016). However, this liberation is less likely if there is involvement with certain religious movements presenting traditional gender norms as correct (European Parliament, 2011). This correlation, detected in complex and representative statistical studies (ISSP Research Group, 2016), is the reason why this study presents detailed information on the parental level of education in the presentation of the research participants.

# **4.6 The Heteronormative Matrix: Background to (Traditional) Gender Dualism**

Within gender and queer theory, however, both prescribing certain social trajectories to certain sexes and dividing human beings into boys and girls (or men and women) are criticised (Barker, 2016; Butler, 1990; Jagose, 1997; Sullivan, 2003). Labelling certain people as men or women, which is accompanied by certain blue or pink products and practices (e.g., at the birth clinic and in the case of many children's products), is recognised by Butler (1990) as a sign of *heteronormativity*, which she sees as the uncritically assumed obviosity of heterosexuality. Butler describes the *heteronormative matrix* as a lingual pre-structure dividing human beings into two complementary types: boys and girls. On the one hand, this excludes people with an unclear biological sex from the natural order of things (Butler, 1990), while, on the other, it normalises heterosexuality. The norm of heterosexuality is thus what lies beneath the expectations for feminine females and masculine men (Butler, 1990). This suggests that Butler relates tensions between conceptualisations of gender in modern societies to the pre-assumption of heterosexuality that follows the foster's and human being's life, from the different types of talk used by parents when talking to the pregnant belly with a boy or girl inside to the limited trajectories of social careers as a result of gender.

Being socialised within the heteronormative matrix may result in specifc understandings of how gender may be performed as two distinct opposites, as represented by a great part of Polish society (ISSP Research Group, 2016). These traditional gender-related norms may also result in social anxiety and moral panic (Jawor, 2014) when experiencing and/or witnessing unusual or untraditional gender performances, as these put the *natural* order of things in danger (Kopciewicz, 2005).

When it comes to the possibility of gender-liberated behaviours or unusual gender performances, the children's literature seems to allow *more*. However, this relates mostly to girls. The earlier heroines of children's books such as *Pippi Longstocking* (Lindgren, 1977) and *Ronia the Robber's Daughter* (Lindgren, 1983) are familiar in the ECE feld as well as among (Polish) parents. This gender freedom is less visible in the case of boys. This is possibly mirrored in the institutional reality of many ECEs. In Tømmervåg (2017), the case of a boy who wanted to wear the colour pink is described. He wanted his outdoor overalls, underwear, clothes, rain gear and boots to be pink. The parents bought him everything in purple, and the kindergarten staff thought that this was a great solution (Tømmervåg, 2017, p. 3). This exemplifes the ways in which girls may enjoy greater acceptance of diverse gender enactments, while the gentle and soft boy who wears pink or a dress still worries ECE staff, parents and perhaps the wider society.

# **4.7 Methodology**

The research data used in this article were gathered through a study based on a research question relating to Polish parents' perceptions of Norwegian ECE. The study was conducted among Polish migrant parents in Norway. Altogether, 30 parents (18 mothers and 12 fathers) whose children had been in Norwegian ECECs participated in interviews between October 2014 and April 2015. The participants were invited to individual one-time interviews, but as the subject of Norwegian childcare turned out to be so engaging, they asked to meet and discuss the subject with other Polish parents, preferably more than once. I followed up on this request, dividing the parents into six groups of fve and meeting each of them six times during the same period of time.

As there was someone in each group who was not comfortable with the conversations being recorded, the quotations below were reconstructed and revised by the research participants. In total, 231 pages of reconstructed group discussions were generated in collaboration with the parental groups that participated in the study.

# *4.7.1 Content Analysis with a Focus on* **Outdoor Education**

For the sake of this study, the research material was read and analysed based on the category of outdoor activities. To do this, a qualitative content analysis (Mayring, 2010) was used. Qualitative content analysis involves systematising the empirical material by looking at it through a certain category or category system. The starting categories are *flled* with relevant parts of the research material, which are categorised into subcategories of the empirical content. In the case of the analysis used in this article, *parental perceptions of outdoor activities* was the starting category. This was soon divided into two subcategories: *positive* and *negative*. However, a deeper reading of the content showed that parental gender-related values and attitudes (e.g., *gender-conservative* or *gender-liberal*) and being the parent of a girl or a boy were signifcant differentiating criteria. That is the reason for presenting the research material on the basis of *who is talking* (gender-conservative parents of girls, genderliberal parents of girls, gender-conservative parents of boys and gender-liberal parents of boys). The content of each group's meanings is presented in a descriptive way in the results part of the text. As the parental responses direct their focus to the children's perspectives to different degrees, refections on this are included in the presentation of the results as well as the discussion and conclusions.

**Table 4.1** Overview of the background information of the participants. Source: own elaboration

# *4.7.2 Research Participants*

The research participants presented a rich array of educational backgrounds, with a preponderance of highly educated mothers. The number of years that had passed since their arrival in Norway was also very different. Nevertheless, they had genderrelated value positions that seemed to differentiate their perceptions of cultural formation through outdoor activities in Norwegian ECECs, which is why these are mentioned in Table 4.1.

# *4.7.3 Researcher*

The researcher is herself a Polish migrant mother in Norway. During this project, she had one child in a Norwegian kindergarten and was pregnant with another child. Being a (pregnant) mother was experienced by the researcher as a trust-building factor for the participants. Being in the same situation seemed to facilitate potential participants' involvement in the project.

# *4.7.4 Ethics*

The interviews with the parents were conducted as part of a bigger research project: *Polish female migrants in Norway: A study of care defcit*. This project is funded by EEA grants and coordinated by Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin. The project was undertaken in accordance with the General Guidelines for Research Ethics (The Norwegian National Committees for Research Ethics, 2014). In the case of the group interviews with the parents, all the research participants were informed about the purpose of the study and the wider research project. In each group, there was an individual who was suspicious of being recorded, so the discussions were written down by the researcher and sent to the participants after each interview had taken place. This was done to reconstruct certain utterances as soon as possible following the interview. The written notes and reconstructions were anonymised. The key list with the codes of the parents and their frst names (not surnames) was presented to the parents in the form of a handout, which they gave back during the same meeting. These handouts were shredded after the last reconstructed transcript was made (May 2015). Participation in the interviews was voluntary, and the participants were informed about the possibility of withdrawing at any stage of the interviews.

# **4.8 Results**

As seen in the empirical quotations below, the parents operate with a general concept of *outdoor activities*; therefore, the presentation of the results starts with a list of the outdoor activities that were detected across the whole research material. These were as follows: whole-day trips, walking/hiking (also skiing and skating depending on the quality of winter), climbing, preparing food and eating outdoors (also in winter), carpeting, fshing, art-related activities performed outdoors, sleeping outside, ball games, and visits to various natural/cultural landscapes in the neighbourhood.

# *4.8.1 Gender-Traditional Parents of Boys*

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> "Manning the Boys Up": Outdoor Activities Safeguarding Heteronorm**

Those parents who declared themselves to be gender-traditional and who were parents of boys perceived the outdoor activities in the ECE as "good for the boys" (Father 4, technical secondary education, 9 years in Norway). The benefts for boys were understood in relation to the consideration that outdoor activities are good for developing the masculine features of boys. However, when comparing the outdoor activities in the Norwegian ECE to their own backgrounds in Poland, the parents tended to comment that "it's unusual how much time they spend outdoors" (Mother 3, vocational education, 4 years in Norway). Nevertheless, the outdoor activities were generally perceived as good for "their boys" as they "man them up."

It's strange that they spend so much time outdoors, but maybe it's good, actually. He [our son] will at least not differ so much from his cousins in Poland … this gender is here overall, but I hope this outdoor staff will man him up, so that he is not like the … mayor of Slupsk.1 (Mother 7, higher education, 6 years in Norway)

<sup>1</sup>Referring to the frst offcially declared gay in Polish politics, who was elected to the mayoral position of a little town: https://www.economist.com/europe/2018/09/20/ can-a-young-gay-mayor-change-poland

"Manning the boys up" was important for this group of parents, as it was seen as preventing homosexuality in the future. In the quotation above, there is a direct reference to the mayor of the Polish town Slupsk. Robert Biedron is internationally known as the frst gay mayor in Poland. Other parents did not refer to other wellknown gay people but rather described the outdoor activities as preventing the boys from being "a sissy" (and other such formulations unmasking homophobic parental attitudes rooted in a deeply internalised heteronormativity).

The outdoor activities thereby seemed to relieve the fear of "what if my boy ends up gay?" What the parents did not appear to acknowledge was not only the child's agency in this process but also that the ECE staff mediated the outdoor activities to the children. However, the sociocultural acceptance of homosexuality in Norwegian society was both noticeable and worrying to them.

I'm worried when I think in what kind of society my son is growing up, with gays on every level and a total acceptance for that. I hope that the harsh outdoor activities in the kindergarten will wake up his inner man and that he will not be infuenced by the popular culture. (Mother 1, secondary education, 7 years in Norway)

Even though the culture and society worried them, they did not mention the staff who, from a sociocultural perspective, represent society in the children's daily institutional life. They also did not seem to realise that the child was an actor or subject who, operating in the borderline between home and the ECE setting, was in the process of creating their self in dialogue with the encountered demands, expectations and value positions. This suggests that in these parents' responses, the cultural formation did not exist as a dialectical process but rather as a one-way infuence on children, who *soak up* all the content that was presented to them. These parents, however, referred only to the content presented in the ECE setting, while the values present at home were not mentioned as having any infuence.

# *4.8.2 Gender-Liberal Parents of Boys*

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> Creating One's Self in Respectful Dialogue with the Staff, Who Impose Activities But Not Attitudes**

In contrast, this group of parents was focused on how the kindergarten staff presented, explained and supported children in the outdoor activities. Equally important were the children themselves, including their personalities, motives and meanings. This suggests that in the utterances of these parents, the *specifc plane* (Hedegaard, 2012) of the persons involved in the activities was highlighted. The parents of boys who were referred to as "more gentle" pointed to the importance of the quality of interactions between the adult and the child in outdoor activities. The parents of the "gentle boys" were very glad to hear and observe that the ECEC staff did not force "their boys" to become "tough men" but that they showed respect and helped the child to "be himself" in the process of the structured activity.

What we like is that our son is not being forced to be the "hard man." He is rather delicate, and I know that he is crying a lot on such a long trip when it's raining or the hail falls, but I also know that his feelings are recognised, that he hears that they understand his experience and they show him ways to get warm again. This recognition of the child's emotional reactions is great here. (Mother 16, higher education, 7 years in Norway)

Directing the attention of the institution and its activities to the child's perspective had, according to this group of parents, other positive, long-term consequences.

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> Outdoor Activities as Meeting the Child's Interests and Preventing "Drop-Out"**

The other gender-liberal parents of boys pointed at outdoor activities as being in line with their sons' interests and thereby good. They said that they helped the boys to know what they were good at, thereby building their self-esteem. This emphasis on meeting the children's interests could be interpreted as another way of parents approaching the children's perspectives on institutional activities.

What makes me so happy about the outdoor activities is that they are exactly what my son's like. I know him, and I know that he would have problems sitting and listening.  And in a kindergarten with so much outdoor activity, he is not a problematic naughty boy; he can be himself and learn that he can manage a lot of things. (Father 6, higher education, 7 years in Norway)

These parents saw the outdoor activities—activities that matched the boys' interests—as demands that the boys found easy to respond to as a result of their motives and competences. Thereby, they were able to become more involved in the institutional life in positive rather than just *problematic* ways. This suggests that the parents perceived the outdoor activities as an institutional way of taking the children's perspective.

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> Witnessing Girls as Equally Strong: Facilitating Gender Equality in the Future**

All the boys' parents who declared themselves to be gender-liberal pointed to the importance of the fact that "their boys" were witnessing girls participating in all the—perceived as masculine—outdoor activities. That was described as good for the development of gender-equal societies. Because of the normative content, in the utterances below, the child's perspective appeared not in terms of what the child *liked* but in terms of what the child got access to. Watching peers of different genders performing the same outdoor activities was seen by this group of parents as benefcial for their sons.

I'm so glad Piotr sees girls sawing wood, skiing and so on. (Father 6, higher education, 4 years in Norway)

This is what is necessary for the boys to see … so that it's natural for them that we are equal. I'm happy for my daughter-in-law—for the equal division of domestic work … if my son decides to marry a woman [laughter]. (Mother 16, higher education, 7 years in Norway)

The last response offered a refection on the heteronormativity that the mother was aware of but did not want her son to feel forced to reproduce. She perceived, therefore, the outdoor activities as an arena that could be taken differently by individuals regardless of gender. That was, in her eyes, benefcial for general equality between genders not only in terms of equal division of domestic work but also in terms of various life choices, including life-partner choice.

# *4.8.3 Gender-Traditional Parents of Girls*

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> Outdoor Activities as a Tool of Normative Disaster**

The gender-traditional parents of girls were aware that the kindergartens were structured to promote gender equality, but they saw the promotion of this, including through outdoor activities, as a normative disaster. They seemed to be worried about the values on which the upbringing of "their girls" was based in the ECEC setting, including the kinds of effects this might have on their futures. Many of the conservative parents mentioned the eventual possibility of returning to Poland to save their daughters.

I'm afraid that she will lose her girlhood—and the possibility of being happy within the role that women have in society … and that she will become a strange something girl–boy who doesn't know who she is … It's against nature and not healthy. (Mother 3, secondary education, 8 years in Norway)

This perception seemed to be rooted in heteronormative values, and it acknowledged neither the staff, who could present the activities in different ways, nor the children and their subjectivity during the process. The cultural formation through outdoor activities was seen as a defnitely one-way infuence. The parental focus was not directed to how the child might experience or respond to this; instead, it was attached to the parent's own fear of what the child might become ("a strange something"). Focusing on the unfulflled heteronormative norm did not allow the parents to recognise individuals who had a signifcant role in the child's becoming.

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> It's Not for the Girls, But It's Good for My Relationship with My Daughter**

Even though the parents representing traditional gender norms generally agreed on the negative infuence of outdoor activities on their daughters' future gender performance, some of the fathers revealed that they were happy that their daughters were introduced to the outdoor activities. The reason primarily given was that they, the fathers, also liked the outdoor activities very much. The vision of future outdoor trips together with their daughters was much more tempting to the fathers than accompanying them on typical *girly* activities. Moreover, sharing in an activity that they both liked seemed to them to be a better base for building a relationship.

In the response below, a gender-traditional father approached the *specifc plane* (Hedegaard, 2012) of interpersonal interactions, realising that slipping from the norm of the feminine female was in the long run better for both the daughter, himself and the relationship between them.

I agree that it's maybe not for girls, all the wild stuff here … and the outdoors. It defnitely wasn't for my little princess, as I imagined her before. But when I think about it, the more I like it, because … I'm glad that instead of running around the shopping centres and beauty salons with my teenage daughter, in the future, of course, I'll be able to take her for a tent trip, with a big chance that she'd really enjoy it. (Father 12, vocational education, 9 years in Norway)

However, as in the utterances of other gender-traditional parents, neither the child's agency in cultural formation nor the home were mentioned as important valuerelated contextual factors. The daughter appeared here in her *future—outdoor enjoying—version*, formed by the ECE setting. As this matched the father's interests and thus could strengthen the relationship between the two of them, the father was willing to distance himself from the cultural gender norm (of keeping girls away from outdoor activities). In other words, through looking at the outdoor activities through the lens of an interpersonal plan, he challenged the necessity of implementing the traditional gender norm in the case of his own child. It was also important that the future "big chance that she'd really enjoy" the outdoor activities took as its point of departure the fact that the girl already showed interest in these activities. This case showed that the child's perspective was taken into consideration when emancipating oneself from traditional gender norms.

# *4.8.4 Gender-Liberated Parents of Girls*

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> Outdoor Activities as an Institutional Way of Meeting the Girls' Diverse Interests**

Pippi Longstocking appeared in the responses of gender-liberated parents, most often as a descriptive and friendly *label* they put on their own daughters. When Pippi Longstocking was mentioned by one parent during one of the interviews, many others said, "yeah, my daughter is also a Pippi Longstocking" or "I also have the honour to be a father of Pippi." The *label* worked, on the one hand, as a recognition of the child's perspective and a description of the daughter's movement- and outdoor-related interests, while, on the other hand, signalling parental approval of the daughter's process of overcoming the artifcial borders that have traditionally been put on girls (Graff, 2005). Moreover, the children's perspectives and experience of outdoor activities as well as other aspects of the ECE content were highly valued and served as very basic criteria for discussing the ECE activities.

This is just so great, that she can be a girl in so many different ways here … and that she can explore and choose herself what kind of girl she actually wants to be. I like that she can explore, search, get dirty, but also be a princess and have fun with it. Especially because she is rather a Pippi Longstocking type. (Mother 11, higher education, 12 years in Norway)

For the parents of those labelled Pippis, the outdoor activities offered by the kindergartens were of crucial importance. They represented an institutional way of not only taking the children's interests seriously but also opening them up for diverse performances of the female gender. The outdoor activities were, in this sense, an institutional demand in which the daughters were supposed to get involved through their motives and activities. However, the developed motives and activities were up to the children. No particular child's response to the educational offer was seen by the parents as expected by the ECE staff. This indicates that the parents recognised the ECE as facilitating the children's cultural formation, with a focus on the children's self-creation through access to different kinds of content. When talking about self-creation, the parents focused on the gender aspect; however, they were open to very different ways of performing this, as both Pippi and Princess were welcome to appear. As they generally saw their daughters as already emancipating from traditional gender norms by being Pippis, they also underlined the institutional openness brought about by the outdoor offer, which allowed their daughters to respond without disturbing the institutional order. "It's important for me that she is not criticised or in any way punished for being so 'wild' but that she gets an offer to which she can respond by being herself" (Father 4, higher education, 4 years in Norway).

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> Outdoor Activity and Interaction with Staff as Creating Children's Subjectivity**

The staff's openness to children's experiences and dialogical engagement with the institutional content were also noticed by the gender-liberated parents of girls who did not possess outdoor interests and dispositions.

My daughter likes very much all the things that I as a feminist simply reject, but I allow her to fnd her way. And this is what I like about the staff: that they know that my daughter would rather stay inside and play being a princess, but the plan of the day is that everybody goes out to run in the mud, and then they don't expect that she will be happy about it. They allow her to be unhappy by getting dirty, wet and cold. She is respected at the level of her reactions to this. (Mother 17, higher education, 6 years in Norway)

This utterance shed light on another way of cultural formation taking place through the outdoor activities, whereby the girl was allowed to dialogically engage in a relationship with the activity and the staff, creating herself as a subject resisting the outdoor-life culture. She became involved with the institutional demands by developing *stay-inside* motives and resistance. The mother, who was able to take the

perspective of the child, allowed her daughter to do this, even if it contradicted value positions that she chose herself as an adult woman.

# **4.9 Discussion**

The results showed that the parental experience of the cultural formation taking place through outdoor activities was framed by the parents' value positions related to gender as well as their ability to acknowledge the interpersonal plane and thereby the child's agency in the process of *becoming*. The liberal parents were more capable of including the child's perspective as well as realising the complexity of the interpersonal interactions directing in various ways both the processes of cultural formation and the institutional life of the ECE setting. The traditional parents seemed not to realise the institution's *specifc* plane (Hedegaard, 2012), nor did they see their own children as subjects in ongoing cultural formation. This refected how they did not perceive cultural formation in the way that it is defned in this paper but rather as a one-way stimulus (conficting with their own values). Paradoxically, they also did not recognise their own home-based and value-related infuence on the process.

This is why it was particularly interesting when a parent declaring traditional values touched the *specifc plane* of interacting individuals. This was a moment when one-way infuence transformed into cultural formation in which the child was a subject. Father 12, when taking his daughter's perspective, challenged his conservative vision of her. Even though he limited the child's perspective to what his daughter liked and what "she with a big chance will enjoy," this involved a transformation of his traditional norms with their potential consequences for his daughter's future life. Even if his response might be interpreted as having his own enjoyment in focus (he liked outdoor activities very much), this showed that looking at outdoor activities from the *specifc* plane of interacting individuals could challenge his own value positions and change his perception of institutional demands. Getting down to the *specifc* plane makes individuals important, thereby also making the children's perspectives signifcant.

Following the child's individual needs and agency while in contact with a gendered phenomenon such as outdoor activity allows the heteronormative matrix to be challenged. Challenging and eventually overcoming the matrix is possible for children because they are not yet completely programmed by it (Butler, 1990), and so many actions not in line with the heteronormative gender division of activities are likely to occur. However, taking the perspective of the child may also be about allowing the child to follow the heteronormative matrix, even if this is against our own gender values. That happened in the utterance of the feminist mother (Mother 17) who, by taking her daughter's perspective, accepted her way of resisting the outdoor artefacts and activities, even though the mother herself would have loved her daughter to be a wild outdoor Pippi. Taking the child's perspective allowed her to see her own feminism as the result of a free individual choice, which again enabled her to accept her daughter's quite different choice.

# **4.10 Conclusions**

Hedegaard (2012) claims that research focused on the sociocultural conditions of children's development should aim to improve the conditions of children's development. If we approach this objective through the results presented in this chapter, we can point to the importance of enhancing the child's perspective and the *specifc plane* of interpersonal interactions in ECE's cooperation with parents.

The children's perspectives were conceptualised by the interviewed parents as the individual children's preferences (activities they liked and enjoyed) and individual features (e.g., delicate, sensitive, and not calm). However, they were also perceived in terms of institutional adjustments involving the creation of activity settings that demanded from the children motives and competences that were in line with the children's interests and personalities. The main conclusion of this paper in terms of the research-based development of institutional practices is the importance of ECE parental collaborations that not only extend our understanding of the child's perspective but also refect on the ECE institutional context from this perspective.

These two aspects may become interesting starting points for early childhood institutions and educators seeking to encourage dialogue with parents and caregivers to facilitate the transformation of parents' values and agency in relation to the cultural formation of the child as well as the development of the child as a selfcreating subject. Ideally, this dialogue between families and ECEs could form the focus of participatory and action research in order to develop complex, yet applicable and locally sensitive, knowledge.

# **References**

Barker, M.-J. (2016). *Queer: A graphic story*. London: Icon Books.

Butler, J. (1990). *Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity*. New York: Routledge. European External Action Service (EEAS). (2018). *Gender equality: One of the fundamental values of the EU*. https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage\_en/40929/

Gender%20Equality:%20one%20of%20the%20fundamental%20values%20of%20the%20EU European Parliament. (2011). *The policy on gender equality in Poland*. http://www.europarl.

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

# **Chapter 5 Children's Play and Social Relations in Nature and Kindergarten Playgrounds: Examples from Norway**

**Hanne Værum Sørensen**

**Abstract** In kindergarten, outdoor playtime is usually a break from more structured activities. It is leisure time and an opportunity for children to engage in free play with friends. Previous research indicates that time spent outdoors facilitates playful physical activity and that playing in nature inspires children's creativity, imaginations and play across age and gender. In short, play and social relations are crucial for young children's development and cultural formation. This study investigated children's play activities during *outdoor playtime* in nature and on kindergarten playgrounds. Its empirical materials consisted of video observations of 12 four-year-old's activities in nature and on a kindergarten playground and interviews with two kindergarten teachers. One child, Benjamin was the primary focus, and fve more were also included. Two examples of one child's social play in nature and on the playground were analysed to illuminate the different conditions and challenges he encountered. The fndings indicate that children's play in nature tends to be more creative and inclusive than that on kindergarten playgrounds, that kindergarten teachers participate more in children's play in nature than on playgrounds and that children are sensitive to and try to engage in what they view as a correct form of discourse with their teachers. The author argues for further research on the subject to learn more about children's social relations, creativity and cultural formation during outdoor playtime in nature.

**Keywords** Children's play activities · Kindergarten playground · Outdoor playtime · Playgroups · Play spaces in nature · Social relations

H. V. Sørensen (\*)

VIA University College, Aarhus, Denmark e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
© The Author(s) 2021 79 L. T. Grindheim et al. (eds.), *Outdoor Learning and Play*, International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development 34, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72595-2\_5

# **5.1 Introduction**

Outdoor playtime is valued in the Nordic countries and internationally in Early Childhood Education and Care institutions. The time outside is seen as a break from more structured activities that occur inside. It is leisure time and an opportunity for children to engage in free play with friends. Kindergartens and kindergarten teachers are central to securing the conditions for children's play in ECEC. Almost all young children in the Nordic countries1 attend public or private kindergartens, where they spend approximately 7.5 h a day. In the Norwegian Framework Plan for the Content and Tasks of Kindergarten (2017), it is stated 'play shall be a key focus in kindergarten, and the inherent value of play shall be acknowledged. Kindergartens shall make good provision for play, friendship and the children's own culture' (2017, p. 20). It goes on to say that 'kindergartens shall inspire and make room for different kinds of play both outdoors and indoors' (p. 20).

These societal and political statements defne play as important for children's development and cultural formation, and they oblige kindergartens to offer good conditions for play. However, the plan does not contain precise descriptions of how kindergartens should meet the obligations, though it is clear that children's play should be prioritised.

Kindergartens are societal institutions, each with a specifc history and specifc social and physical conditions. Institutional history is reifed through children's participation and social interactions in the available activities, which condition their development and cultural formation (Bang, 2009). According to Barker and Wright (1966, 1971 as cited in Bang, 2009), the concept of the human environment can be summarised in three general dimensions: artefacts, social others and self. However, the physical environment is important as well (Fjørtoft, 2001, 2004; Grahn, Mårtensson, Lindblad, Nilsson, & Ekman, 1997). Social play is important for young children, and outdoor play in nature or on playgrounds affords ideal opportunities for it. Several years ago, Swedish landscape architect Grahn et al. (1997) studied children's activities and development in two kindergartens. Their results showed how the conditions for children's play were infuencing their activities and their development. Children showed better results in motor function (i.e., balance, agility and strength), health and cognitive skills (i.e., concentration when conditions allowed them to climb, run, build, tumble and hide and have space for their imaginations, independence and social play in small and larger groups (Grahn et al., 1997, p. 96–97). Additionally, they found that children who spend many hours outdoors in all weather and in natural landscapes are better positioned for learning and development than children who spend their outdoor playtime on a playground with limited variations in terrain and equipment. In a natural landscape, where there is enough space for children to fnd interesting spaces in which to play, their activities are more imaginative and more varied, ranging from wild and noisy to calm and quiet.

<sup>1</sup>According to Nordic Statistics, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland, 97% of children from three to fve attend kindergarten, in Finland it is 70% (NOSOSKO, 2014).

There were more disturbances and conficts on kindergarten playgrounds than in nature, which the researchers attributed to the limited amount of space. Norwegian researchers Sandseter (2009, 2010) and Gurholt and Sanderud (2016) reached the same conclusions, adding that children's curiosity and engagement in explorative activities and risky play enjoy better conditions in nature.

A recent study of 5-year-old children's physical activity in 43 kindergartens in Denmark showed that they engaged in more physical activity when they were outdoors (Olesen, 2014) and another found that their play activities were more diverse when teachers regularly participated and allowed the activities to be rough and wild (Sørensen, 2013). In line with this, Sandseter (2009, 2010) found that it is important for children's well-being and development to include possibilities to engage in risky play, such as climbing trees, in which falling is a risk, or playing in the wilderness, in which getting lost is a risk. Ulset, Vitaro, Brendgen, Bekkhus, and Borge (2017) examined the relations between children's time spend outdoors and their cognitive and behavioural development, fnding that outdoortime in preschool supports children's development of attention skills and protects against attention problems and hyperactivity symptoms.

Children in most Norwegian kindergartens spend 1–2 h a day outside on the playground during the winter and more than 4 h in summer (Paulsen et al., 2012 as quoted in Løndal & Fasting, 2016). Children in outdoor kindergartens spend more time outdoor in general than children in other kinds of kindergarten do (Birkeland & Sørensen, this volume, Ulset et al., 2017). Regular trips outside the kindergarten area to other play places, such as forests or parks, provide children with opportunities for a variety of activities depending on the environment and its affordances (Bang, 2009; Fasting, 2015).

In some European countries (e.g. Poland), parents expect and allow their boys to go out and play in the dirt, but their girls are expected to play more quietly (Sadownik, this volume). In the Anji province in China, outdoor play is encouraged (He, this volume) more than it is in other regions (Birkeland & Sørensen, this volume), though recognition of its relevance is growing. Playful outdoor physical activity is a good opportunity for children to be with friends and have fun (Sandseter, 2009, 2010; Sørensen, 2013). Fantasy play and role play are also important ways of acquiring competences and learning about one self and the social world (Fleer, 2012; Sørensen, 2017).

Just as physical environments shape children's outdoor experiences, kindergarten teachers and the pedagogical practice do as well. In a study on kindergarten teachers' interaction styles, Løndal and Greve (2015, p. 469) found three main approaches to teachers' involvement with children: a surveillance approach, an initiating and inspiring approach and a participating and interactional approach. The surveillance style is often practiced when outdoor playground time is defned as time for children's undisturbed free play alone or with peers and supervised by one or two kindergarten teachers. Earlier research (Sørensen, 2013, 2017) revealed that most children spend their outdoor playtime engaged in play activities and having fun with other children. Often, during outdoor playtime, kindergarten teachers' take coffee breaks in shifts and do practical work or have meetings with colleagues,

parents or other professionals, meaning that child-teacher ratios are often lower than during the rest of the day. Additionally, kindergarten teachers interact more with children in nature-based play spaces or in other spaces beyond the kindergarten playground than they do on the playground, and therefore all children can be expected to be included in playgroups and social activities when play is experienced beyond the kindergarten (Sørensen, 2017). Based on this research, it is obvious that there is a need for a fuller understanding of how different conditions, environments, people, artefacts and pedagogical practices form the social situations for children's development during outdoor playtime.

This study focuses on a 4-year-old boy named Benjamin and his social situation and cultural formation in outdoor playtime in kindergarten. It is not a study of his individual development; rather, the aim was to investigate how different outdoor play settings (i.e., nature and the kindergarten playground) afford different social activities for children and to examine how their individual learning, development and cultural formation take place through dialogical interplay with the environments, artefacts and other people. The research question is: how do play spaces in nature create conditions for children's play and social relations relative to those of kindergarten playgrounds?

# **5.2 Theoretical Perspective on Play**

The cultural historical theory of child development defnes play as a purposeful and meaningful activity for children and the leading form of activity for those of preschool age (Vygotsky, 1966); through play, children learn about themselves and the world around them, and play frames their development and cultural formation. Children learn about the social world and achieve important competences in their interactions with kindergarten teachers and other children (Hedegaard, 2008). Play is the leading source of development in children's preschool years, and therefore, the conditions for play are part of the conditions for children's learning, development and cultural formation in early childhood education (Vygotsky, 1966, 1978). Several Nordic ECEC researchers have spoken in favour of young children's right to play in kindergarten and against school-like activities taking over that important time or efforts to use play as a tool only for learning (Hedegaard, 2014, 2017; Øksnes, 2017; Sommer, 2015, 2018, Tanggaard, 2015). They have also warned politicians and professionals against the consequences of restricting the time and space for play by focusing on school activities because the outcome may be that children are less likely to learn. As a way of protecting the conditions for children's play in kindergarten, Tanggaard (2015) suggested a focus on creativity in pedagogical and didactical practice. According to Tanggaard, creativity is not only related to aesthetical or artistic activity; rather, children are creative when they actively and curiously explore and investigate their environment, engage in fantasy and otherwise use their imaginations.

# **5.3 Children's Learning, Development and Cultural Formation**

The youngest children are dependent on caring social relations with their parents (Stern, 1977, 1985), and from ages three to six, which is their preschool epoch, interactions and social relations with peers are crucial to their well-being, learning and development (Schaffer, 1999; Sommer, 2003, 2015). Creative, social and imaginary play are meaningful activities for the child and have positive effects on children's learning, development and cultural formation (Bozhovich, 2009; Fleer, 2009; Schousboe, 2013; van Oers, 2013; Vygotsky, 1966). Nature and outdoor life have positive infuences on children's development, including motor development as a result of engaging in play and movement on varying terrain and physical and mental health as a result of the fresh air and calm environments (Sandseter, 2009). Additionally, nature and outdoor life positively infuence cognitive development because of the possibilities of exploring and learning about different phenomena in nature, such as plants, animals and insects (Grahn et al., 1997; Ulset et al., 2017).

Children's motives in play are meaningful to them even if they may be unknown to their teachers. In cultural-historical theory, a motive is more than an object that a person desires; it is part of a culturally meaningful practice and is embedded in a societal practice, such as kindergarten. A motive can emerge in play and can be a wish to be with friends, have fun or engage in risky or imaginary play. Motives and motivation are not properties of a person or factors that determine actions but are representative of 'a dynamic relation between person and practice' (Hedegaard & Chaiklin, 2005, as cited in Fleer, 2012, p. 91).

# **5.4 Studying children's Outdoor Play Activities and Social Relations**

This study investigated children's play activities and social relations during outdoor playtime in order to understand how conditions differ in nature and on kindergarten playgrounds and how these differences infuence children's play, social relations and cultural formation. The case study was qualitative, and the data collection methods were video observations and interviews. In employing the interaction-based observation method (Hedegaard, 2008; Sørensen, 2019), the researcher captured children's activities, physical movements and dialogue. The empirical materials consisted of 4 h of video observations of the children's activities in nature and on the kindergarten playground with Julie and Sara during autumn 2015 and spring 2016. The use of a video camera allowed the researcher to focus on one or more children and to interact with them without having to take notes. Ethical refections

on the use of video observation in child research were necessary to respect of children's privacy (Sørensen, 2014). Three semi-structured interviews were conducted with the kindergarten teachers responsible for the children to get insights into the refections and considerations behind the pedagogical practices related to outdoor playtime, the teachers' understandings of the social relations in children's playgroups and their thoughts about their involvement with children both in nature and at the kindergarten (Flick, 2002).

# *5.4.1 The Kindergarten*

This study took place at an outdoor kindergarten in a suburban area of Western Norway. The kindergarten has 90 children from 1 to 6 years old divided into six groups. The kindergarten's pedagogical practice was based on traditional Norwegian values that include a close connection to and passion for nature and an active outdoor lifestyle. Children spent most of their time outdoors. Three days a week, from around 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., they went on tours to other play spaces, such as natural playgrounds, sports arenas and public parks. Before leaving for the tour every morning, the children waited for everybody to be ready and played for a while on the playground; before their parents arrived to take them home in the afternoon; they spent time on the playground primarily engaged in self-initiated play but sometimes also in teacher-organised play activities. The remaining two days of the week were spent at the kindergarten; most of the days were spent on the playground, and meals were served outside unless it was very cold and rainy. When parents enrolled their children in the outdoor kindergarten, they received information about its pedagogical practice and values. They were told that children were allowed to engage in risky play (i.e., climbing trees and playing close to water or around a campfre). They were also informed of the very likely possibility of children coming home with dirty clothes.

The children and their teachers valued outdoor playtime, viewing it as a break from indoor activities and a good possibility for free play. Additionally, it contributed to fulflling the aims of the Framework Plan for the Content and Tasks of Kindergarten (2017): 'Kindergarten shall be a safe and challenging place in which the children can experiment with different aspects of interaction, community and friendship' (p. 11) and 'kindergarten shall be an arena for daily physical activity, and it shall promote joy of movement and motor development in the children' (p. 11).

# *5.4.2 Children*

Benjamin is the focus child in the examples of social play, and his efforts to initiate and participate in play with other children while in nature and on the playground were analysed from his perspective. In social play situations, Anna, Laura, John, Peter and Tom from the group of 12 four-year-old children were also included.

# *5.4.3 Kindergarten Teachers*

Two kindergarten teachers, Julie and Sara, both had deep roots in the Norwegian tradition of recognising outdoor life as important to cultural formation. They both had several years of experience at the outdoor kindergarten.

# *5.4.4 The Empirical Material*

The analyses of the video observations utilised Vygotsky's theory of play and child development (1966) and Hedegaard's model (2008) for analysing children's social situation of development in which the personal, institutional and societal levels are interrelated as the conditions for children's everyday lives in kindergarten. In the analyses, children's play activities and social relations were examined in relation to conditions in nature and on the playground. The interviews were analysed to reveal the kindergarten teachers' understandings of their societal responsibility for children's cultural formation, how Norwegian values and traditions were incorporated into their pedagogical practice and how outdoor playtime was organised as part of the pedagogical practice.

# **5.5 Benjamin's Play Activities and Participation in Playgroups**

Two examples of Benjamin's play activities and his participation in playgroups in nature and on the playground are presented here to illuminate how easily he established shared imaginary play with Anna in nature but struggled to be included in play on the playground frst with Laura and then with John, Peter and Tom. The analyses adopted Benjamin's perspective to see how different conditions, environments and artefacts offered different possibilities for his play and inclusion. In the frst example, Benjamin and Anna found a challenging path in a small forest leading to a fne spot they called The King's Place for imaginary play, and some of the other children came and joined their play. In the second example, Hey, don't push me, Benjamin and Laura were engaged in a social play activity on the playground until Laura physically and verbally rejected Benjamin. After the rejection, Benjamin made many attempts to fnd other playmates before he was accepted as a participant in another group. The examples were chosen because Benjamin had an active role in the social situation and took the initiative several times, but his social interactions differed in the two play spaces, and the differences seemed to be related to the conditions.

# *5.5.1 Example 1. The King's Place*

On this day in October, the 12 children and two teachers left the kindergarten and walked to a public park with a small forest. Benjamin and Anna walked into the wilderness through some tall grass and wild bushes. Benjamin and Anna climbed up a big tree. They found themselves a place to sit, and Benjamin made sounds as if he was shooting and fying. 'Now we're here,' he said. I (the observer) asked them where they were. Anna answered, 'At school.' Benjamin answered, 'On Iceland', and he continued, 'This spaceship…' and then 'I'm the king.' Anna added, 'I'm a king too.' 'Yes', said Benjamin, 'we are kings of the entire world.' Three other children joined them in the tree. Benjamin pointed at me and said to Anna: 'She's a baby.' I answered with some baby sounds, giggling, and they both looked at me, laughing. Benjamin made his spaceship send some meatballs2 in my direction.

When Benjamin and Anna were together in their adventurous play and mutually positive interactions, they shared the intentions of playing an imaginary game in nature and they interacted with the artefacts offered by the conditions. During their dialogue, they created the King's Place together, building on the environment and each other's ideas and fantasies in which almost anything was possible because the environment and artefacts were open to their creative and fantastical interpretations. They might not have shared the same inner imagining of The King's Place, but they did share the imaginary play. Additionally, through their playful interactions, they created a common imagination in dialectic interplay with the environment; they created their own social situation (Hedegaard, 2008).

During their play and social relation, they confrmed each other's imaginations. Their play and imaginations were verifed by the other children's interest and by an adult, namely me, watching and flming them while I was smiling and joining in. They could tell they had created something special, which had a positive effect on their cultural formation.

<sup>2</sup> I presume that Benjamin's inspiration to shoot with meatballs stem from an animation movie for children: *Cloudy with a chance of meatballs.* Sony Pictures Entertainment, 2009.

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> 'What Does She Want to Hear From Us?'**

Julie, one of the teachers, was also interested in the imaginary play at The King's Place, so she asked Anna and Benjamin what they were playing and what they were doing in their play. Anna told her about the shortcut and explained that it was some kind of a secret path through the wilderness, very challenging with tall grass and wild bushes. Anna also told her about The King's Place. Benjamin told her about how safe this place was for them to play in, with branches to hold on to so they would not fall.

Julie was close enough to see their play and wanted to show her interest in learning about it, and she asked them what they were doing. In their conversation with her, Benjamin and Anna referred to two categories of risky play (Sandseter, 2009)3 : play with the risk of getting lost and play at heights. Using their imagination, the children could feel the real risk of getting lost in the tall grass and wild bushes, even though they were not so far away from the group. The path they took was more exciting than the ordinary and easy path, and it was a good example of how nature offers conditions for children's exploration and imaginary play with their peers. To assure Julie of how secure they were, Benjamin demonstrated that he was conscious of the risk of playing at heights and had decided it would be safe enough for them. It was interesting that Anna and Benjamin understood Julie's question differently. Anna told her about their exciting play, and Benjamin told her about the safety of their play spot.

# *5.5.2 Example 2: 'Hey, Don't Push Me!'*

The second example is from a morning on the kindergarten playground. Benjamin was playing with Laura on the slide; they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Only one kindergarten teacher, Sara was present on the playground. She was busy, both supervising the playground and preparing a warm meal to cook on the fre and serve the children at lunch.

Benjamin and Laura went down the slide side by side and climbed up together in what seemed to be a positive relation with a common understanding of the activity. The frst confict occurred when Laura pushed Benjamin so he went down alone and she remained sitting at the top. Benjamin seemed unhappy about this; he had a sad look on his face but did not say anything. He climbed back up and sat beside Laura again. She pushed him down the slide one more time, and this time, with an aggrieved voice, he shouted, 'No!' He climbed up again, and when he got to the top, he told Laura, 'Hey, don't push me!' He tried to continue the sliding activity, but Laura kept pushing him away. Then Benjamin changed his play activity and began

<sup>3</sup> In her research, Sandseter described six categories of risky play: 1) play at great heights, 2) play at high speed, 3) play with harmful tools, 4) play near dangerous elements, 5) rough-and-tumble play and 6) play where the children can get lost.

to run up the slide. He tried several times, variating the lengths of his strides but without success. After having watched Benjamin's efforts, Laura came down from the top and tried to run up the slide. She took a long inlet and ran at full speed up the slide until Benjamin slid into her. It was not clear whether Benjamin's move was deliberate or accidental. Laura said, 'Don't, Benjamin! Benjamin!' with anger in her voice, and she continued: 'Now I'm leaving!' She walked away from the slide, and Benjamin followed her for a while before giving up.

Benjamin's and Laura's play and social situation changed from harmony to confict, and then Laura left Benjamin. In my interpretation, Benjamin's intention was to be with Laura and play with her, and Laura's intention was to see how Benjamin would react to her quite repellent behaviour. Going down the slide and climbing back up could have become boring after a while, which might have been why she decided to push him. The teacher did not notice the confict, and none of the children alerted her.

After Laura left Benjamin, he tried to get into a playgroup with John, Peter and Tom, who were playing with some small cars. 'I'm going to the airport', Peter said, and the children discussed where the drive should begin and where they were driving. Benjamin stood beside John, with Tom and Peter nearby. John looked at the three other boys and shouted, 'Come on, Tom and Peter!' Benjamin followed them. John turned around, and in a quiet and friendly voice, he said, 'We want to play by ourselves for a little while, Benjamin.' A few seconds later, John said to Benjamin: 'Well, do you want to play by yourself? Do you want to play by yourself?' I could not hear Benjamin's answer, but John said, 'Then go away.' John turned around and said to Tom and Peter: 'Benjamin wants to play alone.'

Trying to become a member of the other playgroup was not easy for Benjamin. John seemed to be the leader, and he did not want Benjamin to join. Maybe he had some negative experiences with Benjamin, or maybe he wanted to maintain his play as it was. Tom and Peter did not seem to care; they did not actively invite or exclude Benjamin. John only asked Tom and Peter to come with him. He changed his message to Benjamin from 'we want to play by ourselves' to 'Benjamin wants to play alone' in order to indicate that it was Benjamin's decision not to play with them. However, Benjamin did not give up. He was patient and persistent, and after a while, he participated in the car play activity.

Laura later joined the car play, and she, Benjamin and Peter ran after the cars driving down the hill. John sat on the ground, watching the cars go down the hill and children returning them. Peter informed me, the observer: 'We're running a car race.' I tried to get more information, but they ignored me. After some time and effort, Benjamin fnally seemed to be included as a member of the playgroup.

The conditions on the playground were not so inspiring for imaginary play. The slide was a piece of equipment that only allowed for going down or running up. Sliding down was easy, but running up was not. Playing with the small cars became a competition among the children. Based on my analysis and interpretations of this video observation, I concluded that Benjamin intended to interact and play with some other children on the playground. He wanted to be physically active, using his body and exploring the possibilities the conditions offered. The relationship between Benjamin and Laura seemed to be equal in the beginning, but after Laura rejected Benjamin, he tried to establish their play relation again but did not succeed. Then he tried to be included in the new playgroup by following their ideas and their way around the playground to fnd a place to play. He compromised and let the other children decide the content and actions of the activity, and after several attempts, he managed to be included. Benjamin was alone and persistent in his efforts, not asking the teacher (or the observer) for help. In nature, the teacher was interacting with Benjamin and Anna, but on the playground, she was busy and not involved in their activities.

The examples are not representative of all children in outdoor kindergartens; however, situations such as these are common. The examples illuminate the social situations of a child who is a popular playmate when the conditions are open and there is room for creative play and the interpretation of natural artefacts and environment but who struggle to be accepted as member of a playgroup when the conditions and artefacts are less open to fantasy and imagination.

Interviews with the teachers revealed that they enjoyed being in nature and sharing their passion for outdoor life with the children. They valued experiences in nature as more important for children's cultural formation and future lives than traditional indoor school activities, such as drawing, writing names and counting numbers. When the teachers took the group to other play spaces outside the kindergarten, they appreciated having time to engage in play and other activities with the children without the interferences of work and meetings. They also had time to talk to the children about societal or scientifc topics with the purpose of teaching them and preparing them for the future. Due to safety, there were more kindergarten teachers for the group of 12 children when they went beyond the playground, and there were no meetings or other disturbances, so they had more time and better opportunities to interact with the children and engage in their activities.

# **5.6 Discussion**

'In play a child is free. But this is an illusory freedom' (Vygotsky, 1966, p. 10). The fndings in this study show how outdoor playtime on playgrounds can be a painful arena for children striving to be accepted. Benjamin had to be very persistent to be included in a playgroup on the playground with a teacher supervising but not intervening. In nature, however, he was a popular playmate with fantastical ideas for imaginary play, attracting other children to become member of his very open and inclusive playgroup. These fndings indicate that play spaces in nature offer better conditions for creative and inclusive activities and that nature facilitates children's play outside their usual playgroups. Additionally, nature provides conditions for a variety of play that contributes to children's cultural formation. Sharing imaginings and creative ideas in social relations facilitates new relations and friendships, which is positive for children's well-being, learning, development, cultural formation and awareness of diversity.

Another fnding is that the ways kindergarten teachers interact with children tend to be more participatory in natural conditions, whereas on the playground, the approach is more one of monitoring, as teachers need to supervise a larger area with many children and be ready for an intervention if any of the children get into serious trouble.

Play on playgrounds is valued as an opportunity for children to learn to get along in larger groups without needing the close support of adults; they can handle smaller problems by themselves and become more robust. In addition, kindergarten teachers value the outdoor lifestyle and aim for children to become more accustomed to it, though it can be diffcult sometimes (i.e., when children are cold or tired but still have to carry their backpacks and continue walking because the teachers expect the experience to help them overcome larger problems or challenges later in life).

# **5.7 Conclusion**

The aim of this study was to investigate how outdoor environments in nature and on kindergarten playgrounds are associated with children's social relations and imaginary play. I examined how nature creates and affords better and more inclusive conditions for children's play and social relations and how their learning, development and cultural formation takes place through dialogical interplay with environments, artefacts and other people.

By interpreting the empirical materials to fnd patterns in the situated complexities of the institutional practice (Hedegaard, 2008), I found different conditions for children's play activities and social relations in nature than on the kindergarten playground, specifcally in relation to their inclusion in playgroups. In nature, the environment and artefacts are more open to children's imaginations than the equipment and artefacts of a kindergarten playground. The teachers have more time and fewer tasks in nature, and they can be more involved and focused on children's activities and well-being.

Allowing children to engage in social play in nature tends to have positive allround effects on their development. They practice their movements, imitate others' movements, plan how to master new challenges, learn to try more than once, fnd that they are able to do what they intend and feel the success of overcoming new challenges. Environments that can support children's creativity and curiosity offer possibilities for a variety of play activities. With enough well-educated kindergarten teachers aware of how to relate to children in a respectful way and with warmth and interest, children will experience better conditions for learning, development and cultural formation.

This study's empirical material illustrated how complicated it can be for a child to participate in a playgroup on a playground compared to in nature. When struggling to fnd somebody to play with, play is not a pleasure and is not free at all; rather, it is an experience characterised by a confict, rejection and compromise when trying to adapt to a playgroup from a position of little or no power.

This study also revealed that children are quite sensitive to the demands of their teachers and try to engage in what they view as a correct form of discourse while demonstrating their awareness of different adults' roles and functions. We saw how at The King's Place, Anna and Benjamin tried to adjust their comments to what they expected Julie wanted to hear, while their dialogue with the researcher was more playful.

Finally, based on fndings of this study, an argument can be made in support of giving young children time to play in nature with space for creative and meaningful activities and with kindergarten teachers present because of the positive effect this has on their social relations, cultural formation, learning and development. Because play, social relations and friendship are so important in children's lives, there is a need for further research focusing on the conditions for play (Hangaard, Rasmussen, & Øksnes, 2017) and the infuence of play in their cultural formation, learning and futures.

# **References**

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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# **Chapter 6 Utilisation and Design of Kindergarten Outdoor Space and the Outdoor Activities: A Case Study of Kindergartens in Bergen, Norway and Anji in China**

#### **Wanqiu Meng and Min He**

**Abstract** Compared with Norwegian kindergartens that emphasize how outdoor activity benefts young children's integrated development, Chinese kindergartens reluctantly encourage children to go outside for long time. A county named Anji in South China's Zhejiang province has started to change this approach to outdoor play. Kindergartens there provide outdoor equipment to support children's outdoor activities for longer periods of time. This approach is called Anji Play and has been recommended by Chinese Ministry of Education for all of the country. It has also attracted ECE experts overseas. In this chapter, we describe and analyse children's outdoor play in an Anji setting and in a Norwegian kindergarten from the perspective of the utilisation and design of kindergarten outdoor space. The study takes an ethnographic approach. We collected photo observations, anecdotal recording and interviews from one kindergarten in Bergen, Norway and one in Anji, China. The observation results focusing on outdoor play in the two kindergartens were discussed with kindergarten teachers, principals, professors and college students from China and Norway. Our aim was to interpret the core concepts, goals and concerns of Norwegian and Anji play from multiple perspectives to understand children's cultural formation in the two cultural contexts. We found the cultural values and traditions infuence how outdoor play is performed and there are clear links between culture and children's cultural formation.

**Keywords** Kindergarten · Outdoor space · Outdoor play · Norway · Anji · Cultural formation

W. Meng (\*)

M. He

© The Author(s) 2021 95

Preschool Education Faculty, Shanghai Normal University TIANHUA College, Shanghai, China

Early Childhood Education Department, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
L. T. Grindheim et al. (eds.), *Outdoor Learning and Play*,

International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development 34, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72595-2\_6

# **6.1 Introduction**

The outdoors can be described as an open and constantly changing environment, where it is possible to experience freedom, engage in gross motor development through boisterous movements, and be in contact with natural elements (Maynard & Waters, 2007). Compared with indoor play, children in the outdoors have more autonomy and can enjoy enhanced space, time and self-chosen activities (Bento & Dias, 2017). A kindergarten should provide children the best quality of education; Mohidin, Ismail, and Ramli (2015) found that this could be achieved only if the designer, as well as policymakers, are aware of the factors that promote a better environment for these children. Especially in city centers, outdoor spaces that children can use must be designed to meet needs for both children's learning and playful activity. In such designs, both natural and artifcial elements must be used (Acar, 2014). Furthermore, Salı, Akyol, and Baran (2014) claimed that there should be endeavors to provide necessary play equipment in playgrounds. Therefore, the design and utilization of outdoor spaces of kindergarten should be taken seriously.

Nordic countries, especially Norway, emphasize outdoor play in kindergartens for its benefts for children in health, cognition, social communication and other development aspects (Wagner & Einarsdottir, 2006). Norwegian children spend a signifcant amount of time in kindergarten outdoors, e.g., 70% in summer and 31% in winter semester (Moser & Martinsen, 2010). Compared with Norwegian kindergarten's promotion of outdoor activity for children's integrated development, Chinese kindergartens reluctantly encourage children to go outside for long periods of time. However, Anji County has introduced outdoor equipment devised to support children's outdoor activities for extended periods of time. It is called "Anji Play" and is recommended by Chinese Ministry of Education for all of the country; it has also attracted Early Childhood Education (ECE) experts from overseas. Indeed, some kindergartens in the United States have purchased Anji kindergarten outdoor equipment to trial. As researchers, we had the opportunity to undertake feldwork in Anji County and in the city of Bergen, in order to consider the similarities and differences within the cultural formation of outdoor activities and use of environment in both places.

This chapter, therefore, aims to surface the similarities and differences on kindergarten's outdoor space utilisation and design between Anji and Bergen, identify signifcant features of outdoor activities and explore children's cultural formation through outdoor activities in these spaces.

# **6.2 The Background**

# *6.2.1 Anji and Bergen*

Anji is a county under the jurisdiction of Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, located in the hinterland of the Yangtze River Delta with the Tianmu Mountain Range in the southwestern part of the county. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with a depression in the middle and a sprawling basin topography in the northeast. Anji County administers eight towns, three townships and four streets and had a registered population of 466,100 in 2016. Rich in agricultural resources, with a large number of excellent, new, special and agricultural products, such as bamboo shoots, white tea, mountain vegetables, etc., Anji maintains a high social and economic development level.

Bergen is Norway's second largest city and the capital of Hordaland County. It is also the largest city in western Norway with a registered population of 243,000 in 2017. It is situated on the steep fjord line on the west coast of Norway, leaning against the harbor and seven hills. The warm winds of the Gulf Stream contribute to Bergen's reputation as a rainy city.

# *6.2.2 Anji Play: The Way to 'True Play'*

Anji Play is a comprehensive approach to early learning developed over the last 18 years by Ms. Cheng Xueqin, Anji County's Superintendent of Public Early Education and is practiced currently in 130 public kindergartens. It has revolutionized traditional Chinese kindergarten provision with its ethos: "Let the play light up the child's life", which Cheng Xueqin and the other Anji educators call "True Play1 ". Its formation is based upon Ms. Cheng's observations of what she describes as three eras of play provision in preschools, from 'no play' to 'false play' to 'true play', according to the offcial website about Anji play2 .

#### *Before 2000:'No Play' Era*

Before 2000, the phenomenon of Early Childhood Education "Primary" was quite common, especially in Chinese county towns and rural areas. Early Childhood Education "Primary" refers to the preschool education that neglects the signifcance of young children's physical and mental development; instead, young children are expected to learn the content of elementary school using the same approaches for the elementary students (Yu, 2012). In this 'no play era', children were confned to narrow and crowded rooms and were offered little chance to play.

#### *2000–2008: 'False Play' Era*

Children were encouraged to only play games mechanically according to the themes, steps and roles formulated by teachers. Ms. Cheng observed that the children's enjoyment could be described as 'false joy', in which they appeared devoid

<sup>1</sup>Anji educators insist that in the kindergartens of Anji, children lead their own play and selfexpression. Children chose what, where and with whom to play. According to the Anji teachers, self-determination in play, ownership of discovery and learning in play and the time and freedom to express complex intentions in play, is True Play.

<sup>2</sup>The offcial website of Anji play introduced the formation process of Anji Play in detail. The introduction of the three stages in this study are all taken from http://www.ajplaychina.com/Home/ Contents/detail.html?id=2939andkey=fazhanandkeywords=发展历程

of the pleasures encountered in discovery play. Therefore, she referred to this as 'false play'.