Modeling Child-Nature Interaction in a Forest Preschool: A Behavioral Analysis Aligned with Landscape Affordances

Abstract

Interaction with nature has been positively linked to the psychological, physiological, and social development of children. In turn, nature preschools offer children the means for such interaction on a daily basis. However, little is known about child-nature interactions in such educational settings. In this observational study, I sought to model the child-nature interaction of 49 three-to-five year olds at Fiddleheads Forest Preschool located in the University of Washington Arboretum. Through a randomized time-sampling methodology, children’s interactions were video-recorded over a period of 35 weeks. Based on a second-by-second coding of the video data, a model was developed that is comprised of 26 child-nature interaction patterns, which refer to functional units of human interaction that are aligned with the affordances of the landscape. I also predicted that relatively more wild areas of the nature classroom would be positively associated with child-nature behaviors that were more relational – more in balance and in harmony with nature. Results confirmed this hypothesis. Discussion focuses on the ontogenetic and phylogenetic significance of the modeled child-nature interactions, and of the importance of more wild forms of nature for human development and flourishing.