Når barna møter leikeplassen – eit kjønnsperspektiv på barnas rørslemoglegheiter

The study investigates how five-year-old boys and girls use their bodies when playing outdoors at kindergarten and the physical spaces they create. The research question is: What characterises the potential spaces created in play between five-year-old girls and boys in the kindergarten playground, and what movement opportunities do they promote?

The results show that there are no major differences between the type of play that boys and girls can participate in. Girls can participate in physically active play and boys can participate in family play. Rather, it is the potential space that individual children create for themselves that separates the boys and girls. The spaces that the girls create are often physically calm, where verbal communication drives the play along. Regarding the boys, there is a tendency that the spaces are physically active and bodily communication drives the play along. The researcher believes this may mean that the experiences the children have of being a boy and a girl make the potential spaces they have the opportunity to create differ somewhat from each other. She believes that the results give reason to question whether outdoor play contributes to boys and girls meeting and having the opportunity to develop an equal society.

The researcher observed eight five-year-old children in two Norwegian kindergartens (two girls and two boys in each kindergarten). Both kindergartens prioritised outdoor activities for the children. The fieldwork lasted two weeks in each kindergarten, where the researcher filmed the children playing in the kindergartens’ outdoor areas. The observations were subsequently transcribed and thematically analysed.

Pedersen, L. (2019). «Når barna møter leikeplassen – eit kjønnsperspektiv på barnas rørslemoglegheiter». Barn, 37(2):53–65.