"The purpose of this study was to examine the association between preschool-aged children's exposure to a nature-based outdoor playground with a facilitation of nature-based activities and their sustained attention abilities. Using the Attention Restoration Theory as a theoretical framework, this study employed single group pretest-posttest design to measure children's sustained attention abilities before and after engaging in outdoor play on a nature-based playground with nature-based activities facilitated by teachers. The sample size was comprised of the 17 children, between the ages of 3 and 4 years, enrolled in the two preschool classrooms participating in the summer program at a child development laboratory in the Midwest, and two teachers. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests were utilized to test the hypothesis that children perform with higher sustained attention after participating in nature-based activities. Results yielded no significant results when comparing pre and post sustained attention, operationalized as omission and commission errors in response to target stimuli in the Picture Deletion Test for Preschoolers task. However, overall errors decreased from pre to post examination. Unexpectedly, more participation in the nature-based activities was associated with greater sustained attention errors. Results of this pilot study suggest that structured and semi-structured nature-based activities may not yield the same benefits as unstructured experiences in nature. Implications for teachers training and curriculum planning are discussed."--Page ii.
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