Barna møter mobilt materiale i bevegelsesleik

The study investigates how kindergarten children in Norway use mobile toys/materials, such as balls or bicycles, in movement play. Movement play refers to play in which children use their whole bodies involving large movements. This study aims to provide increased knowledge about the relationship between children’s access to mobile material and movement play. The research question is: How is mobile material used in movement play in kindergarten playgrounds and what type of opportunities for participation does this give five-year-old children?

During the four weeks of data collection, the researcher documented 76 situations in which the children used mobile material in movement play. On four of these 76 occasions, the kindergarten staff initiated the children, while the children initiated the remaining 724 situations. The main activities were football (17), cycling (16) and sweeping, raking, digging (22). The study shows that relatively little of the mobile material is used in movement play, and that it is used in repetitive and fixed ways. The author advises kindergartens to rethink how children can use mobile materials in movement play, but it is emphasised that children’s autonomy and freedom in play must be central. 

A total of eight five-year-old children (four boys and four girls) from two regular kindergartens (not sports kindergartens, for example) in Norway participated in the study. The children and the interactions between the focus children, and the other children in the playground or kindergarten staff during free outdoor play with mobile material, were observed and video recorded by the researcher during two weeks in the winter and two weeks in the spring. Field notes were also taken during the observations.

Pedersen, L. (2020). “Barna møter mobilt materiale i bevegelsesleik". Norsk Pedagogisk Tidsskrift, 104(2):134-147.