Children's Gendered and Non-Gendered Play in Natural Spaces

This paper concerns gender aspects of children's play in nature environments. In an ethnographic study, children between 1½ and 6 years in a Swedish outdoor preschool were videotaped during time for free play. Four different play themes were particularly popular among the children: war and superhero play, family play, animal play and physical play. Each one of these themes has been analyzed from two perspectives: how nature resources are used and which gender positions they provide. Within the themes, nature's affordances are used in various ways. Similarly, a range of gender positions is evident across the themes. The superhero theme includes exclusively gender-stereotyped masculine play positions, while the family theme includes both traditional gender positions and possibilities for transgressions. Further, animal play as well as physical play provides non-gendered play positions. Natural environments are not gender-coded in themselves and they invite certain play activities where girls and boys play together. Thus, nature spaces seem to offer good opportunities to promote gender equity.