Facilitated Play in Nature Playgroups: An Opportunity for Early Childhood Science Education

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Publicat a:Education Sciences vol. 15, no. 12 (2025), p. 1634-1654
Autor principal: Speldewinde Christopher
Altres autors: Infantino, Suzanne, Campbell, Coral
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MDPI AG
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022 |a 2227-7102 
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024 7 |a 10.3390/educsci15121634  |2 doi 
035 |a 3286276146 
045 2 |b d20250101  |b d20251231 
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100 1 |a Speldewinde Christopher  |u Faculty of Education, Southern Cross University, Melbourne 3000, Australia 
245 1 |a Facilitated Play in Nature Playgroups: An Opportunity for Early Childhood Science Education 
260 |b MDPI AG  |c 2025 
513 |a Journal Article 
520 3 |a Advocates for playful nature-based learning espouse the benefits of children’s self-directed play; however, past research has questioned whether this form of activity is beneficial to children of all ages, particularly the very young. In Australia, there are rapidly growing numbers of nature playgroups and bush kindergartens in which young children’s self-directed play-based learning is promoted. Bush kinders, as they are known in Australia, are a local adaptation of the European forest kindergarten approach, where three- and four-year-old children spend one day a week in outdoor contexts away from the kindergarten premises to learn and play. One further example of Australian nature-based approaches to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is the nature playgroup where forests, parklands, and beaches are used by parents to regularly meet so their children can socialise and play. Science learning is often prevalent in these nature playgroups where children observe the sky, ground, plants, and animals across changing seasons. The children can mix earth and water and move their bodies as they run, dance, and roll on the grass. Despite the popularity of nature-based ECEC approaches globally, Australian nature playgroups led by facilitators other than parents, aimed towards young children aged from birth to four, have only gained popularity in the past decade. This paper draws upon fieldwork informed by ethnographic methods and undertaken in 2024 at one nature playgroup. The observations of facilitators, parents, and children and the interactions between the researchers and the playgroup participants are described using vignettes to understand the experience of science learning during facilitated nature playgroup sessions. Through analysing research in ECEC nature-based science teaching and learning, we propose that facilitated playgroups are valuable for young children to interact with nature as an avenue to build science knowledge. 
651 4 |a Australia 
653 |a Parents & parenting 
653 |a Curricula 
653 |a Families & family life 
653 |a Community 
653 |a Forests 
653 |a Teachers 
653 |a Kindergarten 
653 |a Science education 
653 |a Preschool education 
653 |a Outdoors 
653 |a Grass roots movement 
653 |a Children & youth 
653 |a Executive function 
653 |a Childhood 
653 |a Educational Opportunities 
653 |a Feminism 
653 |a Emotional Development 
653 |a Parent Participation 
653 |a Child Role 
653 |a Preschool Teachers 
653 |a Young Children 
653 |a Preschool Children 
653 |a Family (Sociological Unit) 
653 |a Parent School Relationship 
653 |a Educational Objectives 
653 |a Child Development 
653 |a Science Instruction 
653 |a Music Facilities 
653 |a Play 
653 |a Environmental Education 
653 |a Developmental Delays 
653 |a Child Rearing 
653 |a Space Sciences 
653 |a Early Childhood Education 
653 |a Informal Education 
700 1 |a Infantino, Suzanne  |u Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Geelong 3216, Australia; suzanne.infantino@deakin.edu.au (S.I.); coral.campbell@deakin.edu.au (C.C.) 
700 1 |a Campbell, Coral  |u Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Geelong 3216, Australia; suzanne.infantino@deakin.edu.au (S.I.); coral.campbell@deakin.edu.au (C.C.) 
773 0 |t Education Sciences  |g vol. 15, no. 12 (2025), p. 1634-1654 
786 0 |d ProQuest  |t Education Database 
856 4 1 |3 Citation/Abstract  |u https://www.proquest.com/docview/3286276146/abstract/embedded/7BTGNMKEMPT1V9Z2?source=fedsrch 
856 4 0 |3 Full Text + Graphics  |u https://www.proquest.com/docview/3286276146/fulltextwithgraphics/embedded/7BTGNMKEMPT1V9Z2?source=fedsrch 
856 4 0 |3 Full Text - PDF  |u https://www.proquest.com/docview/3286276146/fulltextPDF/embedded/7BTGNMKEMPT1V9Z2?source=fedsrch