Garden affordances for social learning, play, and for building nature–child relationship

This study examines the physical qualities of a garden environment and the behavior they bring out in 7- to 12-year-olds suburban children. The study was conducted in a summer day camp in 2008–2010 in the school children's garden of Kumpula, in the city of Helsinki, Finland. This qualitative research is based on a text-based content analysis of the camp leader's weekly group reports, observational notes, and photos from three years of field work. The garden fostered social interactions by offering plentiful materials in a varied space. The multiple affordances for a variety of actions in a garden made it basically a child-friendly environment. Consequently, activities in a garden environment appeared to promote the children's Zone of proximal development (ZPD). Therefore adults planning and conducting such activities should take into consideration the child's way of learning from nature and connecting to it through vigorous play. Recommendations are provided for planning garden environments and activity for children.