“A Drawing of Me”: Exploring Children's Recess Psychological Needs Satisfaction

Background/Purpose: School-based physical activity can play a critical role in helping children accumulate the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity (PA). According to “Recess Rules” efforts to improve children’s health without focusing on recess forfeits our best chance (RWJ, 2007). As a result researchers and practitioners continue efforts to understand, predict, and promote recess PA. Few existing studies have examined the social psychological mechanisms underlying children’s engagement in PA during recess. Self-Determination Theory (SDT: Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000) suggests that motives for participation are connected to the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.  The purpose of this study was to engage children as co-investigators of their own recess spaces and experiences through drawings of themselves and subsequently examine these depictions according to SDT, gender, grade, and PA levels.

Method: Third through fifth grade children (N=57; 31 females, 26 males) were given 20-30 minutes by classroom teachers to draw themselves at recess. Children were prompted with, “This is a drawing of me at recess” on a paper and given crayons/colored pencils. Teachers carefully clarified the task without offering ideas or assistance that would influence children’s drawings. The children also wore sealed pedometers for 6 consecutive days of 30 minute morning recess to obtain PA data on number of steps taken.

Analysis/Results: Deductive and inductive content analyses revealed that varying levels and types of autonomy, competence, and relatedness need satisfaction at recess were depicted through children’s drawings. Boys tended to draw themselves in smaller groups engaged in sport-based competence recess activities while girls drew them themselves with relatively more peers playing non-sport based recess activities. Variations in how the playground environment was drawn emerged as another theme linked to understanding children’s recess experiences. Based on calculations of grade level mean step counts, boys took more steps than girls. Comparison of mean step counts with recess drawings revealed children who depicted themselves standing, swinging, rolling on the hill, playing alone or in larger groups often fell below grade level mean daily step counts.

Conclusions: Findings support the use of SDT to interpret children’s recess experiences. Results indicate that children can be essential interpreters for illuminating powerful aspects of their recess experiences through alternative modes of representation such as their own drawings.  This study reveals important information for further understanding children’s recess experiences and the design of future interventions to promote children’s recess PA.