Contributions to Sustainability through Young Children’s Nature Play: A Systematic Review

Julie Ernst, Kerri McAllister, Pirkko Siklander and Rune Storli
Additional contact information
Julie Ernst: Environmental Education, Applied Human Sciences, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN 55812, USA
Kerri McAllister: Environmental Education Graduate Program, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN 55812, USA
Pirkko Siklander: Learning and Educational Technology Research Unit, University of Oulu, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland
Rune Storli: Physical Education, Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education, N-7044 Trondheim, Norway

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-36

Abstract: Nature play with young children has been criticized for lacking the transformative power necessary for meaningfully contributing to sustainability issues. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify outcomes associated with young children’s nature play that align with Education for Sustainability outcomes, toward addressing the question of its contribution to a more sustainable future. A total of 272 citation records were screened using eligibility and quality appraisal criteria, resulting in 32 studies that were reviewed. These studies’ outcomes were coded and then mapped to an education for sustainability framework. Results suggest that nature play supports education for sustainability benchmarks of applied knowledge, dispositions, skills, and applications. The multiple and varied relevant outcomes associated with nature play suggest practitioners should not abandon nature play in the pursuit of sustainability. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.

Keywords: early childhood education for sustainability; early childhood environmental education; nature play; nature preschool; forest kindergarten; systematic review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7443/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7443/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:13:p:7443-:d:587613

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().