THE ART OF RISKY PLAY

BY: AMBER DAWSON

Adventurous Play

Aventurous or “Risky” play, is unstructured, child-led imaginative play that is thrilling and challenging with an element of risk or potential injury. While this can sound scary, the injuries being risked are usually skinned knees, bumped elbows, or other scrapes or bruises In one study, children in an experimental group exposed to a 14-week risky play intervention improved their risk detection and competence, increased self-esteem and decreased conflict sensitivity, relative to their pre-intervention performance, as well as when compared to a control group (Lavrysen et al, 2017) A cross-sectional study compared children with and without ready access to unsupervised outdoor play opportunities and found more developed motor skills, social behavior, independence and conflict resolution in the former group (Hüttenmoser, 1995) Research has also indicated that through physical activity and risk taking in play, children show improved motor skills and spatial skills as well as learning risk assessment and how to master risk situations

In an article published in 2011, Ellen Sandseter warned that a decrease in risky play could potentially mean an increase in mental health concerns for young children, like anxiety, fear, depression and loneliness (Sandseter and Kennair, 2011).

What it looks like in practice

Exploratory, speculative, adventurous, developmental play defines our outdoor time at BCS If you visit our campus on any given day you might see kindergartners in trees, second graders rolling down our big hill, fourth graders tromping back to the creek, or our big graders (middle school students) teaching the first graders how to stick fight appropriately Our students roll logs that they jump on and off of They sit in the bouncy tree 3, 4, or 12 at a time to sway and bounce on the branches of a fallen-down oak BCS kids go home with the “Brompton Bum” from sliding down the mud slide on the side of the sledding hill There is no playground equipment in our yard but students build with sticks, mud, old bricks, and grass They make up complex games and build their own adventures Once they even made their own put-put golf course using chalk, sticks, and walnuts that fell from the tree

Benefits

Students at BCS spend much of their time outside participating in nature based play and activities Some of this nature based play inherently comes with more risk It is exactly this risk that builds confidence, teaches emotional regulation, improves literacy, decreases risk of injury, increases perseverance, and amplifies problem solving abilities Beyond the benefits of just being in nature, participating in adventurous play adds a new dimension to cognitive abilities Our approach to outdoor learning and deep play is based on decades of research Research shows that children who spend time in uninhibited outdoor deep play are less likely to become injured as their gross and fine motor skills are more developed They learn how to move their bodies in a safe way as they assess and take risks Assessing and taking risks outdoors increases confidence, whether or not they were successful in their attempted goal Students learn to trust themselves and their ability to do things, which in turn gives them greater self-esteem and decreases anxiety and stress They are then better able to recognize and regulate emotion This development of the prefrontal cortex helps them make good judgements in other areas throughout their life

Greatest threat

The greatest threat to this type of beneficial play is not injury One study, by Outdoor Play Canada, found that a child would have to participate in outdoor risky play for an average of 3 hours a day for 10 years before they would be at risk of injury that required treatment, and even then the injury was likely to not be severe Children have a much higher risk of injury while playing organized sports or from a motor vehicle accident than they do playing outdoors

The greatest threat to unstructured, free play is us As adults our tolerance for risk taking is greatly diminished It makes sense We want our kids to be as safe as possible We want to shelter them from potential harm We don’t want them to get hurt Unfortunately, the message we send to our kids is that they are not capable Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Rachael Sharman, says this: “You are also potentially undermining their sense of autonomy and competence, which are two psychological variables that feed strongly into wellbeing ” She follows up with this advice to parents: “Parents can encourage and facilitate risky play by stepping back and only getting involved if a situation is dangerous ”

Managing risk

But where are the adults during play time? Our educators co-assess and co-manage risk with students on a daily basis so that students learn to acknowledge, manage, and overcome risks so that risks don’t become hazards All activities are supervised and all staff are CPR/First Aid Certified Do we intervene in every situation? No Our goal is to facilitate age-appropriate play that involves calculated risk taking BCS teachers and staff walk around, chat with students about what they’re doing, ask questions, arbitrate when necessary, but mostly we ’ re observers We are constantly encouraging students to recognize potential hazards or problems and then facilitating problem solving Sometimes the best way we can facilitate this practice is by being a bystander, there to intercede if needed, but mostly just enjoying the imaginative world our students are creating We want them to get lost in their play without intervention because play after all is the work of childhood (Maria Montessori)

Adventurous Play Resources + Additional Reading

Outside Play Canada https://outsideplay ca

Promoting children’s risky play in outdoor learning environments https://theeducationhub org nz/promoting-childrens-risky-play-in-outdoor-learningenvironments/

Risky Play in Early Childhood Education: A Risk Worth Taking Erken Çocukluk

Döneminde Riskli Oyunlar: Risk Almaya Değer

Fatma Yalçın, Middle East Technical University, fatma ay 17@gmail com Feyza

Tantekin Erden, Middle East Technical University, tfeyza@metu edu tr

Sandseter, E B H , & Kennair, L E O (2011) Children’s Risky Play from an Evolutionary Perspective: The Anti-Phobic Effects of Thrilling Experiences

Evolutionary Psychology, 9(2) https://doi org/10 1177/147470491100900212

Supporting Young Children’s Risky Play https://www bu edu/childrens-center/files/2020/07/Risky-Play pdf