Children prefer a nonstandardized to a standardized jumping stone configuration: Playing time and judgments

- A standardized and a nonstandardized jumping stone configuration were put in a park.
- Children were free to play in both configurations.
- They spent more time playing in the nonstandardized configuration.
- They also rated the nonstandardized configuration as more fun to play in.
- No correlation between the children's joy of play and aesthetic experiences was found.

Over the last decades, the omnipresent standardization of contemporary playgrounds has been criticized for several reasons. The present study examined whether children prefer a nonstandardized or a standardized jumping stone configuration. Children were free to play in both configurations, alone or in a group of four. After the playing the children were to rate how beautiful they found each configuration, and how much they enjoyed playing in it. We found that children spent more time playing in the nonstandardized configuration than in the standardized one, regardless of whether they played alone or in a group of four. Moreover, the children reported that they liked playing in the nonstandardized configuration better than in the standardized one, and also rated the former as more beautiful than the latter. However, no correlation between the aesthetic judgments and the reported joy of play was found. The implications of these results are discussed.