Children on Green Schoolyards

Nature Experience, Preferences, and Behavior

Abstract

This study investigated how children are using green schoolyards and whether nature experiences occur there. The study included 38 interviews with children grades 1-10 at three schools. The interviews focused on students’ nature experiences, their use of green schoolyards, and cohort effects. The results show that children have preferences for certain schoolyard environments. Younger children tended to prefer green areas, while older children tended to favor non-green areas largely due to social group interactions. Contact with nature was not of primary importance to the children, but they did report nature experiences. These were more common among younger children and girls, and they tended to primarily be passive experiences.