Abstract Children’s outdoor experiences have been explored for many years but little research has specifically highlighted the role of water in children’s outdoor play. In this paper we present findings from an innovative study which focussed on children’s play with water in three urban green spaces: two neighbourhood parks and one civic space. We define constructed and natural water features and explore children’s play with water by gender, age and the affordances of the two types of water features. Experiences were gathered from children aged 8-11 in one primary school within 1.5 km of each urban green space with a total of 273 completed questionnaires. Additional data was gathered by the observation and mapping of 3,399 children aged 0-18 across all three spaces. Children most frequently used the urban green space closest to where they live and although play with water was the second and third most mentioned activity. Our findings reveal that younger children are more attracted to play with water than older children; females are more attracted to play with water than males, on two sites; children are more attracted to play with constructed than natural water features; constructed water features which are not specifically designed for children’s play can provide perceived affordances which children actualize. Constructed and natural water features in urban green spaces, provided affordances for children to play with water, whether those features were designed for this purpose or not. Play with water was both active and passive and providing opportunities for play with water in urban green spaces in new developments could help ameliorate the concern about childhood health and obesity which is of increasing concern in some parts of the world.

中文翻译：

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让我们一起飞溅：儿童在谢菲尔德城市绿地的人工和自然水景中的主动和被动水上游乐

摘要 多年来，人们一直在探索儿童的户外体验，但很少有研究专门强调水在儿童户外游戏中的作用。在本文中，我们展示了一项创新研究的结果，该研究侧重于儿童在三个城市绿地中玩水：两个社区公园和一个市政空间。我们定义了人工水景和自然水景，并按性别、年龄和两种水景的可供性来探索儿童玩水的方式。从每个城市绿地 1.5 公里范围内的一所小学的 8-11 岁儿童中收集经验，共完成了 273 份问卷。通过对所有三个空间的 3,399 名 0-18 岁儿童进行观察和绘制地图，收集了更多数据。孩子们最常使用离他们居住地最近的城市绿地，尽管玩水是第二和第三大提及的活动。我们的研究结果表明，年幼的孩子比年长的孩子更喜欢玩水；在两个地点，女性比男性更喜欢玩水；与天然水景相比，儿童更喜欢玩人造水景；不是专门为儿童游戏设计的人造水景可以提供儿童实现的感知能力。城市绿地中的人工水景和自然水景为孩子们提供了玩水的机会，无论这些水景是否为此目的而设计。