Affordances of outdoor settings for children in preschool: revisiting heft's functional taxonomy

Abstract

Heft's functional taxonomy for children's outdoor environment based on the concept of affordances was applied and investigated in a Danish preschool context. Affordances here refer to the meaningful action possibilities of the environment. Two groups of children (3-6years) enrolled in preschool were observed during times for free play' in their usual outdoor settings: traditional playground and forest (12 visits, respectively). Modified classes of outdoor features are suggested along with new practical class names: open ground, sloping terrain, shielded places, rigid fixtures, moving fixtures, loose objects, loose material, water, creatures and fire. Each class is specified by distinctive and attractive key activities found by observation. Examining each class indicated that important characteristics apart from availability were variation, sizes and change. The concept of affordances emphasises the ongoing user-environment-activity relationship important for planning with children in mind, but clarification is needed when using the term.

Keywords

Forest preschool; playground; kindergarten; woodland; outdoor feature

Published in

Landscape Research
2017, volume: 42, number: 1, pages: 47-62
Publisher: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

SLU Authors

• Konijnendijk, Cecil

  • Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Landscape Architecture

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2016.1252039

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/94233