Spatial Affordances of Chinese Kindergarten Classrooms for Children’s Immediate Actions in Free Play Session

Chenhao Deng; Nur Maizura Ahmad Noorhani; Arniatul Aiza Mustapha; Zhiyi Zhao

doi:10.21834/e-bpj.v10i31.6579

Authors

Chenhao Deng College of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
Nur Maizura Ahmad Noorhani Center of Studies for Interior Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor Campus, Malaysia
Arniatul Aiza Mustapha Center of Studies for Interior Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor Campus, Malaysia
Zhiyi Zhao College of Environmental Design, Faculty of Art and Design, Jiangxi Institution of Fashion Technology, Nanchang, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v10i31.6579

Keywords:

Early Childhood Education and Care, Physical environment, Spatial affordances, Children’s actions

Abstract

Early childhood is widely regarded as a critical period during which the foundations of development are established. This study aims to examine how physical environmental features influence Chinese children’s immediate actions, both individually and socially, as well as their awareness of classroom space. The observation involved 73 children (45.2% girls) from three same-age classes in a typical public kindergarten in Nanchang, China. A novel extended taxonomy of spatial affordance was proposed to measure children’s ongoing actions and its influential environmental features. Future studies should further investigate the nexus between children’s continuous play behavior and actions within the classroom environment.

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