• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.209-225
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to research the actual condition of environment and management of outdoor play at child care centers in Seoul, and to present a planning guideline for outdoor play environment. For this purpose, data were collected by a structured questionnaire and subjects were 164 directors of child care centers located in Seoul. The contents of the questionnaire were composed of general facts about the respondent and facility, environmental condition, managerial condition, and director's understanding about outdoor play. The data were then analyzed using the frequency, percentage, mean and crosstab. The major results have shown the following: 1) Most child care centers in Seoul had some space for outdoor play. 62% of them used front yard and 11 % a rooftop. 2) The space usually included fixed play instruments such as slide and complex unit structures, sand play area, and open area. It also had many natural elements as shrubs and earth. 3) 78% of the centers had a schedule for outdoor play. The schedule operates flexibly according to each center's own day schedule. Generally, a time for outdoor play was 21 to 30 minutes. 4) The directors of child care centers thought highly of outdoor play for it contributes to the balanced development of children. They answered that equipments and spaces, program devices, and teacher's understanding are some of the important factors for active outdoor play. 5) Most of them wanted wood-working area (construction activity area), water play area, and cages.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.855-875
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to suggest a guideline for outdoor play settings in child care centers. From March to July, 2005, data were collected from 223 directors at child care centers through a structured questionnaire, field measurement survey and non-participatory observation in seventeen child care centers in Seoul and Daejeon. The statistical methods for analysing data were frequency, percentage, mean, $X^2$ and F-test. The results showed as follows: 1)the existing outdoor playground area in child care centers should be expanded more than $4\;m^2$ per child. 2) Outdoor play facilities should be equipped with two structured play sets, a play facility for unstructured play and an adventure facility to make child's various activities possible and to promote child development. 3)flooring materials for outdoor playground should be required to use more than three kinds such as solid coverings (cf. asphalt, standard concrete), wood, lawn, soil or sands. 4)to let children enjoy various activities, outdoor playground area should be composed of various play facilities like indoor play gyms and should be independent but have good connections between play facilities depending on characteristics of play activities. 5)Play spaces of outdoor playground should be composed of physical play space, unstructured and dramatized play space, rest space, space for nature and adventure space. In addition, appropriate play equipments should be provided in respective play space.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.661-677
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to develop the playground environment model for child care center by analyzing user needs of playground environment. To systemize the playground environment design factors and guidelines, we reviewed the previous research, actual measurement and observation were used as the research methodology. And to recognize the needs of users, the survey and picture survey was conducted to the staffs and children. The scope of survey included child care centers in Seoul and Daejeon, ultimately selecting 12 places in Seoul and 13 places in Daejeon. In terms of the survey period, actual measurement was conducted from June of 2006 to February of 2007, survey and picture survey was conducted from August to September of 2006. For analysis, we used SPSS 10.0 to check the frequency and percentage, as well as to perform cluster analysis. The findings of research can be summarized as below: 1. In playground environment, we observed the area of play ground and ground cover, the independence of play area, play equipment, and the composition of play area. The result of observation showed that while playground area varied widely, ground cover, play equipment, and the composition of play area turned out to be identical, regardless of the playground's area. Therefore, in order to classify various playground environments, we categorized them into 5 types, using the number of children and the area of play ground as a category. Type A had large facilities and small playground area. Type B had small sized facilities and large playground area. Type C had medium sized facilities and small playground area. Type D had medium sized facilities but large playground area. Type E had large sized facilities and large playground area. 2. On the other hand, staffs wanted a tunnel, playhouse, comprehensive play equipment, and a maze to be installed as play facilities, and there were requests for adventure play area and carpenter play area. The picture survey to children showed that they wanted equipments that can provide more thrill, adventure and challenge to them than the ones they see now. Therefore, existing child care center play environments must change from the monotonous and identical environments to the ones that can provide diversities, challenges, and adventures. In the contexts of 5 playground types suggested by this research, type B and D, E where the area of playground were larger than the legally required, should include various play areas and install appropriate play equipments and facilities. Type A and C where the area were small, should provide multipurpose play area to attract the various play behaviors of children.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.105-114
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to classify playground types according to the physical characteristics of playgrounds in child care facilities, to analyze the needs of care-givers and to evaluate the adequacy of playgrounds according to playground types. The specific areas discussed in this study were the evaluation of the adequacy in the physical characteristics of playgrounds for children's outdoor play activities by the care-givers, who assist in the outdoor play activities of children and manage safety in the playground, and a report on playground requirements of them. Data was collected from field survey carried out to investigate the physical characteristics of playgrounds of 21 child care facilities. This survey incorporated a structured-questionnaire for the purpose of evaluating the adequacy of the physical characteristics of playgrounds (location and size of the playground, play equipments, the composition of play areas, ground covers, and location of sidewalk in the playground) by the 181 care-givers from the facilities and investigating the needs of them. The major results showed the following. 1) In field survey, it was observed that while the location and the size of the playgrounds varied widely, ground cover, play equipments, and the composition of play area turned out to be identical, regardless of the location and the size of the playgrounds. 2) The playgrounds were classified into five types according to the number of children and the size of the playground. The five types include A-type as a large-scale facility/smallsize playground, B-type as a small-scale facility/large-size playground, C-type as a small-scale facility/small-size playground, D-type as a middle-scale facility/large-size playground, and E-type as a large-scale facility/large-size playground. 3) The adequacy of the physical characteristics of playground in the D-type was evaluated to be higher than that of the other types. The adequacy of the C-type playground was evaluated to be lower than that of the other types in terms of size and the composition of play areas within the playground. 4) The care-givers of the D-type and the E-type playground expressed a desire to install various play equipments, while the care-givers of the C-type playground did not wish to install play equipment. 5) Various outdoor play areas were needed in the D-type playground.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.49-63
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• 2021

The Forest Visitor Centers for Little Children who means preschoolers is an educational facility that achieves holistic growth by experiencing forests, and it should not be completed by installing specific facilities in the forest environment, but should be a space where preschoolers can play freely in the forest environment themselves. This study comprehensively evaluated the current status of Seoul Forest Visitor Centers for Little Children and suggested space improvement measures to enhance the effectiveness of forest experience. Through the theoretical review, seven spatial elements that enhance the effect of forest experience and six areas composing outdoor play areas were derived to prepare an analysis table for current status evaluation, and field survey studies were conducted on 24 centers in Seoul. Through expert interviews, the physical status was examined from the perspective of childhood education and the experiences of the users were summarized. As a result of the study, the Seoul Forest Visitor Center for Little Children is classified into six types according to the location characteristics and spatial structure, and has the characteristics of each type. The effectiveness of forest experience can be enhanced by identifying and revealing the environmental strengths of individual centers. In the case of outdoor experience learning zones, the proportion of exercise play areas was very large. By evenly organizing the forest experience space for each area, it will be possible to provide more diverse experiences to preschoolers. However, the status of uniform facility-oriented cannot be viewed as a fragmentary factor that lowers the effect of forest experience. The key to increasing the effect of forest experience by inducing creative activities is the spatial composition that considers the surrounding natural environment. Facilities should be a medium to help preschoolers' interest move into the forest. This study prepared data to understand the average physical status of the Seoul Forest Visitor Center for Little Children and suggested space improvement measures to increase the effectiveness of forest experience. This can be used as basic data for research to improve the quality level of the Seoul Forest Visitor Center for Little Children about 10 years after the project was implemented.