Children’s nature play: access to the outdoors and interactions with biodiversity

In the U.S. and elsewhere, the nature play and outdoor time that is important to childhood development is not accessible to many. Children’s interactions with elements of nature, including biodiversity, are important. This study explored community-based affordances, using a nature play continuum, to examine the wildness in specific space types. To investigate children’s access and uncover how they interacted with nature in specific types of outdoor spaces, two iterations of household surveys for 489 families were used in the study. Underlying associations between types of outdoor space and children’s access were found. Direct and intentional interactions with biodiversity were related to specific types of outdoor play space. Given access, children will seek out interactions with biodiversity. Given that patterns exist between how families access both private and community outdoor spaces, community planning that designs for access to less available types of natural settings within more available types is suggested.