In Norway the use of outdoor environments has become increasingly central as part of the pedagogical\educational practice (in both schools and kindergartens).This paper will focus on outdoor kindergartens. The outdoor kindergartens are organized in different ways, the common feature being that the educationers and the children are outdoors the whole day, every day, in all sorts of weather.This paper is based on a fieldwork in an outdoor kindergarten. It will discuss what kind of institutional room the outdoors represents. Room and place are crucial to people who inhabit them. Rooms and the artefacts in the room hold certain messages that regulate and shape a social order. Gagen(2000) says the followingLearning environments, then, are often places through which children become aware of, and begin reproducing, social identities that circulate through broader social space. Do outdoor environments create spaces that contain other possibilities for social order than built institutions, so that they also are freed from the power relations, or gender relations one often finds in ordinary kindergartens? Another question is how do the children organize the space around them? The main functions for buildings are said to give space for protection or space for display (Norberg-Schulz 1980,1991)? Where are the places for interaction, where are the rooms for solitude in an outdoor environement?This is first part of a longer research on space in kindergartens. My aim was to capture the experience of the children who were enrolled in the outdoor kindergarten, and through this get an understanding of the institutionalization of the outdoor space. I stayed in the field for a period of 3 months some days a week. The first part of the time (just before sommerbreak) the main source of empirical data was video filming. After this process I conducted 2 group interviews with the children. After the summer children participation methods were used, by letting the children take pictures and making maps of their outdoor kindergarten (Clark 2006). These data gave me another insight in the children's experience and thoughts about their outdoor environments, than the videotapes alone could give. I also conducted 2 interviews with the staff.Rooms and places are essential to people's cultural understanding. In this presentation I will focus on children's understanding and use of a given space and the possible social orders children make and are given though the space they inhabit.Clark, Allison et al 2006 Listening to young children: where will it lead? Paper presented at 16th EECERA conference 2006, Reykjavik. Gagen, Elizabeth A. 2000. Playing the part. Performing gender in American playgrounds. In S. Holloway and G.Valentine Children's geography. Playing, living and learning. London, Routledge: 213 Jong, Marianna de 2005. Rummets magt og magten over rummet i daginstitusjon og skole. In Kristian Larsen (ed) Arkitektur, krop og læring. København, Hans Reitzels ForlagLarsen, Inger Beate, 2001: Stedets disiplin. Fra Tuberkulosesanatorium til psykiatrisk senter. I tidsskrift for psykisk helsearbeid, Universitetsforlaget, vol. 3 nr 1 2006 ss 57-68 Mårtensen, Fredrika 2004 Landskapet I Leken. En studie av utomhuslek på förskolegården. Doctoral thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp Nast, Heidi & Steve Pile1998 MakingPlaceBodies. In Heidi Nast &Steve Pile (ed) Places through the body. London, Routledge Nordberg-Schulz, C. (1980). Genius loci: Towards a phenomenology of architecture. London:Academy Editions. (1991). Et sted å være: Essays og artikler. Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. Prout, Alan 2000 The body,childhood and society. London, Palgrave macmillan Valentine, Gill 2004 Public Space and the Culture of Childhood. Aldershot,Ashgate http://home.no.net/bbfb/ (Birkebeineren) http://www.naturbarnehagen.com/ (Svensrud)My work is part of a norwegian network who intends to publish our findings in an European journal
