New playground concepts--favouring natural play characteristics--emerge. The aim of our free play study is to explore the relation between newly established natural playgrounds and the widely spread contemporary ones in terms of physical activity levels. The playground features differ in vegetation, topography, size and play equipment. The…

The physical and social environment of children in cities is continuously changing. Knowledge about the positive effects of natural play experiences within the child's development is becoming widely known. Affordances of diverse landscape elements and especially loose parts for play in natural environments influence play activities. New concepts…