Outdoor activities in urban and suburban kindergartens

Številne študije so pokazale, da lahko zunanje okolje izboljša razvoj otrok na vseh področjih in vse več vzgojiteljev in drugih strokovnih delavcev se zaveda, da bivanje na prostem pozitivno vpliva na otroke. Poleg tega pa so raziskave pokazale, da otroci danes zunaj preživijo bistveno manj časa in posledično izgubljajo stik z naravo. V magistrskem delu sem izhajala iz ugotovitev avtorjev o igri in učenju v naravi, preživljanju časa na prostem, gozdni pedagogiki ipd. Predstavila sem rezultate nekaterih slovenskih in tujih raziskav z omenjenega področja, ki poudarjajo pomembnost bivanja na prostem. Ker je pomembno, da v življenje vrtca in raziskovanje vključimo tudi perspektivo otrok, sem predstavila tudi raziskovanje z otroki in participacijo otrok v vrtcu. S kvalitativno raziskavo sem ugotavljala značilnosti bivanja na prostem v dveh vrtcih, ki se nahajata v različnih okoljih – en v mestnem in drug v primestnem. S pojmom bivanje na prostem sem označila igro na igrišču ali v naravi, sprehode v naravo ali mesto, obiske pomembnih in zanimivih ustanov (na primer muzejev, knjižnice, kmetije itd.). Glavni cilj je bil preučiti stališča vzgojiteljev in doživljanje otrok ter izpostaviti ovire, ki se pri tem pojavljajo. Oblikovala sem delno strukturiran intervju in ga izvedla s tremi vzgojiteljicami iz vsakega vrtca. Pridobivala sem podatke o tem, kako gledajo na bivanje na prostem, koliko časa mu namenijo, kako ga načrtujejo, kakšna je njihova praksa in s kakšnimi ovirami se pri tem srečujejo. Poleg tega sem pripravila tudi vprašanja za pogovor z otroki, kjer sem odkrivala, kako oni doživljajo bivanje na prostem. Ugotovitve sem dopolnila z izbiro fotografije najljubšega okolja in njihovimi risbami. Rezultati so pokazali, da so otroci zelo radi na prostem in da se vzgojiteljice zavedajo pomena bivanja na prostem, kljub temu pa njihova vedenja včasih omejujejo otroško igro in učenje na prostem. Poleg ovir, kot so oddaljenost od naravnih okolij, vreme, pomisleki staršev ipd., menim, da je razlog za morebitno pomanjkanje bivanja na prostem tudi premajhno zavedanje glede vseh možnosti uporabe in prednosti zunanjega okolja ter pomanjkanje prepričanja, da je učenje na prostem enakovredno, če ne še pomembnejše kot učenje v prostoru, oziroma da se dopolnjujeta. Z ugotovitvami sem želela prispevati k ozaveščanju vodilnih in strokovnih delavcev vrtcev o pomembnosti preživljanja časa na prostem ter k iskanju rešitev za izboljšanje prakse na tem področju. Poleg navedenega bi ugotovitve lahko prispevale tudi k večji participaciji otrok v vrtcih.Numerous studies indicated that outdoor play and learning could improve development of children and more and more preshool teachers and other professional workers are aware of that. Despite this, researches indicated that today children spend outside much less time and that they are losing the contact with nature consequentially. My master thesis is based on findings of authors on play in nature, spending time outside, forest educational sciences etc. I introduced results of some Slovene and foreign researches that are emphasising importance of outdoor play and learning. As it is important to include also perspective of children in life of preschool education, I write also about participation and research with children. With qualitative research I was exploring outdoor play and learning in two preschools located in different surroundings – one in urban and other in suburban. The term outdoor play and learning refers to any kind of play outside on a playground or in nature, walk in nature or into a town, visits of important and interesting institutions (for example museums, library, farm etc.). Main goal was to look into preschool teachers\u27 and children\u27s opinions and to expose barriers when planning and organising outdoor play and learning. With partly structured interview with three teachers from each preschool I was gaining data on their view of outdoor play and learning, how much time they devote to it, how they plan it, what are their practices and what barriers they are challenging. I also prepared questions for the conversation with children where I was finding out how they were experiencing outdoor play and learning. I supplemented findings with choice of photograph of their favourite place and their drawings. Results indicated, that children like spending time outdoor very much and that preschool teachers are aware of meaning of outdoor play and learning but their behaviors are sometimes limiting child play and learning outside. Beside barriers as the distance of natural environments, weather, parents etc., I think the reason for eventual lack of outdoor play and learning is also lack of consciousness of all possibilities of use and advantage of outdoor and lack of belief that outdoor learning is equivalent to indoor learning, if not yet more important, or that both types of learning complete each other. With the research I wanted to contribute to awareness of preschool workers on importance of outdoor play and learning and to the improvement of practice on this field. Findings could contribute also to better participation of children