Research On The Design Of Natural Play Venues From The Perspective Of Social And Emotional Ability

Social and emotional competence is a comprehensive concept that encompasses a variety of character skills and is an important aspect of non-cognitive competence that affects students’ academic achievement as well as their future professional success and well-being.Natural playgrounds are behavioral vehicles where children can observe,play,and socialize,which can effectively develop social and emotional competencies,and at the same time,compared to traditional educational spaces（schools and classrooms）,they can meet children’s psychological needs in a more interesting and diverse way,and children can participate more and develop their competencies better.Therefore,it is important to design natural playgrounds to develop children’s social and emotional skills.In this paper,according to the two levels of dimensions and specific competencies in the social and emotional competency structure framework,we determine the competency development goals that can be achieved by playground design,including the four core competencies corresponding to the four dimensions,including self-control,empathy,creativity and bravery.Combined with the content of children’s personality development stages in personality development theory,it is determined that children from zero to six years old are the critical period for cultivating these four abilities and laying the foundation for their whole life.We summarize the influencing factors and cultivation methods for the four abilities from various fields such as neurology,education and psychology,and argue the value of both play and nature for the development of social and emotional abilities.After that,the physiological,social and personality development characteristics of children aged zero to six are sorted out,and the types of play for children aged zero to three and three to six are summarized and the corresponding natural playground design suggestions are put forward.Finally,the principles and strategies of site design for developing social and emotional skills are proposed with case studies.This paper gives some thoughts on how playgrounds can bring into play their educational value and help to cultivate children’s social and emotional abilities in playgrounds.