As basic materials for the review and renovation of kindergarten playgrounds, this study surveys the actual artificial mounds in the playgrounds of all municipal kindergartens and authorized centers for early childhood education and care in City S, categorizing their shapes and locations within the playgrounds. In addition, based on interviews with parents/guardians, it clarifies the actual state of children’s play on the artificial mounds. The survey found that the mounds could be categorized into a hill type and a type combined with play equipment. Categories of locations within the playgrounds included a type next to fixed play equipment and a free-standing type. Children’s actual play, as seen from the parents’ perspective, was analyzed according to the five areas of nursery care, with play in all five areas confirmed. The above enables a examination of the multivalent possibilities of artificial mounds, providing insight for the renovation of kindergarten playgrounds.

The purpose of this study was to identify the fundamental movement patterns experienced by 1‒2-year-old toddlers during outdoor free play at daycare centers, and to determine the physical play environment (playground equipment, toys, and other materials) in which these movement patterns were observed. In all, 16 toddlers (8 one-year-olds, 8 two-year-olds; 6 boys and 10 girls) from three daycare centers in Tokyo were observed, and their fundamental movement patterns were counted. It was found that 1‒2-year-old toddlers experienced 43 fundamental movement patterns overall, and 30 patterns on average per child. They experienced about the same number of patterns as preschoolers aged 4‒5 years. In terms of the play environment, “terrain/situation” tended to be more associated with locomotion skills, “toys” with manipulation skills, “fixed playground equipment” with locomotion skills, and “sandbox” with manipulation and stability skills. It is important for caregivers to provide a play environment that attracts children's interest, as play-environment places and situations elicit fundamental movement patterns, and it is also important to deliberately structure the environment to expose children to difficult-to-experience fundamental movement patterns.