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Early Childhood Education Environments: Affordances for Risk-Taking and Physical Activity in Play

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Physical Activity and Health Promotion in the Early Years

Part of the book series: Educating the Young Child ((EDYC,volume 14))

Abstract

Many international studies have highlighted reduced opportunities for young children’s risk-taking and associated physical activity in home, neighbourhood, and early childhood education contexts. At the same time parents and educators express positive attitudes towards children’s engagement in challenging, physically active play. In the early childhood education context, the mismatch between expressed intentions of educators and what happens in the outdoor environment is attributable to a number of factors, including the difficulties that educators experience in theorising about the outdoors. In this chapter we examine the current status of physically active play in Early Childhood Education settings. We then consider contemporary approaches to affordance theory, with a particular emphasis on the contributions of E.J. Gibson, J.J. Gibson, Heft and Kyttä. We argue that affordance theory provides an important approach for active play research and pedagogy.

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  1. Department of Educational Studies, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    Shirley Wyver & Helen Little

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  1. Shirley Wyver
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  1. Department of Physical and Health Education, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, USA

    Hannah Brewer

  2. Journal and Book Series Editor Springer, Emerita, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennsylvania, USA

    Mary Renck Jalongo

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Wyver, S., Little, H. (2018). Early Childhood Education Environments: Affordances for Risk-Taking and Physical Activity in Play. In: Brewer, H., Renck Jalongo, M. (eds) Physical Activity and Health Promotion in the Early Years. Educating the Young Child, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76006-3_3

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