Using the Theory of Affordances to Understand Environment-Play Transactions: Environmental Taxonomy of Outdoor Play Space Features-A Scoping Review
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2025
Four Temporary Waterslide Designs Adapted to Different Slope Conditions to Encourage Child Socialization in Playgrounds
Published on: December 9, 2022
Thomas Morgenthaler1, Helen Lynch2, Janet Loebach3
1Thomas Morgenthaler, MSc, is PhD Candidate and P4Play Research Fellow, Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland, and Division of Occupational Therapy & Arts Therapies, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; 121101888@umail.ucc.ie.
Importance:
The transactions between the physical environment and children's play have not been well studied. The theory of affordances provides a way to better understand how environmental characteristics offer opportunities for play occupation.
Objective:
To investigate the relationship between environmental characteristics of outdoor play spaces and children's outdoor play and to develop an environmental taxonomy to support the analysis of play affordances in community play spaces.
Data Sources:
Peer-reviewed literature (1974-2023) was sourced from a previously published scoping review (Morgenthaler, Schulze, et al., 2023). The Academic Search Complete, Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched using the keywords and synonyms of playground, environmental qualities, and children with and without disabilities.
Study Selection And Data Collection:
A secondary analysis of the previously published scoping review was conducted. Included studies were those that provided descriptions of physical environment-play activity transactions.
Findings:
A qualitative content analysis of 45 articles was conducted and used to form an environmental taxonomy. This taxonomy consisted of 14 space and object categories defined by their functional qualities and linked to play affordances. An array of 284 play occupations were identified in different forms. Play affordances of spaces and object categories and their functional environmental qualities were subsequently identified.
Conclusions And Relevance:
This study provides evidence to support the understanding of how the physical environment shapes children's outdoor play occupations. Plain-Language Summary: The study authors developed the Environmental Taxonomy of Outdoor Play Space Features as a tool that occupational therapists can use to better understand and describe how the physical environment shapes opportunities for play. The tool could also be useful to justify environmental intervention in schools and public playgrounds to create spaces that support more play for a diversity of children.
More Related Videos
15:01Peering into the Dynamics of Social Interactions: Measuring Play Fighting in Rats
Published on: January 18, 2013
14:05Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses
Published on: January 23, 2017
Related Concept Videos
02:30Naturalistic Observations
00:56Attribution Theory
01:04Social Facilitation
01:20Gene-Environment Interactions
03:26Framing Effects
01:21Cognitive Learning
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...