Do some kinds of outdoor play give young children more room to move beyond gender stereotypes?

Details

This study examined gender aspects of children's play in natural environments. In an ethnographic study, children aged 1½ to 6 years at a Swedish outdoor preschool were videotaped during free play.

Four play themes were particularly popular: war and superhero play, family play, animal play, and physical play. Each theme was analyzed from two perspectives: how children used natural resources and which gender positions—roles or ways of participating in play—they offered. The possibilities for activity offered by nature were used in different ways within the themes, and a range of gender positions was evident across them.

The superhero theme included exclusively gender-stereotyped masculine play positions. Family play included both traditional gender positions and possibilities for crossing those boundaries. Animal play and physical play offered non-gendered play positions.

The abstract states that natural environments are not gender-coded in themselves and invite certain play activities in which girls and boys play together. It concludes that natural spaces seem to offer good opportunities to promote gender equity.