UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Children’s Play in Natural Environments and Their Development of Microcultures : “We Were Born in the Wilderness” Bauer, Michelle E. E.; Brussoni, Mariana; Han, Christina

Abstract

Amid a dearth of research exploring children’s stories of their play in natural environments, we conducted go-along interviews with 105 children aged 10-13 years in Metro Vancouver, Canada. We used narrative inquiry to explore how natural environments shaped their experiences and influenced their development of microcultures. Our thematic narrative analysis resulted in two themes: (1) children played in natural environments to which they had sentimental attachments; and (2) children developed microcultures away from adults. We explored the sentimental and purposeful elements of natural environments that children actively use to develop their microcultures.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International