Outdoor play of children with and without disabilities during Covid-19 lockdown

This contribution describes outdoor play and contextual factors affecting it in 4- to 6-year-olds during one Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Several factors might affect outdoor play: individual and family aspects, neighbourhood environment, policy, socio-cultural factors (Boxberger & Reimers, 2019; Sallis et al. 2006). According to the ICF (WHO, 2007), the Covid-19 lockdowns could have been barriers to outdoor play (Kovacs et al. 2021) and had a greater impact on children with disabilities. Meanwhile, contextual factors such as parents’ role and features of the outdoor could have been facilitators for play (Brockman et al. 2011). An online questionnaire was spread in Ireland and Italy in May 2020, to collect parents’ views on their children’s play. Parents of 594 typically-developing children and 43 parents of children with disabilities filled in the questionnaire. A content analysis was run on the open-ended question “Which was the best idea you (parent) had to enable your child’s outdoor play?”. Two Ethics Committees approved the research and parents gave their informed consent. The active role of parents in organizing routines and spaces, introducing novelties and innovations in play, and the existing features of the built environment were facilitators for children’s outdoor play. No differences in outdoor play emerged between children with and without disabilities, and in the strategies that their parents used to support it. Some differences related to age, gender, and nationality will be discussed. This contribution builds on the importance of adults’ role and the impact of built and natural environment on children’s play.