IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i8p6971-d1128951.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Elevating Children’s Play Experience: A Design Intervention to Enhance Children’s Social Interaction in Park Playgrounds

Author

Listed:
  • Jhu-Ting Yang

    (Department of Industrial Design, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, Taiwan)

  • Ching-I Chen

    (Department of Industrial Design, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, Taiwan)

  • Meng-Cong Zheng

    (Department of Industrial Design, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, Taiwan)

Abstract

Peer interaction through play is one approach to stimulating preschool children’s growth. The outdoor playground facilities in parks are ideal places for children to practice their social skills. This study utilized nonparticipant observation to observe and record children’s play behaviors and interactions with others to ascertain whether outdoor playground facilities favor peer interaction. We summarized the design elements of peer-interaction-promoting playground facilities to optimize the facilities by determining the types of environments and facilities that trigger peer interaction. This study discovered that children spent most of their time in solo play and the least in peer interaction. Such interaction occurred only in spaces in which children stopped briefly. After installing a new bubble machine designed to increase peer interaction, solo play behaviors and parent–child interactions became less frequent for children younger than six years old, whereas peer interaction became more frequent. During the peer interaction of children aged 3 to 6, the frequency of level one, three, and four interactions increased. They also displayed level five behaviors, which were not observed before the installation. The new facility triggered higher-level behaviors, such as cooperation and playing together, enhancing peer interaction between different age groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Jhu-Ting Yang & Ching-I Chen & Meng-Cong Zheng, 2023. "Elevating Children’s Play Experience: A Design Intervention to Enhance Children’s Social Interaction in Park Playgrounds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:8:p:6971-:d:1128951
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6971/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6971/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Morgenthaler & Christina Schulze & Duncan Pentland & Helen Lynch, 2023. "Environmental Qualities That Enhance Outdoor Play in Community Playgrounds from the Perspective of Children with and without Disabilities: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-30, January.
    2. Deborah A. Cohen & Meghan Talarowski & Bing Han & Stephanie Williamson & Emily Galfond & Deborah R. Young & Sarah Eng & Thomas L. McKenzie, 2023. "Playground Design: Contribution to Duration of Stay and Implications for Physical Activity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-11, March.
    3. Helena Elisabeth (Elsje) Caro & Teatske Maria Altenburg & Christine Dedding & Mai Jeanette Maidy Chinapaw, 2016. "Dutch Primary Schoolchildren’s Perspectives of Activity-Friendly School Playgrounds: A Participatory Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-20, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kathy Cologon, 2024. "“But Marley Can’t Play Up Here!” Children Designing Inclusive and Sustainable Playspaces through Practitioner Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-27, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pai Tang & Helen Woolley, 2023. "Optimizing Urban Children’s Outdoor Play Spaces: Affordances, Supervision, and Design Dynamics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-12, October.
    2. Muhammad Yazid & Dessy Adriani & Riswani & Dini Damayanthy, 2024. "Farm Household Vulnerability Due to Land and Forest Fire in Peatland Areas in South Sumatra," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, May.
    3. Manou Anselma & Mai Jeanette Maidy Chinapaw & Teatske Maria Altenburg, 2018. "Determinants of Child Health Behaviors in a Disadvantaged Area from a Community Perspective: A Participatory Needs Assessment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-14, March.
    4. Lisan M. Hidding & Teatske M. Altenburg & Evi Van Ekris & Mai J. M. Chinapaw, 2017. "Why Do Children Engage in Sedentary Behavior? Child- and Parent-Perceived Determinants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-27, June.
    5. Ana Lourenço & Fernando Martins & Beatriz Pereira & Rui Mendes, 2021. "Children Are Back to School, but Is Play Still in Lockdown? Play Experiences, Social Interactions, and Children’s Quality of Life in Primary Education in the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-15, November.
    6. Tineke Abma & Sarah Lips & Janine Schrijver, 2020. "Sowing Seeds to Harvest Healthier Adults: The Working Principles and Impact of Participatory Health Research with Children in a Primary School Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-20, January.
    7. Thomas Morgenthaler & Christina Schulze & Duncan Pentland & Helen Lynch, 2023. "Environmental Qualities That Enhance Outdoor Play in Community Playgrounds from the Perspective of Children with and without Disabilities: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-30, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:8:p:6971-:d:1128951. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.