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Outdoor Play: Friend or Foe to Early Childhood Physical Activity?

Challenging the Context of Unstructured Outdoor Play for Encouraging Physical Activity

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Play: A Theory of Learning and Change

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Abstract

What is the value of outdoor play? This chapter explores the value of early childhood educators providing a curriculum for children to engage in physical activity. While free play has value, it is important to ensure a balanced curriculum so that all children develop the skills and dispositions to lead a healthy and active life.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Schneider and Lounsbery [1]; Department of Health and Ageing [2]; Ward [3].

  2. 2.

    Reilly [4].

  3. 3.

    McLachlan et al. [5].

  4. 4.

    Department of Health and Ageing [2], World Health Organisation [6].

  5. 5.

    Australian Institute of Health & Welfare [7].

  6. 6.

    Thorburn [8].

  7. 7.

    Jenvey [9].

  8. 8.

    Malone [10].

  9. 9.

    Stork and Sanders [11].

  10. 10.

    Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations [12].

  11. 11.

    Timmons et al. [13].

  12. 12.

    van Zandvoort et al. [14].

  13. 13.

    White [15], p. 2.

  14. 14.

    Brown et al. [16]; Dyment and Coleman [17].

  15. 15.

    Steinbeck [18].

  16. 16.

    Australian Bureau of Statistics [19].

  17. 17.

    Reilly [4].

  18. 18.

    Brown et al. [20].

  19. 19.

    Dyment and Coleman [17].

  20. 20.

    Booth [21].

  21. 21.

    Gallahue and Cleland Donnelly [22]; Payne and Isaacs [23].

  22. 22.

    O’Connor [24].

  23. 23.

    Robinson et al. [25].

  24. 24.

    Gallahue and Cleland Donnelly [22].

  25. 25.

    Taggart and Keegan [26].

  26. 26.

    Finn et al. [27].

  27. 27.

    Bower et al. [28]; Dowda et al. [29].

  28. 28.

    Wood [30].

  29. 29.

    Brown et al. [20]; Derscheid et al. [31].

  30. 30.

    Cashmore and Jones [32]; Taggart and Keegan [26].

  31. 31.

    Little and Wyver [33].

  32. 32.

    Dowdell et al. [34].

  33. 33.

    Van Hoorn et al. [35].

  34. 34.

    Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations [36]; Elliott [37].

  35. 35.

    Riethmuller et al. [38].

  36. 36.

    Schiller and Broadhurst [39].

  37. 37.

    Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations [36].

  38. 38.

    Grieshaber and McArdle [40].

  39. 39.

    Gagen and Getchell [41].

  40. 40.

    Alhassan et al. [42].

  41. 41.

    Stephen [43].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia

    Kelly Tribolet

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  1. Kelly Tribolet
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Correspondence to Kelly Tribolet .

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  1. School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia

    Tara Brabazon

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Tribolet, K. (2016). Outdoor Play: Friend or Foe to Early Childhood Physical Activity?. In: Brabazon, T. (eds) Play: A Theory of Learning and Change. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25549-1_12

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