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“When I’m playing with him, everything else in my life sort of falls away” : Exploring grandparents’ and grandchildren’s learning through outdoor play. Duflos, Mathilde; Hussaina, Hebah; Brussoni, Mariana

Abstract

A decline in children’s opportunities for outdoor play was observed during the past decades. Expanding opportunities for outdoor play through intergenerational programs for children and elders could benefit their mental and physical health. This study explores the learnings that Canadian grandparents and their 3- to 5-year-old grandchildren attained through intergenerational outdoor play. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 grandparents from British Columbia, Canada. Using thematic analysis, we identified six themes related to what grandchildren learned, two related to what grandparents learned, and one related to what grandparents and grandchildren learned together during outdoor play. Findings from this study indicate that outdoor play provides a unique opportunity to develop skills that are useful at grandparents’ and grandchildren’s respective life stages and should therefore be supported by educators and other professionals who work with families.

Item Metadata

Title
“When I’m playing with him, everything else in my life sort of falls away” : Exploring grandparents’ and grandchildren’s learning through outdoor play.
Creator
Duflos, Mathilde; Hussaina, Hebah; Brussoni, Mariana
Contributor
Children's Hospital (Vancouver, B.C.). Research Institute; Human Early Learning Partnership (Vancouver, B.C.); B.C. Injury Research and Prevention Unit
Date Issued
2023-06-28
Description
A decline in children’s opportunities for outdoor play was observed during the past decades. Expanding opportunities for outdoor play through intergenerational programs for children and elders could benefit their mental and physical health. This study explores the learnings that Canadian grandparents and their 3- to 5-year-old grandchildren attained through intergenerational outdoor play. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 grandparents from British Columbia, Canada. Using thematic analysis, we identified six themes related to what grandchildren learned, two related to what grandparents learned, and one related to what grandparents and grandchildren learned together during outdoor play. Findings from this study indicate that outdoor play provides a unique opportunity to develop skills that are useful at grandparents’ and grandchildren’s respective life stages and should therefore be supported by educators and other professionals who work with families.
Subject
outdoors; early childhood; preschool; environmental consciousness; sociocultural theory of learning; ageing
Genre
Article; Postprint
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2024-12-28
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0434619
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85338
Affiliation
Medicine, Faculty of; Other UBC; Pediatrics, Department of; Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of
Citation
Mathilde Duflos, Hebah Hussaina & Mariana Brussoni (2023) “When I’m playing with him, everything else in my life sort of falls away”: exploring grandparents’ and grandchildren’s learning through outdoor play, Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning
Publisher DOI
10.1080/14729679.2023.2230503
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Researcher; Graduate
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International