숲 유치원 활동이 유아들의 건강증진에 미치는 영향

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Effects of Forest Activities on the Advancement of Kindergarteners, Health

Kyu Nam, Lee Advisor; Prof. Moon Kyung Rye M.D., Ph.D. Department of Alternative Medicine, Graduate School of Health Science Chosun University

We have responsibility to our children's health as the health condition of early childhood provides the foundation of future growth and development of children. In this study, I compared the effects of participating in two kinds of kindergarten's activities ; a forest and general outdoor. It is also our goal that the results of this study may contribute to the field of early childhood education setting.

For the purpose of this study, following research questions was established;

Is there any difference between effects of forest versus general outdoor activities on young children's health-related advancement, i.e., health-related fitness, physical development, prevention of upper respiratory tract infection, the rate of obesity. The subjects participated in this study were five-year old 88 children involved in kindergarten institutions M and G located in G city, Korea. At M institute, children were general outdoor activities, while at G, the activities were held in a forest setting.

These experiments were carried out 5 times per week for 22 weeks and each outdoor activity session lasted over one hour a total of 154 hours. The differences in effects from two different types of activities were analyzed using t-test and analysis frequency.

The results of this study were as follows;

First, there were significant differences in young children's health-related fitness between a forest and a general activity. The forest activity had more positive effects on the cardiorespiratory capacity, endurance, flexibility than general activity. Second, there was a significant difference in the children's height increase but not in their weight gain. Third, there was a significant difference in the prevalence of upper respiratory tract infection, specifically common cold. Fourth, there was no significant difference in the obesity rate between the subject groups. The result of this study indicates that forest activities may be an alternative to general outdoor activities for the health-related advancement on early childhood education.