Affordances for physical activity and well-being in the ECEC outdoor environment

Abstract

Children's everyday experiences with physical activity in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions are important from a health promotion standpoint. Experiencing well-being in physically active play is important, and the affordances of the environment may support such behaviour. The aim of this study is to develop knowledge about how the affordances of the ECEC outdoor environment may facilitate physical activity and well-being simultaneously. The sample in this study consists of 858 video observations of 2 min from eight ECEC institutions. The video observations are analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings highlight the importance of the physical environment for promoting children's well-being in physical activity and show how different affordances of the environment are important to enhance well-being and physically active play for all children in the outdoor environment of ECEC institutions.