As an increasingly recognized facet of early childhood development, the integration of play into early STEM education is garnering attention. This paper delves into the role of engineering play within early childhood education, emphasizing its application in natural playscape settings. The focus is on investigating the extent to which engineering play can spontaneously emerge in such natural settings. To explore this, we analyzed extensive video footage of preschool children engaging in play on these playscapes. Our findings reveal a spontaneous occurrence of engineering play, highlighting three illustrative cases. These cases provide valuable insights into how playscapes, complemented by strategic adult involvement, can nurture young children’s engineering skills and behaviors. The findings contribute to the growing evidence that young children are capable explorers, particularly in environments that offer a harmonious mix of structured and unstructured elements tailored to their developmental needs. This research has significant implications for early childhood education. It underscores the importance of incorporating engineering concepts into play-based learning and advocates for a nature-oriented pedagogical approach and curriculum. This approach not only promotes engineering thinking and practices among young learners but also advocates for a curriculum that nurtures these skills through playful, natural interactions.

作为儿童早期发展的一个日益被认可的方面，将游戏融入早期 STEM 教育正在引起人们的关注。本文深入探讨了工程游戏在幼儿教育中的作用，强调了其在自然游乐景观环境中的应用。重点是调查工程游戏在这种自然环境中自发出现的程度。为了探索这一点，我们分析了学龄前儿童在这些游乐场玩耍的大量视频片段。我们的研究结果揭示了工程游戏的自发发生，并突出了三个说明性案例。这些案例提供了宝贵的见解，让我们了解游乐场如何辅以成人的策略性参与来培养幼儿的工程技能和行为。越来越多的证据表明，这些发现证明幼儿是有能力的探索者，特别是在根据他们的发展需求提供结构化和非结构化元素和谐组合的环境中。这项研究对幼儿教育具有重要意义。它强调将工程概念纳入基于游戏的学习的重要性，并倡导以自然为导向的教学方法和课程。这种方法不仅促进年轻学习者的工程思维和实践，还倡导通过有趣、自然的互动来培养这些技能的课程。