Playground tree diversity: A driver of well‐being in preschool children

Abstract Urban greenspaces benefit mental health in adults, with increasing evidence that biodiversity might also play a role. However, we know very little about the impact of urban biodiversity on preschool children's well‐being, despite the critical importance of the formative years. Additionally, though greenspace characteristics are well described in Europe, greenspace classifications and descriptions rarely include playgrounds as a stand‐alone unit, yet playgrounds are the public outdoor space most used by children. Here, we use an inter‐disciplinary approach to describe the plant diversity and habitat structure of 28 playgrounds in Stuttgart, Germany, and investigate its impact on preschool children's well‐being, as well as on their nature‐connectedness across all seasons. We show that the studied playgrounds host high levels of plant species richness. Plant communities in the herb layer are dominated by common lawn species yet also include meadow and ruderal species and a species of conservation interest. We highlight a positive association between preschool children's well‐being and playground tree diversity but a negative association with greenness around children's homes. Levels of well‐being also varied seasonally, with higher levels found in winter. Children's socio‐demographic background plays a key role in influencing well‐being, with higher levels found in children living in nuclear families and in denser neighbourhoods. Higher levels of nature‐connectedness, both of the children and of their carers, were associated with higher well‐being in children. Children's nature‐connectedness varied seasonally, with higher levels in spring and summer. Our results highlight the potential for improving preschool children's well‐being through relatively simple measures in greenspace design, for example, by improving the diversity of trees. Measures to improve nature‐connectedness from the youngest age could be critical to enhance well‐being. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.