The intention of this study was to examine from the teachers point of view whether the environment at the preschools schoolyards and the environment around it has a big influence when it comes to how the children physically are activated during preschool. In order to answer the intention, two questions were asked:

·         Is the outdoor environment at preschools an important part of how children are physically activated?·         Is there any difference in how children physically activate at preschools if the preschool is located at the country side or in the center of a big town? To answer these questions, qualitative interviews have been used as a data collection method. Totally there have been three teachers interviewed in each preschool. The preschools have different conditions of the outdoor environment where one of the preschool are located at the countryside and the other one are located centrallyin a big city. The results of this study show us that it is a difference in how the children are physically activated depending on the outdoor environment. The study also shows that the outdoor environment has a big role in how children physically activate themselves during their time at preschool.

Keywords

Outdoor environment, physical activity, preschool