Studies on the Action in Childrenu27s Play : III. Data for Design Playthings

摘要

Studies on the Action in Childrenu27s Play. III. Data for Design of Playthings. H. FUKUTOMI. Faculty of Horticulture, Chiba University, Matsudo, Japan. Tech. Bull. Fac. Hort. Chiba Univ., No.14, 63〜76, 1966. The author conducted a survey on the childrenu27s movements, actions and relative dimensions as they played on the playground equipments now available. This survey was conducted during the period between Oct. 28, 1965 and Nov. 28, on fair days only, on the children of ages 2 to 9, at the playgrounds within the enclosures of the five housing developments in Tokyo and its vicinity. With this survey, it has been revealed that the play equipments utilized by the children through these ages are about ten in kinds including swings, as outlined in the charts and tables attached. The following findings of special interest have also been disclosed through this survey: 1) The space required for such brisk actions as running-up, running-down, jumping-on, jumping-down, and hopping-out seems to be a three-dimensional space with a dimension about three times as high as the height of a specific equipment. 2) The suitable height of an equipment seems to be within 70cm. for jumping-on, and within 120cm. for climbing-up and jumping-down; and, as for the equipments involving jumping-over, thesuitable distance to be provided for jumping-over seems to be within 100cm. The planners should be aware that it is through such brisk and lively movements in play that children really acquire well-developed physical capacities, active vitalities and constructive attitudes for themselves.