Illnesses and Injuries at Nature Preschools

Abstract

Nature preschools, where children spend the entire school day outdoors, are increasingly popular, but their health consequences have not been well researched. This study tested the hypothesis that nature preschools and conventional preschools differ in their illness and injury incidence, by comparing observed illness and injury occurrence in the two types of schools. For 14 weeks, teachers at five nature preschools and four conventional preschools in Seattle, Washington logged absences due to illness. Two nature preschools and three conventional preschools also logged injuries that occurred during the school day. There was no difference in illness incidence by preschool type, and no serious injuries were reported in either setting. Overall, the study found that nature preschools are a healthy and safe child-care model.

Nature-Based Early Childhood Education and Children’s Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, Motor Competence, and Other Physical Health Outcomes: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

“…The majority of the studies were conducted in Norway (n=8) (27,(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48), USA (n= 7) (49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55), Australia (n= 6) (56-61) and Canada (n=4) (62)(63)(64)(65). Three studies each were conducted in Finland (66)(67)(68), Germany (69)(70)(71) and Sweden (72)(73)(74).…”

“…Two studies assessed illnesses and sickness absenteeism using parent or teacher reported days absent from school (43,50). Based on the effect direction plot (Table 4), one study found a non-significant positive association between nature-based ECE and illnesses (i.e.…”

“…Based on the effect direction plot (Table 4), one study found a non-significant positive association between nature-based ECE and illnesses (i.e. illnesses were lower in children who attended nature-based ECE) (50). The other study reported a nonsignificant (p> 0.05) negative association between nature-based ECE and sickness absenteeism (i.e.…”

Methodological Considerations for Movement Education Interventions in Natural Environments for Primary School Children: A Scoping Review

“…Despite the differences in the protocols and project structures, positive outcomes have been provided by the authors regarding intrinsic school motivation [18], with positive academic [24,26,27,31], cognitive, and affective outcomes [23]. A decrease in sedentary behaviors and an increase in physical activity levels [21,32,34] have been also been highlighted.…”

A Low-Cost Method for Understanding How Nature-Based Early Learning and Childcare Impacts Children’s Health and Wellbeing

“…The parent interview and focus group data suggested reduced rates of illness and injury among their children. However, the published studies data found no difference and two studies found a higher incidence of injury within a certain population when comparing naturebased ELC to a traditional ELC setting (Weisshaar et al, 2006;Moen et al, 2007;Söderström et al, 2013;Frenkel et al, 2018). Therefore, this outcome was not applied to the logic model, however, future research should investigate this relationship further.…”