'Pushing the outdoor play agenda': exploring how practitioners conceptualise and operationalise nature play in a Canadian context

• Published in: Qualitative research in sport, exercise and health exercise and health, 2020-05, Vol.12 (3), p.303-318
• Main Authors: Tink, Lisa N., Kingsley, Bethan C., Spencer-Cavaliere, Nancy, Halpenny, Elizabeth, Rintoul, Mary Ann, Pratley, Allison
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Children's play; community-university partnership; interpretive description; nature play; play policy; Qualitative research
• ISSN: 2159-676X; 2159-6778
• DOI: 10.1080/2159676X.2018.1457071

The purpose of this paper was to examine how practitioners think about and implement nature play in a Canadian context. Using data from interviews with 21 practitioners, we examined two overarching research questions: (1) How do practitioners conceptualise (think about and discuss) nature play? and (2) How do practitioners operationalise (i.e. plan and implement) nature play? The desire to examine how practitioners implement nature play opportunities derived directly from two practitioners who were working in the recreation sector at the time of the study. Their interest in understanding how nature play opportunities were being implemented was due to the increased focus on nature play in Canadian documents. To reflect this 'practical' interest, we developed a community-university partnership. We chose interpretive description (ID) as the method to generate applied, contextual knowledge. The findings revealed that despite the nostalgia that surrounds child-led, unstructured nature play, as well as an ever-growing movement to increase opportunities for freely chosen, self-directed nature play, practitioners more commonly supported structured, adult-led activities focused on skill development and risk avoidance. Highlighting a disjuncture between the values and assumptions currently guiding play research, policy, and practice, the discussion aims to destabilise the notion that play must be linked to measurable outcomes. Instead, we propose that the provision of nature play should be judged on whether it actually enables children to spontaneously and creatively play in natural settings, and call on professionals to acknowledge and challenge several opposing values and assumptions that appear to be encroaching on children's nature play.