Spatial Configuration of Kindergarten Indoor Activity Spaces and Children's Embodied Behaviors: Evidence from Three Cases in Cold-Arid Western China

The paradigm shift in early childhood education from custodial care to development-centered environments underscores the importance of kindergarten indoor activity spaces. However, how spatial configuration influences children’s embodied behaviors remains underexplored, particularly in cold-arid regions of western China, where prolonged indoor periods amplify the significance of interior spatial quality. Integrating embodied cognition and affordance theories, this study develops a coupling framework linking spatial metrics with behavioral outcomes. A mixed-methods approach combined 196 parent and 36 teacher questionnaires with space syntax analysis across three typical kindergartens in Lanzhou, China. Visual Integration [HH] was positively correlated with physical movement (r = 0.52, p < 0.01) and negatively correlated with solitude (r = −0.52, p < 0.01); Connectivity was positively associated with sensory exploration (r = 0.42, p < 0.05). Coupling coordination degrees ranged from 0.689 to 0.856, revealing a “high coupling, imbalanced development” pattern, with privacy affordance as a notable shortfall in the wide-corridor typology. The older courtyard-style kindergarten surpassed the newly built one (0.856 vs. 0.838) despite lower facility quality. Parent satisfaction depended more on spatial richness (r = 0.61) than on facility quality (r = 0.47). Spatial configuration shapes embodied behaviors through layout-specific affordances. An evidence-based optimization framework is proposed for kindergarten design in cold-arid climate zones.