Play Environments of Expatriate French Children and Native Children in Finland

In this article I compare the favorite play environments of expatriate French children and Finnish children (ages 6–10) living in the same Finnish town. I examine the children's use of the space around them and their choice of play environments. The data consist of about eighty drawings and texts by the children. The theoretical approach is cultural geography, especially children's geography. The interpretation draws from the concept of the cultural context of children's drawings and applies the content analysis of visual culture. The results emphasize the significance of the culturally related way of using the space and the view of children's affordance of their environment—their license to use it.