A Systematic

t NATURE
THE IMPACTS OF UNSTRUCTURED

Review
ON HEALTH IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
PLAY
Kylie A. Dankiw, Margarita D. Tsiros, Katherine L. Baldock, Saravana Kumar,

DEVELOPMENT
 Introduction
- Growing concern for children's well-being, including
obesity and mental health disorders
- Emphasis on the positive impact of outdoor physical activity and play
- Discussion of declining access to outdoor play and risks of a sedentary
lifestyle
- Introduction of nature play as a means to enhance outdoor engagement
 Introductio
- Highlighting positive outcomes of nature play: improved

n
mental health,
physical activity, academic performance, social development,
and cognitive development
- Recognition of previous systematic reviews on the topic
- Emphasis on the need for an updated review
with rigorous methodologies.
 Method
- Registration of the review protocol with
PROSPERO
- Conducting searches in seven electronic
databases
- Inclusion criteria: children aged 2-12 years
 Metho
- Intervention of interest: unstructured, free play in nature

d
- Use of McMaster Critical Appraisal Tool for the critical
appraisal of included studies
- Descriptive synthesis of findings using the
NHMRC FORM Framework
 Results
- Overview of findings from the systematic review
- Number of articles identified: 2,927
- Number of studies meeting inclusion criteria: 16
- Heterogeneous description of nature play
exposure/intervention
- Variety of outcome measures used
 Conclusi
While nature play showed encouraging positive impacts on physical activity

on
and cognitive development, the authors suggest the need for a universal
definition of nature play, standardized outcome measures, and robust research
designs. They emphasize the implications of the findings for the development
of standardized guidelines to inform practice and policy in designing children's
play spaces in different contexts. The section also includes the citation for the
review article and information about funding and competing interests.
 Group Take
- Nature play is unstructured outdoor play in natural environments,

Away
encouraging children to explore, interact with, and learn from the natural
world. - An example of nature play would be children exploring a forested area,
climbing trees, collecting leaves and rocks, observing wildlife, building forts
with branches, and engaging in imaginative play amidst natural surroundings. -
Incorporating nature play into a child’s life can provide a well-rounded
approach to their development, benefiting them physically, mentally,
emotionally, and socially, while also instilling a sense of environmental
responsibility and appreciation for the natural world.