PARENTS’ GUIDE TO A HEALTHY START
PRESCHOOL AGE
A Project
Presented to the faculty of the Department of Child Development
California State University, Sacramento
Submitted in partial satisfaction of
the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in
Child Development
(Theory and Research)
by
Silvia Cane-Galvis
SPRING
2012
© 2012
Silvia Cane-Galvis
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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PARENTS’ GUIDE TO A HEALTHY START
PRESCHOOL AGE
A Project
by
Silvia Cane-Galvis
Approved by:
__________________________________, Committee Chair
Ana Garcia-Nevarez
__________________________________, Second Reader
Lynda Stone
____________________________
Date
iii
Student: Silvia Cane-Galvis
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format
manual, and that this project is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for
the project.
__________________________, Graduate Coordinator
Kristen Alexander
Department of Child Development
iv
___________________
Date
Abstract
of
PARENTS’ GUIDE TO A HEALTHY START
PRESCHOOL AGE
by
Silvia Cane-Galvis
Statement of Problem
Societal changes in living demographics, changes in school system regulations, and
an increase in the amount and availability of screen-based entertainment have
significantly decreased the amount of time and experiences children engage in outdoor
play (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). The literature identified a
critical importance of a healthy diet is synergistic with outdoor play to have a more
effective impact on healthy development. Therefore, the need to inform parents, teachers
and society about the advantages of healthy eating and involvement in outdoor activities
is crucial. The purpose of this project is to create a clear, concise, easy to implement
guide for parents in the Sacramento County that explains the benefits of outdoor
activities. The “Parents’ Guide to a Healthy Start” links these benefits with several
developmental domains (cognitive, socio-emotional and language) and presents the
negative effects of sedentary life styles. It also includes healthy eating habits, outdoor
activities, and local resources. While there are other publications that offer some of this
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information, there are no resources currently available to offer parents a well-rounded
informative guide.
Sources of Data
An extensive review of the literature was conducted to identify empirical and
theoretical studies, as well as books and online resources about outdoor play in early
childhood. The literature review includes the following topics: the benefits of outdoor
play, changes in living demographics and school systems, developmental consequences
of sedentary live styles, healthy eating habits, and parents’ role in outdoor play. After
completion of the literature review, the researcher developed the guide that included all
the above. Furthermore, the researcher included a section on gardening, outdoor play
activities, and local resources available to the public in the Sacramento region.
Conclusions Reached
There is a wealth of studies about benefits of outdoor play and negative effects of
sedentary life styles for children’s healthy development. There are also publications and
many local resources available for families who are in need of this information. However,
none of these publications cover all of the factors found by the literature for families to
understand the importance of outdoor activities in a concise and easy to read format. The
“Parents’ Guide to a Healthy Start” provides parents with information and hands-on
activities. In addition, it offers information about community resources that can help
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families learn more and become connected with many other activities and resources. The
guide allows parents’ to get all the information in one handbook and become aware of
easy ways to help their children have a healthy start that will carry on into adulthood.
_______________________, Committee Chair
Ana Garcia-Nevarez
_______________________
Date
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express the deepest appreciation and gratitude to my committee
chair, Professor Garcia-Nevarez who supported me through this process. Without her
guidance and her persistent help, this project would not have been possible.
I would like to thank my committee member, Professor Stone, who demonstrated
and modeled the importance of good writing skills and was always a source of
knowledge. I learned so much and will forever have with me the examples and skills I
gained during this process.
To my mother, I would like to say that her support, love and life long caring are
what made any of this possible. I love you mom and thank you for always being there for
me.
In addition, a huge thank to my wonderful husband Michael Cane, who helped me
find in myself the deep love I now have for nature. He has been a true example of how
love for nature has a positive impact in quality of life. He has taught me so much about
enjoying nature, the importance of conservation biology, and how essential it is to expose
children to nature, instead of buying them pre-made toys. I feel so blessed to have met
you and to be able to share this fun trip called life with you.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgments................................................................................................................. viii
List of Figures ...........................................................................................................................xi
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION …………….. ……………………………………………………….. 1
Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................. 2
Purpose of the Project .................................................................................................. 5
Significance of the Project ........................................................................................... 6
Methodology………………………………………………………………………… 7
Definition of Terms ...……………………………………………………………….. 10
Limitations of the Project …………………………………………………………… 12
Organization of the Project………………………………………………………….. 13
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................. 15
Demographic areas .................................................................................................... 15
School changes .......................................................................................................... 17
Benefits of outdoor play ………………………………………………………….... 21
Play deprivation ……………………………………………………………………. 24
Healthy diets ……………………………………………………………………….. 26
Parents’ role ………………………………………………………………………… 28
Theoretical Framework …………………………………………………………….. 31
Cognitive Development Theory..................................................................... 31
Language Development Theory..................................................................... 33
Socio-Emotional Development Theory ……………………………………..34
Attention Restoration Theory………………………………………………...35
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………….. 36
3. METHODS ....................................................................................................................... 38
Design of the Project ………………………………………………………………. 37
Online and book searches ............................................................................ 41
Procedures .................................................................................................................. 44
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4. DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS ……………………. 48
Discussion …………………………………………………………………………….48
Limitations of the Project……………………………………………………………..51
Recommendations ……………………………………………………………………52
Conclusion... ………………………………………………………………………….53
Appendix A. Parents’ Guide to a Healthy Start Preschool Age ..................................... ….. 55
References ............................................................................................................................... 86
x
LIST OF FIGURES
Figures
Page
1. Percentage of Population Living in Urban Areas……………………………………15
xi
1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Play “… is the purest most spiritual activity of a man at this stage [childhood],
and at the same time, typical of human life as a whole, of the inner hidden natural life in
man and all things. It gives, therefore, joy, freedom, contentment, inner and outer rest,
peace with the world.”
Friedrich Frobel (1887, p. 55).
In recent years there has been an increased interest from child development
professionals to research the benefits of outdoor play for a child’s healthy development.
This research interest has arisen in part due to the realization that our society has gone
through many profound changes in the way we live over the past century. These changes
have increased researchers’ interest in finding out how children’s development is being
affected. Amongst the changes, we can find that many families have decreased the
amount of outdoor time experienced in part due to a shift to living in suburban areas.
Also, there has been a recent emphasis on state and federally regulated academics, and an
increase in screen forms of entertainment, which encompasses TV, computers and video
games.
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Research has found that children who are encouraged to spend time playing
outdoors are more likely to develop an array of cognitive, language, and socio-emotional
skills necessary to be successful in schooling and life in general than sedentary children.
For example, children with higher rates of outdoor play use their imagination more and
develop greater and more complex language skills (Fisher, 1992; Carson, 1998), long
term positive attitudes towards science, (Harland & Rivkin, 2000) and are able to engage
in more complex levels of motor skills, such as sustained balance and better climbing
skills.
Furthermore, outdoor play has been associated with better social-emotional skills
needed to build relationships with peers. Examples of building relationships with peers
include, following cues, learning about others’ feelings, and being able to express
emotions and needs (Erickson, 1963 & Piaget, 1962). These social emotional skills are
important as children engage in play with others and have to negotiate game rules.
Statement of the Problem
The Census Bureau (2001) found that there has been a rapid change in living
situation for families in the United Stated. In 1850, ninety percent of the population in the
United States lived in rural areas, which rapidly declined to a mere ten percent by 1990.
This change has limited children’s opportunities for free, outdoor play due in part to a
reduced sense of safety by people who live in highly developed cities, including a fear of
3
traffic (Hillman, 2000). In addition, studies have found that children who live in rural
areas are more physically active than children who live in suburban areas (Dollman,
Maher, Olds, & Ridley, 2012). The aforementioned might possibly be explained by the
higher percentage of indoor and outdoor space available for rural families. In addition,
many suburban areas are built without “connectivity” in mind, which limits an
individual’s mobility and access to outdoor areas and places where active play usually
occurs. Connectivity allows families to go from their home to other parts of their
neighborhood without having to take a long, or heavily trafficked route (Committee on
Environmental Health, 2009). The lack of connectivity in suburban areas forces families
to drive places and limits the time families have to spend in outdoor play.
Another change found by research that affects children’s time outdoors is a
change in California’s school system due to regulations set by the “No Child Left Behind
Act” (NCLB) of 2001 (Hendrie, 2005). This law puts an increased emphasis on reading
and math in an effort to close the achievement gap for low-income students (US
Department of Education, 2001). NCLB has inadvertently put a damper on the amount of
time children have to spend outdoors. The increase in testing and assessments required
has limited the amount of time left available to spend in free play (Persellin, 2007)
despite findings that free play benefits academic performance by encouraging creativity
(Epstein,2008), exploration, and experimentation (Fasko, 2001).
In addition, there has been an increase in the variety and amount of time in
screen-based entertainment, which includes TV, videogames, cellphones, and other hand
4
held devices that young children use on a daily basis. Funk, Brouwer, Curtiss, and
McBroom, (2009) found that the majority of preschool children in their study had 2 to12
hours of TV viewing per week, which is a higher exposure than the American
Association of Pediatricians (AAP) recommends. AAP (2011) recommends no TV
viewing for children under two years old and instead encourages parents to find activities
that promote language development, socialization, imagination, and physical activity
such as unstructured play, which can help children to think creatively, problem-solve and
improve their motor skills.
Piaget (1962) found that children in the preoperational stage of cognitive
development benefit from active outdoor play as they learn through active involvement
with the environment around them. However, research has found that parents do not
share the same belief that play is essential for a child’s healthy development. Instead,
parents separate play from learning and do not see the relationship of how play facilitates
learning via hands-on experimentation (Rothlein & Brett, 1987).
Societal changes and parental lack of understanding of outdoor play benefits have
created a sense of urgency on the part of child development professionals, pediatricians
and nutritionists. Since parents have such a powerful impact on their children’s
development it is essential for parents to comprehend the benefits of outdoor play and
good dietary habits for healthy development. This project’s goal is to create a guide for
parents called “Parents’ Guide to a Healthy Start” with key information about benefits of
outdoor play, how to effectively and easily add outdoor play to their daily routines, local
5
resources for family outdoor activities and information about how specific outdoor
activities enhance healthy cognitive, social-emotional, and language development for
their child. A review of the research literature identified the critical importance of a
healthy diet and healthy eating habits in early childhood. The combination of outdoor
play with healthy eating has a synergistic effect on healthy development. Therefore the
Parents’ Guide to a Healthy Start includes information from the Center for Disease
Control (CDC), United State Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on the
importance of a balanced, healthy diet. Since this information discusses increased
consumption of vegetables and fruit, the Guide has directions on how to build a raisedbed garden and the locations of Farmer’s Markets in Sacramento County.
Purpose of the Project
The purpose of this project is to create a clear, concise, easy to implement guide
for parents in the Sacramento area that explains the benefits of outdoor activities for a
child’s development. The research literature includes many findings on the negative
effects that sedentary lifestyles can have on children’s development, thus this cautionary
information is included in the Guide as well. A review of the literature revealed that
healthy eating habits in conjunction with outdoor active experiences have a more
significant, positive influence on children’s healthy developmental outcomes than either
6
outdoor play or healthy eating, alone. Hence, the guide for parents includes information
on the benefits of both outdoor play and healthy eating habits. It offers information about
local community resources that support families’ outdoor experiences and healthy eating
habits and activities that help children engage in and enjoy outdoor play. In the activities
section of the guide, there are vignettes for social-emotional, cognitive and language
development that promote parent’s better understanding of how each activity enhances
development. These specific activities were selected and then included to offer
possibilities to parents of ways in which outdoor play can be added to their daily lives
and how this directly benefits their children
Significance of the Project
The combination of families increasing their focus on academics and their
growing and pervasive use of technology and media makes it critical for parents to
become more informed about the benefits of outdoor activity as part of a more balanced
educational approach. Moreover, the lack of such approaches has resulted in families
with little to no awareness of how to include the outdoors as a regular part of their daily
lives (Louv, 2008). Hence, it is the researcher’s goal that this guide will serve as the basis
for parents to start including the outdoors in their family’s life, learning to enjoy it and
making active outdoor play as part of their daily routine.
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The guide for parents developed by the researcher in this project, Parent’s Guide to
a Healthy Start, is significant because it provides parents of preschool-age children with
the tools and resources to engage children in outdoor play, and counteract tendencies
toward sedentary life styles. Many parents do not realize that outdoor play not only
counteracts sedentary life styles but also contributes in fundamental ways to children’s
competent engagement in the world. For example, outdoor activity benefits cognitive
development by allowing children to concentrate better after contact with nature (Taylor,
2001) including having higher test scores in concentration, self-discipline (Wells, 2000),
and a sense of wonder (Louv, 1991). In addition, play in outdoor environments increases
cognitive development by improving reasoning and observational skills (Pyle, 2002), and
creativity (Crain, 2001). Social-emotional development is also affected positively by
outdoor play in studies which have shown that being in nature helps children feel a sense of
peace (Crain, 2001), allows children to deal with adversity more effectively (Wells, 2003),
develops more positive feelings about themselves and others (Moore, 1996), and develops
a sense of independence and autonomy (Barllett, 1996). The guide also includes benefits to
language development through outdoor play such as, a greater and more complex use of
language, inspired by first hand experiences. These real life experiences allow children to
build mental representations of “complex phenomena, process complex language, and then
can attempt to communicate their understanding of those experiences with others (French,
2004).
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Methodology
The purpose of this project was to create a guide for parents called “Parent’s Guide
to a Healthy Start”. This guide aimed to be concise and easy to read for parents living in
the Sacramento area. The targeted demographic population includes parents living in
Sacramento County who attend the Children’s Center at California State University,
Sacramento and the parents of children enrolled in ten Spanish-speaking Family Child Care
Homes (FCCH). The resources listed are limited to the Sacramento area. However, parents
living in any city can implement the outdoor activities.
Literature on complimentary benefits of physical activities, outdoor education, and
healthy diets and the influences those variables have on children’s development was
reviewed. This review gathered information on the benefits of engaging in outdoor
activities and some of the negative consequences of lack of outdoor play and unhealthy
eating habits. After completing the literature review, the researcher looked into existing
resources for parents to determine which of these materials focus on outdoor activities. The
researcher found that there are multiple books and websites that give ideas for outdoor
activities, but these resources did not address all of the topics the researcher considered
necessary for parents to understand the importance of engaging in outdoor play activities,
including specific benefits for cognitive, social-emotional, and language development for
preschool age children. Such a guide should not only provide helpful activities but also
should offer child development background information and a list of resources that support
9
parental efforts to engage in more healthy habits. The researcher created a simple, yet very
informative guide that includes the negative effects of sedentary lifestyles on child
development, the benefits of outdoor activities to cognitive, social-emotional, and language
skills, the benefits of healthy eating habits, practical activities with the developmental
domains that they impact, and local free and paid resources that support families in their
quest to include more outdoor activities and healthy diets in their daily routines. After
conceptualizing the format and type of guide needed to help parents, the researcher
returned to the empirical and theoretical literature to determine which specific facts and
information could be included in the guide to maximize its effectiveness.
Simultaneously with the literature review, the researcher looked for local resources
that support families to engage in outdoor activities and healthy eating habits. The
researcher found information about community gardens and farmer’s markets in
Sacramento county and local activities such as Nimbus hatchery and the American River
bike trails. Each of the resources found were visited or discussed over the phone to confirm
they were still available. The current local resources found were included in the final guide
with necessary contact information to make it easy for parents to visit those sites without
having to do their own research.
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Definition of Terms
For the purpose of clarity, the following terms are defined:
Obesity: Body Mass Index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile for children of the same
age and sex as defined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Physical Activity: The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all
children 6-13 engage in three types of activity: aerobic, muscle-strengthening, and bonestrengthening. However, for the purpose of this project physical activity is defined as all
outdoor and indoor activities that promote movement. That is, any activity in which the
child is not sitting down and is engaging in some type of movement.
The following definitions have been adopted from the California Preschool
Learning Foundations (PLF) and the Infant/Toddler Learning and Development
Foundations developed by the California Department of Education (CDE) and WestEd.
These are seen as the necessary competencies that preschoolers, infants and toddlers
should be developing in order to be more successful in school. There are other definitions
in the literature for each of the following developmental areas. However, the researcher
chose the definitions offered by the Preschool Learning Foundations and the
Infant/Toddler Learning Foundations (ITLF) published in 2008 by the CDE because all
publically funded Early Childhood programs in California are required to utilize these
resources. The Foundations offer specific definitions of the skills and knowledge children
between the ages of 48 months and 60 months (4-5 years of age) and birth to 48 months
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should demonstrate. These skills and knowledge have been divided into domains that
have been directly correlated to kindergarten readiness. Most teachers in public schools
and some parents may be familiar with the Foundations’ domains because the CDE and
WestEd have been doing intensive trainings and are currently working on developing
more trainings to disseminate the PLF and ITLF to all early childhood teachers in
California. Due to the broad dissemination of the PLF and ITLF, choosing these
definitions to be used as the basis for the guide will make it easier for parents to align the
knowledge they get from this guide with the information teachers are offering to them.
Cognitive Development: When this domain is mentioned, it refers to the children’s
change in mental abilities such as thinking, reasoning and understanding. This domain
includes the children’s understanding of cause-and-effect, spatial relationships, problem
solving, imitation, memory, number sense, classification, attention maintenance, and
symbolic play.
Language Development: When this domain is mentioned it refers to the children’s ability
to listen, speak, read, learn new vocabulary and learn about print.
Social-Emotional Development: This domain includes children’s self-awareness, selfregulation, and social interactions with adults and peers.
It is the goal of the Guide that children will also build a strong relationship with nature
and learn how they connect to and affect their natural environment.
12
Limitations of the Project
Currently both parents work and many have to commute long distances, preschool
age children are being brought to child care centers that are servicing a high number of
children. Currently, some children attend childcare centers that offer little or no outdoor
play. In some instances, this lack is due to ignorance about the benefits of outdoor
activities but other times is due to a fear of financial liability if a child is injured while
playing outdoors. Some parents share the fear that their children could be more likely to
become injured outdoors than in a more restricted environment indoors (Prezza,
Alparone, Cristallo, & Luigi, 2005). Another limitation is the fear of crime outdoors,
which is very difficult to assuage for both parents and childcare workers caring for young
children. Because of these fears, sedentary life styles are likely to continue until safety
concerns are resolved (Farrall, Bannister, Ditton, & Gilchrist, 2000). Another limitation
of this project is that it was not piloted with parents or ECE professionals due to time
constraints. In further work by the researcher, Parent’s guide to a Healthy Start will be
distributed to parents enrolled in 10 local family child care homes (FCCH) and to the
Children’s Center at California State University, Sacramento. These FCCH’s and the
child care center have been approached by the researcher and are interested to review the
final product before dissemination to the families enrolled in the child care facilities. The
guide will support those facilities’ efforts to engage the children and their families in
more effective outdoor experiences.
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Organization of the Project
This chapter has provided an overview of the project design to create a guide
titled “Parents’ Guide to a Healthy Start”. Chapter two offers the literature review about
outdoor play benefits, negative effects on sedentary life style which include effects to
physical, emotional, and language development. This chapter also includes findings of
the effects of eating habits towards child development and some of the roles parents can
have to encourage healthy eating habits and active outdoor play. Then, chapter three
describes the layout of the project, how it was designed, and the steps the researcher took
to create this “Parents guide to a healthy start”. Finally, chapter four lays out the
conclusion s and limitations of the project and offers some suggestions for further work
in the area covered by the project.
The guide offers information about the benefits of outdoor play activities and
healthy eating habits for preschool age children’s healthy development. The information
found in the guide is supported by the literature review summarized in chapter two. The
guide is organized into five sections. Section one summarizes the benefits of engaging in
outdoor activities and some of the negative effects of sedentary life styles. Section two
gives parents an overview of the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA)
guidelines for healthy diets and includes community resources that support this goal in a
financially sound way. Section three includes information about how gardening can
14
support both healthy eating habits and outdoor play, and offers directions on how to
create a home garden and implement gardening activities. This section also lists
community gardens in the Sacramento County. Section four includes activities designed
for children ages three to five years that will help parents include some outdoor activities
in their daily lives. This section begins with vignettes that allow parents to better
understand how specific activities provide opportunities to support cognitive, socialemotional, and language skills. Each activity has a description of the developmental
domains that it promotes so parents can feel confident about what their children are
learning during play. Section five includes a list of paid and free outdoor play resources
in the greater Sacramento Area such as the American River bike trail and other walking
trails, Nimbus hatchery, public pools, and farms. The outdoor resources listed give
parents ideas of activities that are available to them as they seek to include outdoor play
in their routines. All sections of the Guide can be found in Appendix A.
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Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Demographic areas
The United States has gone through multiple changes in the last century that have
affected the ways children engage in outdoor play. The Census Bureau data (2001)
showed that in 1850 ninety percent of the population in the United States lived in rural
areas. These living conditions were favorable for outdoor free play for both children and
adults because there were many accessible woodlands, riverbeds, and farmlands (Pyle,
2002). However, in 2001 only ten percent of United States population lived in rural areas
with most families living in suburban neighborhoods (See figure 1). The information for
this figure was found in the Census of Population and Housing, Population and Housing
Unit, PHC-3 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000) and the graphic was created by the researcher.
Figure 1.
16
Currently, many suburban neighborhoods are built to house high numbers of
people but do not consider the importance of “connectivity.” Connectivity is defined as a
convenient layout for people to be able to go from one side of a neighborhood to the
other without having to take a long or heavy traffic route (Committee on Environmental
Health, 2009). Connectivity allows children and families to engage in outdoor activities
such as biking to school, walking to the market, getting to parks easily, and finding open
areas to play without the dangers of vehicle traffic. Therefore, neighborhoods that lack
connectivity have a negative correlation with the amount and kinds of physical activity
and outdoor play for residents.
Furthermore, there has been an increased parental fear for outdoor child safety
due to excessive information about crime and accidents (Hillman, 2000). Clemments
(2004) studied mothers of children 3 to 12 years old and found that 82% of them did not
feel comfortable with their children playing outdoors alone. Their safety concerns include
potential injuries and sexual predators that could endanger children with limited
supervision. Because of this growing fear there has been an increase in the number of
children who participate in organized sports instead of free outdoor play (Saelens, Frank,
Auffrey, Whitaker, Burdette, & Colabianchi, 2006). Studies have found that organized
sports support children’s physical activity and that this activity could carry on to adult
years (Crawford, 2005). However, the researcher could find no peer-reviewed studies that
17
address the benefits of organized sports for children under the age of seven and how
those activities impact different developmental areas for these younger children.
On the other hand, many studies find support for free outdoor play for children
from birth. Findings include significant positive influences on cognitive development
including: increasing initiative, imaginative play, creativity, understanding of the use of
tools to accomplish a goal, and basic academic concepts such as investigation and
production (Singer & Singer, 2000). Contrary to the connectivity theory, some studies
found that a more influential factor for children choosing to be physically active is the
home environment and not the neighborhood layout (Roemmich, Epstein, Raja, & Yin,
2007, Saelens, Sallis, Nader, Broyles, Berry, & Taras, 2002). For example, the number of
TVs and videogames used in the home, meal times in front of the TV, and parental
sedentary life choices had a negative correlation with children spending less time
outdoors or engaging in physical activities (CDC, Health Consequences, para. 3). Thus,
child development is enhanced by outdoor play, and the amount of outdoor play children
experience may be influenced by community design as well as parents’ life styles.
School changes
In addition to social and environmental changes there have been changes in the
availability of outdoor physical activities during school hours. The No Child Left Behind
Act (NCLB) is a law put into effect by the US Department of Education in 2001, which
emphasized school focus on reading and math subjects with the goal to close the
18
educational gap for disadvantaged students. Hendrie (2005) explained this emphasis
created a lack of balance between academics and children’s developmentally appropriate
needs to have hands-on, active undertakings to develop healthy cognitive, socioemotional, and language skills, all of which are fundamental for school success. The US
Department of Education and local school districts’ aims were to better prepare students
for higher education, and to be able to compete with future generations in the global
market. Nevertheless, NCLB created a culture of preparing for tests and assessments
(Persellin, 2007) and limited the amount of free outdoor play, which ironically has been
found to increase skills needed for math and reading such as willingness to stay on task
and problem solving (Leiberman & Hoody, 1998).
In the past, students had more opportunities for hands-on experiences with
activities that were preparing them to deal with the lifestyles and work in their
communities. Children and families spent more time being outdoors building things,
caring for their crops and animals, exploring, experiencing and learning from nature
(Dollman et al, 2012). Currently, school districts are faced with the high stakes given to
standardized testing, including whether or not schools will be able to maintain local
administration and Federal funding (Osburn, Stegman, Suitt, & Ritter, 2004). A
comprehensive academic review on the impact of standardized testing noted that
standardized testing has been present since 1920 when the Stanford Achievement Test
(SAT) started being used by schools to test their student’s academic achievement.
However, it was not until 1970 that the SAT gained as much interest as it has today. In
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2001 with NCLB additional assessments were required. Originally, it was thought that
such tests would help find promote more effective teaching practices (Mulvenon,
Stegman, & Ritter, 2005). Hursh (2005) states NCLB and standardized testing has forced
teachers to teach and students to learn for the test, due to the fear that if students do not
perform well in standardized tests funding could be lost for low performing schools. In
many instances, the push for performance has sacrificed the need most students have to
spend more time experimenting with the concepts and educational materials hands-on
instead of rushing through many concepts without the opportunity to gain in-depth
understanding (Hursh, 2005). No surprisingly, the push for performance limited time for
outdoor activities. Such conditions were mitigated in prior education systems, which
allowed parents, teachers, and communities the power to make decisions over the needs
of the local student population and the appropriate subjects, including sports, to be taught
(Hursh, 2005).
The current system governed by state and federal regulations has a clear set of
academic standards and expectations for the performance level children need to achieve,
forcing children to be able to demonstrate proficiency in various curricular topics by
scoring above an average score designated by the federal government. That change
eliminated the opportunities schools had in the past to create curricula that addressed
community specific subjects (Hurst & Martina, 2003). Hursh (2005) criticized this
practice by noting that it forces the schools to teach multiple subjects covered by the test,
but does not offer extra time or funding to include outdoor, hands-on experiences that
20
will allow students to gain the physiological and academic foundations needed to be
successful in their education and in their lives.
Although we know standardized testing is considered important in our current
academic environment, it is not clear how it affects children, parents and teachers in the
long-term perhaps reducing children’s opportunities to engage in outdoor play, which
ironically enhances development and skills that would support higher academic
performance. “A recent survey sponsored by the Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development found that many parents are confused about standardized
testing, do not feel informed about assessment procedures, and do not believe they are
equipped to assist their child in preparing for testing” (Gleason, 2000 as cited by Osburn,
Stegman, Suitt, & Ritter, 2004 p. 77). These same parental concerns included that if
children did not achieve good scores on those tests they will not be successful later on in
life. Some of the parents reported that children need to spend time studying instead of
wasting time playing, a misconception shared by many parents who separate play from
learning and do not see how play facilitates learning via hands-on experimentation
(Rothlein & Brett, 1987).
Teachers reported a high level of anxiety due to the standardized testing. Teachers
feared that the results would be unfairly used against them to decide salaries or
continuation of employment (Mulvenon et al., 2005), which increased the emphasis of
“teaching to the test.” Children whose parents put very high or very low importance on
standardized test were found to score lowest on the tests possibly due to lack of
21
understanding of the tests by parents (Osburn et al., 2004) Based on the literature review
it is possible that those children could have been spending too much time studying and
were missing out on other activities that could have helped them build the developmental
competence needed to excel. In contrast, children whose parents considered standardized
testing important, but did not place a significant value on them, scored higher than the
former group. These results are affected in part by parental attitudes. Parents who place a
high value on test scores tend to place a higher value on academics and less on outdoor,
hands-on activities. The literature reviewed supports the assertion that outdoor activities
“…[foster] flexible and divergent thinking and provide(sic) opportunities to meet and
solve real problems” (Staempfli, 2009, p. 272), skills needed to succeed in the real world,
including doing well on standardized tests.
Benefits of outdoor play
Notwithstanding that academics and safety play an important role in a child’s
development, limiting our children’s interactions with the outdoors has created a
disconnect with how academic topics learned in school relate to their reality in the
physical world. Children are loosing connections with the natural world, which not only
negatively impacts their cognitive, socio-emotional, and language development but, also
hinders the development of a whole, healthy person. Many studies have found that
children who have constant opportunities to interact with nature learn to love and protect
natural settings and to have positive environmental ethics (Pyle, 2003, & Sobel, 1996 &
22
2004). Wilson (1993) explained that humans have the evolutionary need to interact with
nature. When children are allowed to spend time outdoors playing in nature, they have
opportunities to observe, explore, and discover. Such children have been found to engage
in the active use of their imagination and develop stronger language skills (Fisher, 1992,
Carson, 1998). In addition, Fjortoft (2001) found that children who spend time in natural
landscapes develop significantly higher levels of motor skills such as balance, flexibility
and climbing abilities than children who played indoors and in structured playgrounds.
Children who play outdoors, in natural landscapes have also been found to have higher
levels of creativity and a deeper understanding of how things function in real life (Rivkin,
1995). These children tend to develop long-term positive attitudes towards science such
that they more easily learn about measurements, problem solving, and the climate
(Harland & Rivkin, , 2000).
The disconnect from natural outdoor experiences has exacerbated by an increase
in screen forms of entertainment also known as new media, which includes TVs,
computers, and videogames readily available to children of all ages in rural, suburban and
urban areas. In 1950 only 9% of households in the United States owned a TV set and in
1980 at least 55% of them did (Andreasen, 1994). This significant change, along with the
availability of many forms of new media has triggered an increase in research about the
impact these media devices are having on children’s development.
There is an on-going debate about the costs and benefits of new media on child
development. Some research finds that videogames and computers may help children’s
23
brains with memory, face recognition, and attention (Anderson, Fite, Petrovich, &
Hirsch, 2006) and allow children to learn skills needed to succeed in the modern job
market. Playing videogames has been correlated to increased problem solving skills.
However, video games take time away from reading and social interactions which have
been shown to increase externalizing behaviors for boys and to decrease vocabulary and
reading skills for girls (Hofferth, 2010).
It is important to note that TV, videogames and computers have been linked to
sedentary lifestyles that can lead to obesity over time, especially for children who have
poor dietary habits (Proctor, Moore, Gao, Cupples, Bradlee, Hood, & Ellison, 2003).
Children who spend long hours being sedentary are not likely to engage in physically
active play to make up for the time spend being inactive (Dale, Corbin, & Dale, 2000).
Sedentary lifestyles have been studied both during childcare hours and at home. Findings
include over one-third of children under three years old live in homes that have a
television on most of the time or always, even if no one is watching (Rideout & Hamel,
2006) and outdoor, creative play is limited. Children who spend significant time with
background TV, tend to have less interaction with adults and do not engage in as much
solitary play as do children in households where the TV remains off (Kirkorian, Pempek,
Murphy, Schmidt, and Anderson, 2009).
In addition, due to the societal changes mentioned earlier, recent studies find that
children spend the majority of their time at home involved in sedentary activities such as
watching TV, playing video games or in front of the computer screen (McIver, Brown,
24
Pfeiffer, Dowda, & Pate, 2009). Surveys report that 28% of youth in US watch more than
4 hours of TV per day and some families even have most of their meals in front of the TV
(Marshall, Gorely, & Biddle, 2009). The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends
that children under the age of two do not watch television at all, and that children over
two years of age watch no more than two hours a day (American Academy of Pediatrics,
2001a). Reducing the number of meals eaten in front of the TV is correlated to a decrease
in obesity (Robinson, 1999) and the increase of social interactions with adults and peers
than allow children to develop vocabulary and a sense of belonging (McIver et al, 2009).
In addition, the 50.6 percent of children under 5 years old spend at least 35 hours
in childcare settings (Capizzano, & Regan, 2005). This finding reinforces the need for
parents to pay close attention to the quality of the care their children are receiving. While
parents might believe that childcare offers plenty of outdoor play, Christakis, Garrison,
and Zimmerman (2006) found that 35% of preschool age children who attend child care
centers spend a significant amount of time watching TV and 85% of children attending
family child care home do as well.
Play deprivation
Recently, negative effects of inactivity and unhealthy diets have been at the
forefront of research studies due to the significant increase of negative health and
developmental effects being seen in young children. Amongst those negative effects are
cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and type II diabetes (CDC, Health Consequences, para.
25
1). Children across all demographics have been affected but African American, Hispanic
and low-income children have higher prevalence of obesity mainly due to sedentary lives
and diet, which are caused in part by unsafe neighborhoods and consumption of low-cost,
low-quality food and drinks (Hass et al., 2003). Inactive children have also been found to
be at higher risk for physical, emotional and cognitive diseases including “…bone and
joint problems, sleep apnea, endocrine abnormalities, and social and psychological
problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem in comparison to” physically active
peers (Breslin, Morton, & Rudisill, 2008 p. 429). Furthermore, obese children have
higher rates of school absences due to health factors, lower self-esteem, and higher
depression rates (Datar, Sturn & Magnabosco, 2004). In response to these alarming side
effects, the US Department of Health & Human Services in its Healthy People Guidelines
2020 (Key Guidelines, para. 2) recommended that all children engage in at least one hour
each day of moderate to strenuous physical activity to reduce obesity and depression and
to increase cognitive abilities. The Key Guidelines also recommend that all children be
encouraged to play outside.
Another statistic to be considered is that over 60% of preschool age children in
the United States are currently attending center based child care (Federal Interagency
Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2008) and although the information about physical
activity during child care hours is limited, the findings so far are less activity than
expected. As mentioned earlier, schools have decreased the amount of outdoor play
offered to children; however, parents believe that their children are being more physically
26
active during preschool and grade school than they actually are. One study found that
preschool children engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity only 3% of the day in
child care, while 80% of their time they engage in sedentary activities (Pate, McIver,
Dowda, Brown, & Addy’s, 2008) Surprisingly, this includes 60% of their outdoor time
because adults do not allow them to choose activities that could pose injuries (Sallis,
Patterson, McKenzie, & Nader, 1988). The sedentary activities include mainly adult
initiated activities such as TV viewing, computers, nap time, large group activities, snack
time, and playing with manipulative materials (Brown, et al., 2009). Although boys are
typically found to be more active than girls, there are many gender-neutral activities that
could encourage both genders to be active but this has not been seen in the studies. An
important finding is that children are more physically active when under the care of
adults who have been trained on the benefits of outdoor play (Bower, et al., 2008).
Healthy Diets
As mentioned earlier, research has found that in order for children to develop
healthy bodies and minds, active play and a healthy diet need to be included in all
children’s routines. Trost, Sirard, Dowda, Pfeiffer, and Pate, (2003) noted that children
who become obese in early childhood are less likely to engage in active play and social
activities and have a higher incidence of continuing to be obese throughout their entire
lives. Therefore, the types of diets offered to children have a significant effect on
children’s near-term and long-term choices and health outcomes, as well as a direct effect
27
on their physiological health. Children need to have access to water, fruits and vegetables
rather than soft drinks that have high amounts of high fructose corn syrup and sugar in
order to keep a healthy weight (Silva-Sanigorski, et al, 2010) and a balanced, nutritious
diet.
Unfortunately, the increased accessibility and advertisement of fast food chains
around many neighborhoods, and the availability of processed meals makes it very
common for parents to buy and allow children to eat these unhealthy meals. In some
cases it is cheaper to buy high fructose sugar drinks instead of making fresh squeezed
juices and many parents are under the impression that some of the packaged meals
contain healthier choices than they actually do because of the misleading word choices on
product labels. It is vital for children to be offered and encouraged to eat healthy diets
from birth in order to develop healthy eating habits that sustain good health and prevent
chronic illnesses and/or health risks.
A report by Ogden, Carroll, Curtin, Lamb, and Flegal (2010) noted that 9.5% of
the infants in the US were “at or above the 95th percentile of the weight-for-recumbentlength growth charts” and 40% of children aged 2 to 19 years were “at or above the 97th
percentile of the BMI-for-age growth charts” (p 243). The CDC showed that “obesity
prevalence increased 0.43 percentage points annually during 1998—2003” for preschool
age children (CDC, Childhood Overweight and Obesity, para. 2) and
recommended that children be offered food choices that are low in fat, calories and added
sugar. A longitudinal study done in the UK found a positive correlation between low
28
quality “junk” food and sugar intake with hyperactivity at age 4 ½ and higher rates of
obesity. The authors speculated that the cause of these results was that junk food is
packed with additives, sugar and fats (Wiles, Northstone, Emmett, & Lewis, 2009). Food
coloring and preservatives have been associated with higher rates of hyperactivity and
inattentiveness (Leickly, F., 2005); high intake of cholesterol appears to be associated
with low scores in short term memory tasks, whereas intake of fish, bread and cereal is
correlated with higher IQ (Theodore et al, 2009). Thus, some children who have been
diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder may experience improved
behavior and attentiveness once artificial coloring and preservatives are removed from
their daily diets (Greene, 2011).
Furthermore, parental role modeling of healthy eating and active life styles has
been found to be one of the most significant factors influencing children’s healthy
choices (Campbell et al., 2008). This means children who live in families in which adults
eat fruits and vegetables, eat more vegetables and fruits themselves and avoid unhealthy
choices as they get older.
Parents’ role
Preschool age children spend much of their waking time interacting with objects
in their environment and trying to make sense of those interactions (Piaget, 1962). Play is
free, intuitive interactions that occur without much planning by the child but adults have
the power to help make it more meaningful by offering environments that encourage
29
active engagement (Ginsburg, 2006). Unfortunately, parents are at times misinformed
about the educational needs of their children because of the confusing information
offered about standardized testing and school entry requirements mentioned earlier. Toy
manufacturers also advertise materials that purport to improve child development, that
are at best unnecessary and at worst encourage children to be overly sedentary, for
example "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" series (Zimmerman, F. J., & Christakis, D.
A. (2007).
Parents are expected to equip their children with the skills and experience
necessary for autonomous living, including exposure to real life experiences,
understanding of the real world, problem solving, and some exposure to risk. According
to Richard Louv (2005), parents need to give children opportunities to explore, and
develop complex play. These opportunities include providing environments that can at
times challenge children physically and add some elements of risk. Opportunities for
risks combined with less fearfulness from the adults supervising the children are needed.
When safety is what drives the decision-making, a child often ends up lacking real life
experiences (Louv, 2005).
There are very few things in life that involve no risk, therefore, in order to live
safely children need to be able to interact with real objects and have encounters with real
dangers so they can learn how to protect themselves and take reasonable precautions in
the future. Such risks not only create children who have better physical balance and other
physical skills, but also children who are more confident and competent to watch out for
30
themselves. However, at this time many children are only being exposed to risk- free
environments (New, Mardell and Robinson, 2005).
According to Slovic, (2000) there is a psychometric paradigm, which describes
the perception of danger thus “risk is a highly subjective process… possible hazards are
identified and prioritized by factors [which are] influenced by a wide variety of social,
cultural, and psychological factors”. Unfortunately, children’s exposure to outdoor play is
so limited, that it is a concern for how development might be restricted or altered in ways
that are not adaptive over the life span. Parents need to learn to create a balance between
quality learning experiences and supervision with the goal of allowing children to be
active learners in their environment. Children have been found to be more active when
adults offer quality outdoor environments that include open spaces, balls, riding toys,
wheels and the opportunity to learn games (Brown et al., 2009). In addition, music both
indoors and outdoors can promote vigorous physical activity when adults direct music
activities such as dancing.
Moreover, parents should allow children the opportunity to initiate and lead
outdoor activities as those have been found to be more physically demanding than most
adult initiated activities (Sallis et al, 1988) Conversely, children develop a higher sense of
autonomy and problem solving when allowed to direct outdoor activities. However, adult
lead activities can result in quality physical activity when they organize, model,
encourage and acknowledge children’s physical activity and have it as the goal of the
activity (Brown et al, 2009).
31
Theoretical Framework
It is important to recognize how preschool age children build knowledge about the
environment around them in order to be able to offer age appropriate, quality experiences
that best fit a child’s needs. There are many theories out there about how children build
cognitive, socio-emotional, and language development (Blank & Berg, 2006).
Importantly, all of the developmental domains are interrelated and strongly supported by
outdoor play experiences, as those experiences allow for individualization and hands- on
interactions with the world in a less restrictive environment.
Cognitive Development theory
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is an active stage approach that focuses
on how a child’s interactions with objects and people in the environment spur the child to
mature from one stage to another. These interactions become more systematic behaviors
and thought processes that change over time with new and more complex experiences.
The stages Piaget identified are named sensorial (birth-2 years), preoperational (2-7
years), concrete operational (7-11 years), and formal operational (11-15 years). This
project focuses on the preoperational stage that includes children from 2 years old to 7
years old (Piaget, 1976). Piaget believed that the way children understood the world was
by basic mental structures called schemes. Schemes are organized mental patterns that
adapt and change as children are engage in to new experiences. Children in the
32
preoperational stage learn best through active engagement rather than passive instruction.
In addition, children at this stage are egocentric meaning they are unable to see things
from another’s perspective. Piaget’s theories and research has lead others to conclude that
active participation is mandatory for children to learn. Outdoor play allows children to
engage with the world actively. They can interact with the world around them at their
own pace. These open interactions facilitate each child’s gathering information from the
outside world, adapting themselves to new information and experiences, enabling them to
navigate the world more successfully (Piaget, 1976).
Bruner (1977) argued that for children to be able to learn, remember, and be able
to transfer knowledge from one area to other areas of life, they need to first be able to
understand the foundation developmental competencies of the subject at hand. Bruner
also argued that knowledge is linked from one subject to another and that no one
experience stands in isolation. For example, as children learn about how to tie their shoes
they are more able to connect this knowledge to how to tie a knot to build a fort or to put
some ribbon on a gift box and so on.
In the past, children learned the skills they needed to succeed in their societies by
helping their families with chores such as caring for the farm animals, building furniture
or cooking for family members. Currently with the large industrialization of our society,
children are learning concepts at school taught in settings “remote from where they will
ultimately be used” (Gardner, 2000, p. 29). Because of it, many fundamentals
developmental competencies have not been learned which has made future learning less
33
enjoyable and far more difficult than if the fundamental concepts were learned since early
age.
Language Development Theory
Many have debated how language development occurs. Nativist theorist such as
Chomsky believe that children are born with the innate mechanism for developing any
language and that it is how our brain is wired what allows children to understand and
reproduce language as they mature. Other theorists, such as Vygotsky, believed that
language develops from social interactions for children to communicate. Once children
recognize that each object has a name language begins to merge with thinking and
understanding. Vygotsky (1962) also recognizes that language plays a role for cognitive
development as adults use it to transmit information to children and then children use it
as a tool to learn more about their environment. This later he described as a crucial
moment in which the child becomes very curious about words which leads to a quick
increase in vocabulary.
Vygotsky, as well as Bruner, believed that children learn in the context of social
interaction by interacting with the environment around them. Vygotsky explained that
children operate at one level when they work on something on their own but can perform
at a higher level when scaffolded by an adult or more experience peer. The latter being
the potential development level. Vygotsky referred to the gap between those two levels as
the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978). Once this new level of functioning
34
is internalized, the child can independently use the knowledge gather from the scaffolded
interaction and move on to a higher level of development. Then this child can engage in
other interactions with the environment and a more experience peer to be scaffolded to an
even higher level of development. Language is learned through social interaction and it is
especially affected by children’s exploration of their world and direct interaction with
others. Although language affects children’s conceptual development, Vygotsky believed
that speech and thought are two separate functions. Outdoor play allows for children to
engage in a significant amount of symbolic play in an unstructured environment.
Symbolic play offers opportunities for children to use objects in any imaginable way and
transform it into anything. Vygotsky saw these play opportunities as revolutionary and
needed for children to think in creative ways that lead to higher cognitive functioning.
This work by Vygotsky and Bruner directly affects the researchers work on the
importance of children interactions with outdoor play for both language and cognitive
development.
Socio-emotional Development Theory
Preschool age children need to develop socio-emotional competencies to be able
to interact effectively with the world around them and others. Epstein (2007) discusses
that a child’s lack of emotional regulation affects relationships with others because it
does not allow for them to understand the appropriate range for reacting to situations.
Children need to learn from their social interaction about the social norms and customs,
35
including way to appropriately interact with others and to learn how to deal with
disagreements and other personality traits. It has been found that children think that
adults expect them to be quiet indoors while outdoors play allows them to feel free and
engage in more cooperative play with other children and adults (Bilton, 1998). This
cooperative play gives children opportunities to practice and interact with social norms
and a range of situations that give then bases for socio-emotional development. This
study also found that when both boys and girls play outdoors they are more physically
active, and are more keen to learn through exploration and acting out. Also, these
children engage in more imaginative games with others, and are more willing to follow
each other’s leads.
Attention Restoration Theory
Attention Restoration theory (ART) “hypothesizes that natural environments
enhance psychological health and well-being by allowing individuals to reduce mental
fatigue and replenish the mental abilities necessary for self-regulation, which is a child’s
ability to gain control of bodily functions, manage powerful emotions, and maintain focus
and attention. ART has also been found to increase cognitive inhibition known as the
ability to control internal and external distracting stimuli that can help enhance attention
levels (Duvall, 2011 &, Shonkoff, & Phillips, (2000). Addressing the finding that
physical activity and outdoors can affect attention levels, Holmes, Pellegrini, and
Schmidt (2006) examined the effect recess has on a preschooler’s ability to focus by
observing children’s attention level prior to a recess period and immediately following a
36
recess period. Holmes et al. found that children were more able to focus during the
reading of a story when they returned from a 20-minute recess period of outdoor play
than during days when children could not play outdoors due to time of weather
constrains. It is likely that the limited opportunities of outdoor activities currently in
school has an effect for children attention during school hours.
In addition, preschoolers who have had limited exposure to outdoor activities are
likely to have less number of playmates and exhibit poorer levels of social abilities when
entering school (Zaradic & Pergams, 2007). This could be because children who spend
most of their days indoors do not have as many opportunities to play with other children
and their families tend to live in more isolation than families who spend more time doing
activities outdoors. This could be, in part, affected also by the connectivity theory, which
allows children and families to engage in outdoor activities such as biking to school,
walking to the market, getting to parks easily, and finding open areas to play without the
dangers of vehicle traffic.
Conclusion
It is expected that parents look for ways to ensure that children get the best
opportunities possible available to them by trying to offer activities that support cognitive
development. Unfortunately, as this literature review has outlined, lately much of the
efforts have focused attention on indoor academic development and limited outdoor
37
experiences including sports, arts, and various hands-on activities due to financial
limitations, curricular demands forced onto the school systems by state and federal
regulations, and parents’ misconception of what is needed for children to develop. These
regulations have forced children to learn in a fast-paced curriculum and lack connection
with natural environments found outdoors. Some of the curriculums developed by
schools after NCLB was implement are at times too difficult to understand because the
fundamental concepts need it were taught too quickly and without opportunities to
experience the concepts hands-on. The literature in this chapter has shown evidence that
there is a need for a conscientious increase of outdoor play activity for children, as well
as the need for learning about healthy eating habits that will help children be healthy.
38
Chapter 3
METHODS
Our society has seen rapid changes in our way of life from rural to suburban and
urban living in the last century, which have affected the amount of free outdoor play
children experience. In addition, there are two additional changes in the last decade that
have further reduced outdoor play. California’s schools have faced economic challenges
due to reduced resources for education and structural challenges due to the NCLB
regulations placing too much emphasis on standardized test scores. The academic
regulations have pressured teachers to “teach to the test.” Parents are often not informed
about this over-emphasis on academics instead of a healthy balance between academics and
outdoor play.
Unfortunately, in the last decade, many schools including preschools and family
child care homes, have responded to NCLB and the concomitant testing by making
significant changes. Their curriculum has become more academic with much less time
spent in extracurricular activities including outdoor play, art, and music. To address this
unhealthy imbalance in curriculum the current project, “Parents’ Guide to a Healthy Start”
is a first step to address this important issue.
The main focus of this thesis project is the development of a concise guide for
parents that will help them understand how outdoor play can be beneficial for their
39
preschool age children in developing higher cognitive, social-emotional, and language
skills. The guide covers (a) benefits of outdoor play (b) negative effects of a sedentary life
style, (c) benefits of healthy eating habits, (d) examples of outdoor play activities, (e) local
Sacramento county resources that help foster healthy eating habits, and (f) local
Sacramento resources that facilitate outdoor activities. There are written resources in the
marketplace that cover some of the topics in the current guide. However, a review of the
literature and other publications drew no results for a guide that covered the variety of
topics local parents need to have at their finger tips in order to understand the value of
outdoor play and be empowered to implement more outdoor play with their children.
Design of the Project
The first step in the development of a concise guide for parents on the benefits of
outdoor play for young children was a review of the literature. The researcher noted that
there is a direct link between both outdoor play and healthy eating habits with positive
developmental outcomes for children. Therefore, the guide includes a section on healthy
eating. The guide entitled “Parents’ Guide to a Healthy Start” was created to include the
information parents are currently lacking in order to encourage more outdoor play and
healthier eating habits in their children’s daily lives. First, the researcher examined the
literature about the benefits of outdoor play via Google Scholar, ERIC, PsycINFO, and
EBSCO host database, by using the search terms: outdoor play, nature, cognitive
40
development, language, outdoor education, physical activity, and play. This review
identified studies that examined the benefits of outdoor activities and the negative effects of
sedentary lifestyles. The literature review revealed a long history of study of benefits of
outdoor play on motor development, but less work has been done on other developmental
domains (Fjørtoft, 2001, Obeng, 2010, & McIver et al, 2009). Because of this, the
researcher decided to focus the literature review on the impact of outdoor play on socioemotional, cognitive and language development. Then, a more specific search was done
including outdoor play with these three selected developmental domains. This search was
effective in finding information about how outdoor play and healthy eating habits can
benefit these developmental domains. This search was used to organize and communicate
information in the guide to parents in an easy to implement style. The intent is to
encourage parents to learn ways to encourage more outdoor play for children in the
Sacramento area.
Once the literature review was completed, the researcher searched for websites and
books that offer ideas about age appropriate outdoor play activities. Then, the researcher
selected a few activities that could easily be adapted to various environments keeping
Sacramento County in mind. Then, those activities were modified when necessary to meet
the developmental level of children ages 2 to 5 years old, and to be useful in the
Sacramento area. In addition, the researcher noticed a lack of information about local
resources that are readily available to everyone, but not known by many. This lack of
knowledge was discovered through conversations with parents and child development
41
professionals in the Sacramento area. Thus, a list and brief description of Sacramento
county resources that support healthy eating habits was developed and included in the
guide. Examples of those resources are farmer’s markets, community gardens, and nature
centers in the area. These resources were found through online searches and the
researcher’s personal visits to many of them.
Online and book searches
Outdoor activities appropriate for preschool age children were selected after the
researcher read multiple books that have already been published about outdoor activities.
Not all of the books read by the researcher were used to create the activities included in the
“Parent’s guide to a healthy start” but a list of some of them was included in the guide for
parents to read if interested in more ideas for outdoor activities. None of the activities in the
guide are the same as the ones listed in any of the books but these resources were an
inspiration for the researcher.
Also, many websites were researched and used to find local resources that promote
outdoor play and healthy eating habits in the Sacramento county area. Those websites are
also listed in the guide for parents to find other resources and stay informed when new
resources become available.
This guide was created specifically for parents living in the Sacramento area and
keeping in mind that it will be disseminated by 10 family child care providers and the
Children’s Center at California State University, Sacramento to parents after is completed.
42
of children 3 to 5 years old. Keeping the population of parents in mind the guide was
design to include aspects found in the literature to be necessary for parents to know. The
guide begins with information about some societal changes that have affected the amount
of outdoor play children engage in. Then, it explains some of the benefits outdoor activities
have on cognitive, socio-emotional, and language development, including some
controversial ideas such as TV and computer being beneficial to children’s development
when there is a balance with outdoor play. After that, parents can find a section about the
importance of healthy eating habits and how those habits effect child development. That
section also refers to how gardening promotes healthy development of cognitive, socioemotional , and language areas, as well as healthy eating habits. Butterfly gardens are also
included in that section as they provide opportunities for interactions with nature and
outdoor experiences. Furthermore, the guide has a section that includes vignettes that
recount scenarios of children engaging in outdoor play. This vignettes further exemplify to
parents how outdoor play can benefit children’s cognitive, socio-emotional, and language
development. This section also includes 3 activities with their description for each of the
three developmental domains this project focuses on. After, parents can find a list of free
and paid outdoor activity resources for Sacramento county. Finally there is a list of books
and website that the researcher found helpful when looking for resources around
Sacramento area.
43
Procedures
In the first phase of the creation of this guide, the researcher reviewed the existing
literature by using Google Scholar, ERIC, PsycINFO, and EBSCO search engine. The
researcher noticed a reoccurring theme amongst search data topics, the negative effects of
sedentary life style and the benefits of healthy life styles, including outdoor play and
healthy diets. Throughout the research of the literature, the researcher found explicit
evidence that children who engage in outdoor activities experience greater gains than
sedentary children in social-emotional (Datar et al, 2004), cognitive (Castelli, et al, 2007)
and language skills (Fjortoft, 2001). After this was noted, the researcher expanded the
literature review to include healthy eating habits, which was also clearly linked by the
literature with healthy child development.
In the second phase, the researcher started to look for books and current
publications available to parents. After reading a wide selection of books that offered many
ideas for outdoor activities and benefits for children’s development the researcher noticed a
pattern. All of the publications available cover the negative factors of a sedentary lifestyle
and/or benefits of outdoor play, and provided ideas for healthy eating habits, and/or
outdoor activities. However, none of the resources found provided enough information to
fully understand the extent of the benefits of outdoor play, and how to effectively include
outdoor play in a family’s daily life. In addition, there are a few publications available that
summarize some local resources in Sacramento County for families but none of them are
44
specifically linked to outdoor play. Because of this, the researcher decided to create a clear
and concise guide that included all of the elements: discussion of the risks of a sedentary
lifestyle, benefits of activity, benefits of a healthy diet, special contributions to healthy
development of outdoor play including cognitive, social-emotional and language
development, and local resources for outdoor play for families with young children.
During the third phase, after the researcher decided on the type of guide to be
created, the studies selected at the beginning stage of the project were reviewed. While
reviewing, the researcher took note of the importance of healthy eating habits in relation to
healthy development. The researcher engaged in study of the nutritional guidelines
proposed for children by the USDA, and located resources in the Sacramento County that
encourage families to eat a healthier diet. The researcher included in the healthy eating
habits section a part that suggests having a home garden or participating in community
gardens. Families can eat healthier diets while also learning some fundamentals about
plants and other living things that feed on plants. These local resources were found online
and later visited by the researcher to ensure that they were current. The literature also
supported that when adults are aware of the benefits of outdoor activities for all
developmental domains they are more likely to increase opportunities for outdoor play.
This increase gives children greater opportunities for achievement in preschool,
kindergarten, and even in later grades (White, 2009).
In the fourth phase, each activity was considered with social-emotional, language,
and cognitive development in mind and they include a description of behaviors to look
45
for. The researcher wanted to give parents examples of outdoor activities that are easy to
include in their daily lives while describing how they engage children’s development for
each or all three developmental domains. The California Preschool Learning Foundations
(CDE, 2008) considers these three areas to be of crucial importance for child success in
formal education which another reason why the researcher selected those developmental
domains.
During the fifth and last phase, the final guide was created with five sections.
Section one gives a concise introduction to the benefits of outdoor activities and adds that
outdoor activities need to be associated with healthy eating habits. Section two provides
parents with information from the USDA about healthy eating habits and information
about Sacramento County resources that support healthy eating habits in a financially
sound manner. These resources included community gardens and farmers’ markets. This
section also presents the many ways gardening encourages children’s healthy eating and
understanding about the living world around them. This section has directions on how to
build a garden at home. Section three includes outdoor activities designed for children
ages two to five years with a description of how to do the activity, the developmental
domains it supports, and the materials needed, if any. The fourth and last section of the
guide includes a list of paid and free outdoor activities in the Greater Sacramento Area.
Such activities include the American River bike and walking trails, Nimbus hatchery,
public pools, and farms that families can visit (see Appendix A). The list will provide
46
parents with ideas for outdoor activities that are readily available as they seek to include
more outdoor play and nature activities in their family’s routines.
Finally, based on the literature review, the researcher adapted the activities that
were selected for the guide, and created some new activities based on past experience
working with children and the literature review. Then, a description of each activity was
developed including how it can support any or all of the three developmental domains of
focus. Three activities for each developmental area: cognitive, social-emotional, and
language development were described in language parents can readily understand and
implement with their children. The activities selected are appropriate for children ages 2
to 5 years old and offer specific examples of activities that can be implemented by
families. Each activity includes a description, materials needed (if any), and the
developmental domains likely to be developed by it. One example of an activity chosen is
“bubbles.” The guide first gives a brief description of some of the reactions and
experiences that parents may notice in their children as they offer this outdoor play
activity. Part of the description reads,
“…Notice that the bubble floats in the air and moves in the direction of the wind.
Children who play catching bubbles engage in cognitive development by having to
problem solve about the direction the bubble will float and have to make a decision of
whether they will pop or allow the bubble to land on their hand, the grass or blow air to
help it stay afloat. Children who allow the bubbles to land on the grass may experience
that the bubble pops as it lands and this could help the child to explore and notice that
some of the grass blades are pointed upwards (language) and can sometimes pop the
bubbles.” (pg. 13)
47
The recipe for a homemade soap mixture to create bubbles is included, along with how
developmental domains are likely to grow as children play.
48
Chapter 4
DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Discussion
This project came about because the researcher saw a need to address the
importance of engaging young children in outdoor activities after many years of direct
work with preschool age children and their families. The researcher started with her
personal experience working with childcare providers and many families who were not
engaging in outdoor activities and connected that experience with the information gained
from the literature review by starting the literature review searching for studies that
address the concerns noticed by the researcher. For example, sedentary lifestyles and
reduction of outdoor play in young children’s daily lives. From both the literature review
and personal experience, it was clear that there is a critical need to encourage and educate
families more about the importance of outdoor play and healthy eating habits during the
preschool years. The preschool years lay an essential foundation for lifelong healthy
eating and physical activity habits.
The researcher began by researching the literature about the benefits of outdoor
education to children’s healthy development. Cognitive, language, and social-emotional
developmental domains were selected for further study. These domains were selected
because most adults can easily understand how outdoor play engage children’s motor
49
development but many do not understand the benefits outdoor play has on healthy
cognitive, socio-emotional, and language development. The researcher wanted to provide
adults with a clear description of the benefits outdoor play has to cognitive, language and
socio-emotional development in hope that parents will then see the imminent need for
outdoor play in their children’s lives. Also, the researcher wanted parents to have a list of
specific activities and local resources that can easily be included in the daily lives of
families living in Sacramento County.
The benefits listed in the guide are meaningful for many families in Sacramento
County concerned about children’s disconnect with nature and who value a deeper
connection with nature. For example, children who are encouraged to play outdoors
interact with nature and learn to love and protect natural settings (Payle, 2003, & Sobel,
1996, 2004). In addition, parental concerns about a decline in academic performance are
addressed by assisting them in seeing the connection between the development of
academic competencies and outdoor activity. To make this connection clear, the guide
also includes literature on how children who play outdoors develop long-term positive
attitudes toward science (Harland, & Rivkin, 2000). These attitudes are accompanied
with the development of specific skills; such examples include, how to measure,
problem-solve and understand information about climate and nature in general (Harland,
& Rivkin, 2000). Furthermore, the researcher included information about how computers
and video games can benefit children cognitive development. The researcher also
addressed the need for balance between outdoor play and using technology in children’s
50
daily lives in order to reduce some of the negative effects sedentary activities can have
and give children opportunities to gain competencies address with outdoor play.
The researcher chose to include cognitive, socio-emotional, and language
development, based on a combination of her professional background working with
preschool age children on school readiness and the finding in the literature review. Her
working experiences gave her an appreciation of parents’ lack of understanding of how
all three developmental domains have a significant impact on children’s success and
enjoyment of school and adulthood and motivated her to do and in-depth review of the
literature. For example, children need to learn self-regulation, self-confidence, and
understanding of other children and adults to effectively participate in activities at school
(Barllett, 1996, Clemments, 2004, & Duvall, 2011). Children also need to be allowed to
have time to develop the cognitive skills of observation, creativity, problem solving, and
engage in activities that expose them to vocabulary. Unfortunately, many parents believe
that school readiness means that children need to simply know letters and numbers to be
successful in school (Thompson, 2006) but do not realize that lack of socio-emotional
and language skills can also be the cause of many learning difficulties that can be address
by knowing letter and numbers (Lewit & Baker, 1995).
Negative effects of sedentary activities were included in the guide to inform
parents of the consequences when children do not engage in outdoor activities and how
those may affect their children’s future. The guide addressed the need to include both
outdoor play and a healthy diet, giving parents information about a healthy diet in early
51
childhood. Several health concerns and statistics about obesity and cardiovascular
diseases were included to help parents see the real need for an active and healthy change.
Once the literature and other existing publications were reviewed, the researcher selected
outdoor play activities to be included in the guide. The activities chosen will help parents
understand how outdoor play increases cognitive, socio-emotional, and language skills
essential for children’s success in formal schooling and life. The guide includes a
thorough description of each activity and pointers on how each of the three
developmental domains are being affected. In addition, this guide provides parents with
examples of both free and paid community resources that support outdoor activities in
Sacramento County.
Limitations of the Project
In designing this guide it was important for the researcher to find activities and
information that could be easily used by parents and families living in the Sacramento
area. The guide was designed to include multiple pictures taken by the researcher during
her personal outdoor experiences with children. The hope is that the pictures will
encourage parents to use the information included in the guide. However, the researcher
relied on previous studies and publications to gather information and activities included
in the guide and the guide was not piloted with actual families. Therefore, it is unclear
how parents and families will use it. The researcher believes that because the activities
52
chosen do not require extensive or expensive materials parents will likely try them with
their children once the guide is disseminated. Also, because the activities section begins
with vignettes that exemplify how children benefit from outdoor play it will be easier for
parents to understand the specific benefits of outdoor play and feel enthusiastic about
how their children may benefit as well.
Another limitation is that the researcher relied solely on her professional
experience to analyze the activities and did not get feedback from other professionals in
the field. Parents did not get to view or provide feedback on the activities. However, the
guide does encourage parents modify the activities to better fit their own life styles.
Parents might discover that the benefits expand to other developmental skills not
considered in the guide.
Lastly, This project did not take cultural backgrounds into account and it will be a
good idea to include this variable into further studies with the aim to better help various
cultural backgrounds to increase their engagement with outdoor play.
Recommendations
Parent’s Guide to a Healthy Start provides enough information for parents to
begin to understand the negative effects of sedentary lifestyles and the benefits of outdoor
activities and healthy eating habits. It also includes local resources specific to the
Sacramento area. Parents can review the information, activities, and resources provided
53
and try to use them, but are also encouraged to find other resources that may better fit
their needs, schedule, lifestyles, and age groups of all the children in their family. This
guide offers information on how families can begin to provide a healthy start for their
preschool age children but the researcher recommends exploration of other activities and
resources that can further help parents learn about child development including the
cognitive, socio-emotional and language skills that children need in order to be successful
in formal education. Parents are encouraged to get informed about school readiness either
through their local school district or First 5 California.
This guide is also recommended for teachers and administrators who are
encouraged to disseminate it among the families they serve with the goal of creating a
community of healthy, active families. It is recommended that teachers explore their
neighborhood resources to expand on the activities provided in the guide. Teachers are
more aware of the specific needs, likes, and dislikes of the families they serve, as well as
the set of skills that the children under their care need to develop in order to be successful
in their communities and local school districts.
Conclusion
As the literature review has shown, there are many resources available on the
need for outdoor play activities and healthy eating habits. This “Parents’ Guide to a
Healthy Start” provides parents with information and hands-on activities to get started
54
and offers information about community resources that can help families learn more and
become connected with many other activities and resources. The guide allows parents’ to
get information in one place about benefits of outdoor play and become aware of easy
ways to help their children have a healthy start that will carry on into a healthy adulthood.
As parents become more familiar with the benefits of outdoor play and easy way of
including this play in their daily lives it is expected to see specific benefits to children’s
development.
Based on the literature review it is expected that children will be more familiar
with extensive vocabulary, more able to understand how materials can be used to build
and create things to further increase their cognitive skills. It is also expected that children
will develop love for outdoor paly and healthy eating habits that will remain as the go
into their adult years. Further, those skills will benefit socio-emotional development as
children will feel more connected with their surroundings and will allow them to practice
how to negotiate arguments and difficult situations that easily arise during play time.
These difficult situations at times mirror many of the difficult situations that adults face
during their interactions with co-workers and friends.
This guide will be disseminated in the future to families enrolled in 10 family
child care homes (FCCH) that the researcher closely works with and to parents of
children enrolled in the Children’s Center at California State University, Sacramento.
Those 10 FCCH and the Children’s Center will distribute it to their parents and those
parents will be free to use it as the see fit.
55
APPENDIX A
Parents’ Guide to a Healthy Start
Preschool Age
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
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