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The article discusses the results of the study of the emotional well-being of 6-7 years old children of kindergartens in Moscow. The data were obtained through a questionnaire survey of children and their parents using the supplemented Children’s Barometer methodology, consisting of 22 questions for a child and 8 questions for a parent. The study was attended by 151 parent-child couples; children from 15 groups of 5 different preschools. Emotional well-being is based on satisfying the needs of the child, both basic and essential for the age at hand, and essential for personal development including personal relevance, recognition in the group, autonomy and initiative. It was important for us to hear the “voice of the child”, attitude towards kindergarten, what makes child happy and discomforting. It was found that children of 6-7 years old can express their opinion and attitude to what is happening in kindergarten. Organized forms of activity are less interesting for children than free activity; there are discrepancies between children’s and adults’ assessment of issues important for the child; children remember conflicts in kindergarten and it is important for them how the teacher resolves the children’s conflict. The educational environment and style of interaction between adults and children in groups implementing different pedagogical systems influences children’s attitude towards kindergarten, which was shown in significant statistical differences.

Introduction. The paper examines the necessity of public urban playgrounds for children. Psychological and pedagogical studies reveal that the quantity and quality of outdoor play areas do not cover the needs of children. The authors monitored playgrounds in different areas of Moscow, Russia in order to explore the actual situation in the urban space from the perspective of well balanced development and spontaneous outdoor learning of children of different ages. They looked into how existing public playgrounds covered the needs of children, and if the outdoor learning was possible.

Methods. The study had two stages. The data was collected by structured non-participant observation with interview elements in which 24 public playgrounds in Moscow were involved, 417 adults were interviewed. The authors carried out an analysis of the equipment of playgrounds, and children activities to determine whether and how far playgrounds were used for communication in mixed age groups.

Analysis and Results. The authors analyzed characteristics of playgrounds, including: location, observation time, age and number of visitors, equipment and its arrangement, presented play areas and infrastructure, surface materials, individual and group activities of children and adults. The observation discovered that children of three different ages (early, preschool and school age) were using public playgrounds at the same time. The vast majority of the playgrounds near apartment blocks (76.9%) and almost a half of the playgrounds in parks (45.5%) had separated play areas for children of different ages, which largely meets the needs of parents. The qualitative analysis revealed that the equipment of the park playgrounds was more diverse, while almost a half of the playgrounds near apartment blocks (53.8%) showed one and the same type of equipment. The authors emphasize that, both playgrounds near apartment blocks and playgrounds in parks, were more focused on active exercises; most components of the equipment were of the same type and had closed character. The authors discovered lack of equipment for experimenting. The infrastructure of the playgrounds of both types showed that the playgrounds were considered as a space for children only, the interests and needs of adults coming with children were not taken into account.

Conclusion. The study indicates the need to create additional conditions for supporting and developing of children’s game, and increasing educational capacity of playgrounds. Among the measures proposed by the authors is increasing the educational capacity of playgrounds, and creating a citywide digital resource with a map and description of psychological and pedagogical characteristics of outdoor areas for children. An important role is given to educational work with families, that will increase the parental competence and responsibility in the field of educational structuring and outdoor learning.